11.
"Nature provides
The bamboo for my flute
The snake for my sanxian
The silk for my strings
The wood for my guqin
I do not make instruments
The Tao does"
This man was playing an amazing instrument called a Hulusi and it sounded like a soft clarinet of sorts. He was playing at the Summer Palace with a group but I just love how the picture came out. You can almost see how into the music he was. I ended up buying 2 at a later time and they are beautiful.
The first one was quite the story. I found a man selling them outside a restaurant we were going into and my friend said something to the effect of "Don't pay more than 5". Well, he wanted 40. So I said five and he walked away. No problem since I knew he'd wait and try again after dinner. So after we ate he feigned interest until I started heading for the bus. I also feigned interest. This could be long so I'll make it short. We agreed on 10 and from his bag he proceed to pull out a Hulusi the size of a straw with a grape on top. "Uh...no...that one." And pointed to the size of one he was playing. He reluctantly gave it to me, yet I still managed to pay twice what Ms. Zheng suggested but in the end, the seller and I both won.
Sometimes, everyone wins.
