(As early as) the second day after we arrived in Nanjing, cousin accompanied us to the Confucius temple. We went there by bus. That was a Sunday. There were so many people on the bus. When the bus came to the Confucius temple, it took us a lot of effort to squeeze our way down from the bus. Over at the Confucius temple there were really throngs and throngs of people. Before I always heard that China has a big population, but could not imagine to what extent. Only after I went to the Confucius temple did I realize what "crowdedness" means. But we liked the architecture there very much. The reason why there are so many tourists at the Confucius temple may just be because the architecture there has (such) a unique style. Right by the Confucius temple is the Qinhuai river. I heard that the Qinhuai river used to be very beautiful, but now I just can't see what attraction that narrow river has. Perhaps it once was a fair maiden at the prime of her youth but now she is already aged. After I said this to Lisa, she gave me a stern look.

A few days ago we went to the Xuanwu Lake park. We boated on the lake and also went to the ancient city wall. But what gave us the deepest impression was still the Sun Yat-sian mausoleum. I don't need to say it, but you know that the Sun Yat-sian mausoleum is the mausoleum of Mr. Sun Zhongshan. The mausoleum is on the top of a hill. Looking down from the mausoleum, there is a huge expanse of trees, very grand looking. Lisa especially liked this place and she stayed on the top of the hill for a very long time. I repeatedly urged her to come down from the hill but she would not leave. Eventually she reluctantly followed me down the hill. While we were waiting for the bus, she suddenly said to me: Tianming, let's be buried here after we die. When I heard this, I could not help but laughed out loud. I said: Do you think that just anybody can be buried here after death? You know that Sun Yat-sian is a great figure!. I never thought that Lisa would say to me in all seriousness: How do you know that we won't become important people in several decades? I thought about it and there is a point in what she said and then said: OK, we will settle it this way: we two will be buried on the hill by the Zhongshan mausoleum. On my tombstone will be written the son of Nanjing Zhang Tianming, on your tombstone will be written the daughter in law of Nanjing Lisa. Mom, don't you get mad, we were joking. Tomorrow we are going to Xi-An. I will let you in a small secret. Lisa said she won't bathe today; tomorrow she will have a good bath in the Huaqing pond that the imperial concubine Yang bathed in. But, don't you ever mention the matter of bath to her after we return to the states. Otherwise she will give me the look again.

Auntie is calling us to dinner. OK. I will write to you again when I get to Xi-An.