small world?

Ever since we arrived in China I noticed the image of Che Guevara on posters and on t-shits. Then as I was walking around in the stores I noticed that many of the business were selling Che t-shirts. When I had dinner with a Zhu’s friend, He noticed that I was wearing a necklace with the image of Che.  He was really excited to find something in common with me.  He knew some English, so as soon as he saw the image around my neck he smiled and said “I know Che!” So we had a long conversation about the Cuban revolution. 

Today, as I we waited for our interview with the organizing committee for the 2008 Olympic games I heard a familiar word.  I noticed that the two men sitting next to me were speaking in Spanish.  I was really excited to finally understand what people were saying around me. I asked where they were from and both of them were Cuban.  One of them was a member of the State-run Cuban press who had an interview planned for the same morning and the other man was his translator.  Fidel, the translator, has been living in Beijing for 2 years.  He is master’s degree in linguistics.  He said that Latin America has a lot in common with China.  Since we didn’t have much time to talk, I’m still wondering what he meant by that.  For now, all I know is that the image of Che is somewhat popular in China.

Che t-shirts for sale in Chinese stores:
Click to experience this media file | Right-click to download