A Perfect Picture

After having continued on to see the golden Chariot and horses that were found, I was in urgent need of a rest. My newly acquired glasses though light in weight, seemed quite useless against the relentless sun, but I nevertheless sun starved in Beijing, decided to sit out on one of the outside terraced walls in an
attempt to catch a tan.

After a while, I began to realise that even though many a pretty maiden was
passing me by, all holding aloft a parasol to shade their skin from the browning
rays, I was the one who seemed to be attracting the attention and many a person stopped and asked to have a photo taken with me. Not having the will
or energy to refuse, I grimace ruefully for the offending lens.

Men seemed to think that they were 'gods' as they rolled up their shirts and displayed their lack of abs and snow white skin for all those who stole a glance,
I did wonder if they were attempting to look sexy or were simply hot!? Wives/girlfriends were holding on to their partners/husbands arms, as most of them tottered by on ridiculously high heels, in a way it is a pleasurable thing to see as having the one child policy, their attentiveness to each other seems to be
more pronounced and as more often than not the grandmother almost takes over the role of mother, their personal relationship is less stressful.

After a while I took out my notebook and started to scratch away with my pen.
Not looking up or around me, it took me a while to notice that I had attracted
an audience. Around eighteen to twenty men and women had formed a semi-circle around me and it was only when I noticed that I was now in the shade, that I looked up. The one poised nearest to me, seemed to be the appointed spokesperson and began to ask questions in a quite flawless English. He wished to know where I was from, what I was doing and if I was a 'Scholar'. Trying hard to repress a smile, I tried to answer his questions as candidly as possible.

Upon hearing I was also from Israel as well as England, he pressed upon me the
point that people from the first were known to be very clever and then proceeded to translate all that I had said into Chinese. Then the last statement
finally made clear to me why I was the 'ultimate' attraction that day, he said
'you write with your left hand!' this was both said as statement and mark of
respect, as people in China, still to this day, write and use primarily their right hand!