I CAN STILL HEAR THE FU BELL RINGING 傅鐘悠悠長在耳

CONTENTS

	CIRRUS OVER CAPE COD 鱈岬上空的卷雲 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	AT THE DENTIST’S 牙關 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	ARCO IRIS By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	TUG OF WAR WITH THE RIVER 水草拔河 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	GREAT IS A MOTHER’S LOVE—TO A VICTIM ORPHANED BY THE RECENT EARTHQUAKE IN SICHWAN 大哉母愛──給大難不死的孤兒 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	TO CHRIS ON HIS GOING WEST FROM DENVER 送樓克禮自丹佛西行 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	AT THE TWILIGHT HOUR 蒼茫時刻 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by the poet

	HOW TO MURDER A FAMOUS WRITER? 如何謀殺名作家 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by Nancy DU 杜南馨

	A CITY WITHOUT NEIGHBORS 沒有鄰居的都市 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by YU Yu-san 余幼珊

	WHO CAN TELL THE WORLD TO STOP FOR THREE SECONDS? 誰能叫世界停止三秒？ By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by Nancy DU 杜南馨

	I CAN STILL HEAR THE FU BELL RINGING 傅鐘悠悠長在耳 By YU Kwang-chung 余光中 Translated by Michelle M. WU 吳敏嘉

	YI CHIN-JUNG RETURNS 衣錦榮　歸 By CHANG Hsi-kuo 張系國 Translated by Jonathan BARNARD 柏松年

	THE CONTEMPORARY CERAMIC ART OF LIEN PAO-TSAI 連寶猜的現代陶藝 By Max Chi-wei LIU 劉其偉

	COMPASSION AND COMMAND : THE CONSUMMATE CERAMICS OF LIEN PAO- TSAI 連寶猜的妙心與巧手 By CHENG Ching-jung鄭清榮

	A LADY WHO HAS ACQUIRED THE SPIRITUAL CANON 取得「心」經的人 By SUNG Lung-fei 宋龍飛

	THE SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION OF PAO- TSAI 寶猜的靈修 By TUNG Feng-li 董鳳酈

	DEMONS AND DARKNESS, REFLECTED IN LIGHT : THE CERAMICS OF LIEN PAO- TSAI 群魔亂舞的世界 By SUNG Lung-fei 宋龍飛

	THERE ARE CHILDISH DELIGHTS IN POTTERY— TRUE FEELINGS ABIDE IN UNDERSTANDING 陶中有童趣　會心寓真情 By JIANG Jie 姜捷

	NEWS & EVENTS 文化活動 Compiled by Sarah Jen-hui HSIANG 項人慧

	NOTES ON AUTHORS AND TRANSLATORS 作者與譯者簡介

	APPENDIX : CHINESE ORIGINALS 附錄：中文原著

	THE EDGE OF A WHILPOOL 漩渦邊緣, ceramics, 87 × 70 × 5.5 cm, 1992 .....................Cover

	SEARCHING FOR ELYSIAN SERIES NO. 2— THE EAGLE MOVES HOUSE 尋找桃花源系列之二 / 老鷹搬家, ceramics, 63x123x5cm,2001 ........................................................................Back Cover By LIEN Pao-tsai 連寶猜

YU Kwang-chung 余光中

I CAN STILL HEAR THE FU BELL RINGING
傅鐘悠悠長在耳*

translated by Michelle M. WU 吳敏嘉

    When I was in middle school, the Sino-Japanese war was still raging, and I was living in the province of Szechuan, where the roads were quite treacherous. With no car to drive, I had to rely on Shank’s pony, my own two legs. Shank’s pony was a euphemism for walking. After the war, I entered university, and finally owned my own wheels. I still had to rely on my two legs, not for pounding the pavement, but for pedaling. My bicycle made it easier for me to move around, but I still had to pedal hard.
    At that time, boys who didn’t own a bicycle were not considered cool. Imported bicycles were especially popular. If you had a bicycle, you could cover great distances, and travel as fast as the wind. You could feel like a chivalrous knight during the Medieval Times. In 1950, I transferred to the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Taiwan University as a junior. I commuted to school each day from Tung An Street along Roosevelt Road on my brand new Hercules bike imported from Britain. Even though the bicycle was named after a Greek god, when I had the wind behind my back, I often felt like the legendary Na-ja propelled by two balls of fire. All the bicycles on campus paled in comparison to my bike, including those imported from Japan. Unfortunately, my vanity only lasted for a week, because someone stole my bike. That was a great blow. I had to squeeze myself into crowded buses every day to get to school. I swore to save every penny that I earned from writing in order to buy myself a new bicycle.
    I submitted my poems to the literary supplement of the Central Daily News. They paid me five New Taiwan Dollars for each poem. With five NTD I could treat Mimi (my-then-girlfriend- later-wife) to a movie and dinner in the west district of Taipei and still get 1. 5 NTD left. But a new Hercules bicycle cost as much as five hundred NTD. That was how much my father earned a month. I had to sweat blood a hundred times to earn enough money to buy myself a Pegasus bicycle. I became a prolific writer then for this very reason. In order to increase my income, I also dabbled in essays and commentaries. I became a knight without his horse, a miser who counted every penny. After a great deal of effort, I managed to earn 200 NTD, and my doting parents kindly gave me 300 NTD, making it possible for me to buy my second Hercules bicycle.

