Risheng Wang was a research scientist living in Germany. On one of his trips to China he happened to listen to a cassette of pipa music. The playing literally touched his soul and he knew he had to find the artist, whose name was Liu Fang. He wrote to her, as a fan, but deep inside he knew he had fallen in love. The two met during Risheng’s subsequent visits to China. They married and moved to Canada. Risheng gave up his research and devoted his time in promoting Liu Fang’s music. I met the couple in 2001 at WOMEX, a world music conference in Rotterdam. Risheng told me this story. We are now friends on facebook. Have I told your story correctly, Risheng?
I was a closet poet when I first began writing. Eager to find a community, I happened upon an internet site where I could read other people’s work, post my own (be anonymous) and receive comments. After a lot of lurking I began to post and “befriended” a variety of characters. One in particular, judging by his poems, was a half-crazed Chinese poet called “Rain”. I had just finished a poem about a devastating experience in China and wanted to share it with him privately. We began corresponding one Sunday morning. He answered immediately, happy that someone valued his opinion. We emailed back and forth, finding concordance in each other’s point of view. The keyboard heated up. He proposed marriage. I told him he was too rash. Then we started arguing and everything went sour. By evening we had a divorce. Do I remember this correctly, Rain?
Photo credit: Sife Elamine
