Origins

 

I met this little sister, Shaio Wu in a temple; a place of worship in a large city in Jiangsu Province.  We made small talk as we waited for the ceremony to begin.  She asked me many questions about my travels around China. While we waited for the musicians to tune their instruments and chanters to begin singing about the origins of mankind, Shaio Wu turned to me and said.  “You know auntie,  I am adopted. I know nothing about where I was born.”  She paused and listened to the chanters warming up and then asked me.  “By looking at my face, can you tell what province I am from?”

~from SuZhou