At the theater…
Harold: Are you, by any chance Professor White?
Professor White: I am.
Harold: I’m Harold, I took your Chinese Literature course in Melbourne.
Professor White: But that was, 1972? Fifty years ago?
Harold: You wrote me reference. It got me a job.
Professor White: Happy it worked. Are you in academia?
Harold: Not as illustriously as you. You’ve published more than a hundred books and papers.
Professor White: Well. It’s a niche subject. Not many Westerners care to persevere.
Harold: I remember you took us through Hong Lou Meng.
Professor White: Ah, so that’s why you’re here.
Harold: I couldn’t pass on a ballet performance of it 50 years later. And to bump into my Chinese professor at the same performance. An incredible coincidence. Here of all places!
____________
Voice-over
Glorious production. Never thought when I was wrestling with Chinese Lit in 1972, that the story of Baoyu playing around as his family disintegrates, that I could chance on a ballet performance of it 50 years later. AND meet my Chinese professor there. It’s worth staying alive for the surprises history springs.
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