(1026) The Chrysanthemum Lover and other tales by Wong Ming Yook

This is my favourite of these four books. My daughter said it contains the most imaginary and other worldly tales.

There are three stories that I like, number 1 same name as the book, The Hog's Goodbye and Drinking Tea with the Immortals in the Wintry Woods. Vaguely I remember a story my grandma told me more than half a century ago that is like The Chrysanthemum Lover. In my grandma's version it was another flower. But the rest of the story line was almost alike. Well, I can understand how a person who had substance could leave the corrupt city and live as a recluse far away in a rural retreat.
The ancient Chinese admired their current national flower, which blooms in winter, I think. Then the next is orchid, chrysanthemum and lastly bamboo. It is little wonder that chrysanthemum was chosen. The scholarly seemed to have their symbols in every plant, tree and herb.

The Hog's Goodbye is a little like Beauty and the Beast, only the venue is not in an enchanted castle. A lot of this tale took place in a jungle. I like how the story was woven: a sailor who was rescued by the hog and later brought him books. The seal that found its way to the hog enabled me to imagine the hog going to claim his rightful place in a royal palace.

The last tale: Drinking Tea with the Immortals in the Wintry Woods reminded me how my grandma said that in the past hundreds or thousands of years ago, immortals often pretend they were ordinary people and roamed the earth, that coincided with what was recorded in Genesis of the old testament.
Angels would come down to visit Sodom before its destruction.

I certainly enjoyed these four books more than many a best seller. More importantly, I realized different stories appealed to different people. I must explain that my second editor going through my second collection of short stories suggested I kick out six because they were weak. Around that time I actually took out all six of them. My first editor asked about my decision and suggested that I put in extra effort to rewrite them. Then as my daughter and I compared notes on what each of us like about Wong's stories, I realized that many of her favourites were actually what English teachers considered as weak plots. In went five of the six, only one was left out as it reveals more of the author. It is quite ok to blog and tell a fair bit as it is done anonymously. Once a book has an author name and a publisher it is then  traceable. I thank God that these four books fell into my hands as I was deciding to include or exclude those five stories. Certain things are rather providential which happen in a particular timely manner.