Asiabizblog wishes all of our readers the merriest of holidays and best wishes for the New Year.
Hope springs eternal and Spring is just around the corner. In that spirit, I thought I'd share with you a poem a friend in Beijing sent me this morning. [Thank you, dear Audrey!]
一張紙
出生一張紙，開始一輩子；
畢業一張紙，奮鬥一輩子；
婚姻一張紙，折磨一輩子；
做官一張紙，鬥爭一輩子；
金錢一張紙，辛苦一輩子；
榮譽一張紙，虛名一輩子；
看病一張紙，痛苦一輩子；
悼詞一張紙，了結一輩子；
淡化這些紙，明白一輩子；
忘了這些紙，快樂一輩子!
My (hastily considered) translation:
A Sheet of Paper
At birth, a sheet of paper, a lifetime begins;
At graduation, a sheet of paper, a lifetime of strife;
Upon marriage, a sheet of paper, torment for life;
Become a bureaucrat, a sheet of paper, a lifetime of political struggle;
Money, a sheet of paper, a lifetime of hardship;
Win an award, a sheet of paper, a vanity for life;
A doctor's diagnosis, a sheet of paper, a sorrow for life;
An obituary, a sheet of paper, the sum of one's life
When these papers recede in importance, we truly understand
These papers forgotten, a lifetime of happiness!
