In Letter from Tainan, I speak with China hand Thomas Bird --- author of the newly published Harmony Express --- about today's Tainan, and mainlander-dominated Taipei back in 1978 when I had just made my side-door entry into China: Humes describes a very different cityscape from the malls and skyscrapers of contemporary Taipei: “First-floor garage-like … Continue reading Profile: Literary Translator Bruce Humes in Tainan
The carriage soundscape was a veritable clash of the dialects; the Hui women gossiping in guttural, Central Asian-tinged Mandarin, the Hongkongers hiking through the octaves as they debated the issues of the day in tonal Cantonese. (Excerpted from the just-published Harmony Express by Thomas Bird)
Sichuan Hua (四川话) sounds like a remote mountain primate attempting rap-opera (As uttered by rock musician and peripatetic travel writer 小飞, aka Thomas Bird)
Writes Thomas Bird from Kenya (Lunatic Express), where the China-built new Nairobi-to-Mombasa railway looks set to render the Victorian-era line redundant: “Belt and Road Cooperation for Common Promutual Benefit,” proclaims a large street sign suspended above Beijing’s ever-congested second ring road. China is investing massively in its 21st-century reimagining of the Silk Roads, even if the … Continue reading One Last Ride aboard Kenya’s “Lunatic Express”
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