ABSTRACT
One of my most heartwarming moments in China was to discover how well-loved classic British and American rock had become (being admittedly fond of same), and at least in some circles, so had classical music (hence the emergence of Lang Lang from the Manchurian city of Shenyang, where my wife and I would go two times for our marriage certification to the American consulate there). On the other hand, one of my saddest realizations living in China was the discovery that my fiancée, for all her charms, had very different tastes in music: perhaps, or no doubt formed in her childhood during China’s Cultural Revolution. She liked classical Chinese music, which was a difficult if not impossible-to-acquire taste. Luckily, she also liked Chinese pop music, which was not bad if you liked pop music. That was about it. When she first caught the author listening to Mozart or Scarlatti, her face crinkled up with clear distaste and she would say, “What’s that?” Maybe it was like corn flakes, to her. (I am happy to report that my wife now accompanies me regularly to hear the Seattle Symphony, where Lang Lang performs regularly, thus proving that tastes can change.)
