A "Chance" Meeting

In a few days, I'll be leaving Shanghai. The old mystics say that at the threshold, when the water meets the land, magical things happen.

I'm in Pudong and I walk down into the Dongchang subway station to go home to Puxi. On the train platform I see a guy who looks like my friend CJ from Taiwan. He's sitting on the bench waiting for a train to Puxi. As I walk closer to him, I think, this really is CJ. I have forgotten his name, but I walk up to him and say, "Taiwan."

CJ turns to me and we are both a little 不知所錯 ("like, no way, dude!"). The train is coming and we both get on. CJ is just visiting Shanghai for a few days. He wants to know what I am doing here. The last time we saw each other was at the 市政府捷運站 subway station in Taipei.

He tells me he doesn't like 大陸 at all, and that every time he gets back to Taiwan, he kisses the ground. I have to admit, I understand the feeling.

But for now, I like the grit of China. There are good people everywhere, and the good thing about life is that if you want to grow, life is always giving you good lessons, especially here in the People's Republic.

Taiwan will always have a place deep in my heart, and it's nice to have this reminder from my Soul (in the form of CJ), right here on line 1 of the Shanghai subway.