I’m Bill Tsutsui with another Postcard from Asia from the Center for East Asian Studies.

First there were Maoist slogans. Then there were ads for cosmetic surgery. Soon there will be poems by English masters such as Wordsworth and Blake. Where? On Shanghai public transportation, that's where. In a deal that was years in the making, the London Underground will display lines from some of China's greatest poets and the Shanghai metro will display poems from some of Britain's noteworthy wordsmiths. The Shanghai government hired a university scholar to determine whether the content was appropriate. The concern was less about politics than pessimism. London Underground poems were considered too death-oriented. And the Chinese wisely realize that long subway commutes –underground in the dark – are death-like enough, thank you very much, without being reminded of it in verse.

With thanks to Randi Hacker for this text, from the Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Bill Tsutsui. Wish you were here.