阿塞拜疆散記（2）letter to Betty Blair(1)

Dear Betty Blair,

 

I am very glad to receive your email so soon and that you are interested in my suggestions. Although I have been working in Baku for a long time I am usually very busy during workdays, even at weekend I have to work most of the time. I am writing you right now in my apartment at late night this gives me a priceless chance to think and remember the quality time and good memories I have experienced here.

As a foreigner who work overseas it is often the case that you may feel lonely and inconvenient in daily life and work, but I never have this kind of feelings. I tell myself you must overcome it, otherwise it will makes things even worse.

You may agree that I am a man interested in cultures and traditions, this not only makes me happy but also bring me the key to successful coexisting. I bear in my mind that respecting other’s culture, believing, traditions and behaviors will make you become a member of the society where you are working and a member of a big family where you are living.

It is sometime easy for me to talk or chat with local people about the topics we are interested in. However, this kind of communication is often shallow and we can’t go further to deeper aspect due to different traditions and taboos. But I learn from life, reading and so on, it doesn’t bother me seriously.

You told me that you had a chance to pay a ten-day visit to China in 1977 almost 30 years ago and what impressed you most were the poverty, clever and industrious people who were very careful to natural resource. You were right it was the situation in China at that time, but unfortunately you just saw a few superficial things in Kuangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai. In the remote area people were poorer than that in the big cities. Although it was a very hard time for both Chinese government and Chinese people we had dream, strong desire and patriotic spirit in our minds to develop our beloved homeland, that is what makes China overcome so many difficulties and find a way out to become prosperous today. China has changed very much after the reform and open-door policy, I am sure that you will not be able to recognize or find out the places that impressed you very deeply in the cities you first visited.

Yesterday has past, it becomes history. Today is different from yesterday and tomorrow will be much better than today. Like China Azerbaijan is at the stage of today, he comes from yesterday and is heading for tomorrow very fast. The bases for economic development and growth is many times better than China years ago, he will win in the near future if he continues the present policy and goes in right way.

From the experiences I have got in China and Baku I find out how similar the two peoples are; we have the same desires, similar tradition and culture about life, health and family. However we are different from each other in many aspects also due to the different background and history.

I think I can tell you some similarities between Azeri and Chinese if you are really interested in, but similarities exist with differences at the same time, it would be difficult to tell an absolute similarity without any touching to the difference.

I don’t know what is the better way for me to begin, I would like to start in short story. This will be much better than the form of school paper which is too serious or even dull to read, what do you think?

By the way I don’t think I would like to write about the similarities only, I just want to tell you what I see and what I think as a Chinese about Baku and Azerbaijan.

I have a lot of photos shot at weekend or any spare time by myself about landscapes, people, sculptures and cultural relics and so on. If you like I can select some for your magazine.

It is too late, I’ve to go to bed. Thank you anyway Betty for your time to read my letter.

Betty 是 Azerbaijan International 雜誌的主編，這是應她的建議寫的一封回信。她給我回複是郵件發過來的，現在已經找不到了。但它使我更加了解了一些外國朋友對20多年前中國的一些大眾化的認識，使我清醒，同時也更讓我為自己是一個中國人而深感自豪。