The process of transferring to National Taiwan University was not without incident. Before arriving in Taiwan, I had attended Jinling University in Nanjing for a year and a half. As the war raged on, I traveled down south to Xiamen, and studied there for one semester, at the Foreign Languages and Literature Department. Later, we were driven to Hong Kong by the war, and I became a refugee student. Fortunately, while in Hong Kong, I managed to get a transcript from Xiamen University, which made it possible for me to participate in the exam for transfer students in Taiwan. When I registered for the exam, the deans sat in a row at a long table. The Dean of the School of Law, Dr. Sa Meng-wu took a look at my transcript and said, “The date on this transcript says 1949, not the 38th year of the Republic! This must be a forged document, and cannot be accepted. You better not present this transcript!” I was taken by surprise. Fortunately, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Dr. Shen Kang-Po examined the transcript and said unhurriedly with a smile, “That doesn’t matter, does it? Xiamen has been taken over already, that’s why the Anno Domini system is used.” The university granted me permission to participate in the exams. In retrospection, I must say that I was very lucky. If it weren’t for Dean Shen, I would not have gotten into National Taiwan University.
That incident gave me quite a scare. And I was indignant. Why would I fake my status as a transfer student? Why was National Taiwan University so snobbish? In my impression, there weren’t that many renowned professors there to satisfy my desire to study under respected scholars. Before the fall semester started, the university notified the transfer students to “pledge our allegiance.” This request was very baffling. I did not go. Later I discovered that a large group of transfer students failed to show up as well. Those of us who didn’t show up saw our names on the bulletin board: “. . . and Yu Kwang-chung, etc. have been given a demerit.”

    Despite of inauspicious beginnings, my experience at National Taiwan University gradually improved as classes began. The President of the University was Fu Si-nian, who had inherited the liberal spirit of the May Fourth Movement. The atmosphere of the university was similar to Beijing University. Later I discovered that faculty members included Li Chi, Mao Tzu-shui, Tai Ching-nung, Hsu Shou-shang, Chien Ko-chuan, etc. Liang Shih-chiu came from National Taiwan Normal University to teach as well. Even though the professors at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures were not well-recognized, they inspired me and were passionate about teaching. The Department Chair was Ying Chien-li, whose father, Ying Lien-chih, founded Fu Jen University; later I discovered that his son, Ying Ruo-chen, was a famous actor in China. Professor Ying held important positions in the Catholic Church, and was fluent in both English and French. He was very knowledgeable about Chivalry during the Middle Ages as well as literature during the Romantic Age. His classes on English poetry inspired me greatly. Since he was well-versed in both English and French, he could explain in great detail, how English was impacted by French and Latin. Unlike the younger professors trained in the United States, Professor Ying belonged to the old school of continental Europe. He could spend the entire class hour analyzing what chivalry was. The only catch was, he spoke English with a French accent, and didn’t sound British enough. Students often had fun imitating his Gaulish accent when reciting poetry.
    Lillian Chao must have been a beauty when she was a young Chinese-American woman. Her voice remained crisp and clear even in her old age. In class, she often read the Bible aloud. She was the editor of the Students’ English Digest, which was a very influential publication. She taught English over broadcast radio, reaching audiences everywhere. Some say that the “her” in Chao Yuan-ren’s popular song, “How Can I Not Think of Her” was referring to Professor Chao, and this gave rise to a lot of romantic speculation among the students.
    Professor Huang Chung-chiu was very petite, and very kind and affectionate to students. She taught us drama and directed our plays. Later, when I started lecturing at National Taiwan Normal University,...

*	From In-ke wen-hsueh sheng-huo-chih 《印刻文學生活誌》(INK Literary Monthly), 4:9, May, 2008, pp. 39-43.