So there I am at the Three Gorges Dam, the largest such project in the world, surrounded by hundreds of Chinese and foreign tourists.  Then I hear something very, very familiar, and before I know it I’m staring at this guy.  He’s busking away while keeping an eye out for anyone whose interest he draws — so he can immediately stop and put on the full-court press: don’t you want to buy (now he’s pointing at a sign in English) one of his traditional, authentic Chinese folk instruments?  No, no cheaper!  Hallo!  Hallo!  You buy!

Only, he’s playing “Auld Lang Syne,” and just a snippet too, over and over and over again.  To my ears, that’s UVa’s “Good Ol’ Song.”  I wonder if this man has any real idea what he’s playing.  Surely & soon, all this incessant repetition will drive his day-in, day-out coworkers to brutally murder him with one of his own instruments, right?  Any minute now?

[change of tense]

I suddenly felt very alone: suddenly and in my mind transported to an autumn Charlottesville football game: coats & ties & blue skies … as I stood there in the middle of milling crowds gaping at China’s massive concrete cork of the Yangtze.

I waited until I could catch him without anyone else in the frame, then beat a swift retreat as he ditched the song to pitch me his product.  Hallo!  Hallo!

Wahoowa.