Listening to the way we spoke Chinese, demanded a lot of focus from our Chinese friends, guessing to understand what we wanted to say. It was hard to avoid smiles, or outright laughter due to linguistic confusion.

Bronze ornament, 1957

Bronze ornament, 1957

When a tone is applied to a syllable it is changing its meaning but, luckily, all our Chinese friends were patient and polite, understanding our effort to conquer the seemingly impossible challenge and they welcomed and appreciated our interest in Chinese culture.