At the Heart of the Universe (53 page)

Notes

With appreciation of the marvelous volume
China: Empire of Living Symbols by Cecelia Lindqvist
, translated from the Swedish by Joann Tate. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading MA 1989.

With appreciation for constant scholarly and cultural advice on China from professor and friend Tianja Dong, Westfield State University, Massachusetts

Note on the two different translations of the “Birth Mother's Letter”: on Page 64, the Americans are reading the English translation; on page 290, the letter is being read by Xiao Lu, who of course makes and the correct Chinese translation.

Note on the Chinese character “Chun”: As to the word
屯
. It is supposed to be the very original character
春
in its most ancient form. Originally “Spring” was symbolized by the growth of a bud, like a sprouted broad bean, which is the synergy of energy of growth—the “Qi.” The original form of the character
屯
is this bud. These two words were supposed to be interchangeable by people three or four thousand years ago. And later
春
incorporated
日
.

About the Author

Bestselling novelist
samuel shem
is known as the author of the three million copy–selling modern classic,
The House of God
, which with dazzling humor describes the horrors and banalities of working in hospitals—and is required reading for medical students and doctors. A Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Medical School faculty member for over three decades, Shem is currently Professor of Medicine in Medical Humanities at NYU Medical School. He has given over sixty medical school commencement addresses on “Staying Human in Medicine.” His other books include
The Spirit of the Place
, named
USA Book News
Best Novel of the Year and Independent Publishers Best Novel of the Year in 2009. His award-winning play
Bill W. and Dr. Bob
, co-written with his wife, Janet Surrey, about the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, ran for ten months Off-Broadway in 2013. Surrey and Shem are co-authors of the 2015 book,
The Buddhas's Wife: The Path of Awakening Together
. He was a visiting artist/scholar at the American Academy in Rome in 2012. He lives in Boston and Costa Rica, together with Janet and their daughter. www.samuelshem.com

About Seven Stories Press

seven stories press
is an independent book publisher based in New York City. We publish works of the imagination by such writers as Nelson Algren, Russell Banks, Octavia E. Butler, Ani DiFranco, Assia Djebar, Ariel Dorfman, Coco Fusco, Barry Gifford, Martha Long, Luis Negrón, Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Stringer, and Kurt Vonnegut, to name a few, together with political titles by voices of conscience, including Subhankar Banerjee, the Boston Women's Health Collective, Noam Chomsky, Angela Y. Davis, Human Rights Watch, Derrick Jensen, Ralph Nader, Loretta Napoleoni, Gary Null, Greg Palast, Project Censored, Barbara Seaman, Alice Walker, Gary Webb, and Howard Zinn, among many others. Seven Stories Press believes publishers have a special responsibility to defend free speech and human rights, and to celebrate the gifts of the human imagination, wherever we can. In 2012 we launched Triangle Square books for young readers with strong social justice and narrative components, telling personal stories of courage and commitment. For additional information, visit www.sevenstories.com.