Bamboo Poem

Many years ago when I lived in Hong Kong, I went up to Guilin for a holiday, A colleague of mine hearing of my plans askeg if I could find him a particular "painting" and which he had seen in a magazine and came from that locality.

So, armed with the cutting from the mag, I searched in every shop that sold painting. The day before I left, having given up, I went to look at some caves where poems and inscriptions were carved into the chalk... and there was the work my friend had asked me to find. The lady in the little souvenir kiosk nearby thought I was mad when I chose her rubbings of the poem over her table cloths and other wares and by then I wanted a copy for myself too. So I bought 2 for the extortionate price of 6HKD (approximately 60p then) and carried them varefully back to HK.

My friend was very pleased with his gift. I took mine to the picture framers to have it mounted. The frame, mount and glass cost me 300HKD...a hundred times the cost of the rubbing, but it is still in that frame and still in good condition...and I still love it:) And tomorrow it gets re-hung as at preent it is standing on the floor!