Reading Notes W9: The Travels of Lao Can by Liu E, Part X

• When a baby is born, he or she cries. When an old person is dying, their family cries. (605)
• Crying is the beginning and end of life (605)
• Quality of man is measured by how much he cries; it's an expression of spiritual nature (605)
• Spiritual nature is proportionate to the amount of crying done (605)
• Crying is "not dependent on the external conditions of life being favorable or unfavorable" (605)
• Spiritual nature is lacking to animals such as horses and oxen; they can suffer but are unable to weep (605)
• Apes and monkeys life a life of ease but are capable of screaming which is their way of weeping. They're nearest to man because they've got a spiritual nature (605)
• The old poem says: "Of the three gorges of Eastern Ba, the Sorcerer's Gorge is the longest; / Three sounds of monkeys screaming there cut through a man's bowels" (605)
• Spiritual natures gives birth to feelings and feelings give birth to weeping (605)
• One kind of weeping is strong and the other is weak (605)
• When a small child loses something, this is weak weeping (605)
• When a wife loses her husband, this is strong weeping (605)
• If weeping takes the form of tears then that means the strength is small (605)
• If weeping doesn't causes tears, its strength is great and it has reached farther (605)
• "The deeper the emotions, the more bitter the weeping." (605)
• Lao Dong is the owner of the inn that Lao Can is staying it (606)
• Lao Can went to buy two packets of tobacco (606)
• He sat down and looked at the man behind the counter then asked him what his name was (606)
• The man's name is Wang (606)
• Tie is Lao Can's real name (606)
• Wang refers to the place he lives in as being a hell (606)
• Wang says it's difficult to explain in a word how (606)
• Lao Can asks about bandits and Wang quickly answers that there is no injustice. He seems to be hiding something. (606)
• Lao Can says he's heard bad thing about what happens to those who "doesn't please" some person (606)
• Wang denies it (606)
• Tears filled Lao Can's eyes when Wang said "if somebody talks unwisely" (606)
• Lao Can could tell the man was struck with grief and chose to not continue the conversation (606)
• Lao Can went to go speak to Lao Dong about what just happened (607)
• Dong tells Can that Wang and his wife had a son who was taken by Prefect spies and choked to death, so when Can mentioned Prefect Yu it easily brought back bad memories for the couple (607)
• Lao Can had nothing to do the next day. His feelings took control and he wrote a poem (607)
• He writes a poem that insults the prefect (608)
• He felt bad for the cold and hungry birds outside (608)
• He was angry that he isn't in a position to immediately kill Yu Xian (608)
• He wanted to write a letter to the governor but he was wasting so much time trying to melt the ink (609)
• It was dark and Lao Can asked a servant to bring him a lamp. When the lamp lit up, the servant noticed what Lao Can had written on the wall and said he will be in danger if he doesn't watch what he says. Lao Can proudly says that his name is written at the bottom (609)
• A man came in and requested that Lao Can join Shen Dongzao for dinner (609)
• Dongzao questioned how Lao Can could be wearing a cotton gown when it's so cold (610)
• Dongzao calls Lao Can out for his ringing of bells. They argue about the matter (610)
• Lao Can criticizes the Prefect for how many people he is able to kill in his position as Prefect whereas if he weren't Prefect. (611)

E, Liu. "The Travels of Lao Can." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. E, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 602-611