In Beijing's Temple Of Heaven Park (天壇公園), this old man was writing Chinese characters with a large brush and water.
Now it's my turn. I start to write my Chinese name (劉建華). The old man compliments me but here it looks like he's not impressed, ha ha.
I wrote my name clearly, but oops, I didn't get the middle character (建) well-centered in the square. Fortunately my characters (top right) have already started to evaporate. Whew! That way, anyone seeing this can't laugh at them. The nice old man wrote my Chinese name to the left of where I'd written, showing how it's really done by an expert. Finally, true to form, he wrote me a compliment: 美國小伙子真棒 (Young American Guy is really good) Yeah right, 爺爺, but thanks anyway for being so nice. :) It was a fun cross-cultural encounter.
