On Sunday

On Saturday, we rested. On Sunday, we scaled a mountain called Gu San, or Drum Mountain. I carried my daughter uphill - at thirty-five pounds, she was some baggage. The hill rates a matter-of-fact three lines in Lonely Planet which does not capture the spectacle of hundreds of Fujianese, old and young, slackers and Army types, climbing the hill for pure recreation. This time they had the added attraction of giants walking among them -- me and my wife -- and their movie-star daughter. I am not kidding abou the reception she got. People crowded to touch her, women offered to carry her up the mountain, old men touched her face. But even this paled before the stir she has caused at her day care, where against my wife's vociferous protests she is given more than the oher kids, before they are.