Nick believed that the bond between Chinese people and lanterns was much like British gentlemen's fondness for their umbrellas.
A festival commemorating the birthday of a goddess named Mazu was approaching, and many associations and guilds took part in the celebrations, appearing on the streets of Guangzhou beneath flags of all shapes and colors.
Mazu was somewhat like a saint in Christianity. She had indeed once lived in Fujian. During her lifetime, this kind woman had helped those who went to sea predict the weather, gathered herbs to treat illnesses, and rescued victims of shipwrecks. She died at the age of twenty-eight while saving people at sea, which was why all her statues depicted her as a young woman.
Worshipping Mazu was divided into household rites and temple rites. The Admiral had invited Nick to a household ceremony, and Nick truly had no idea what gift one ought to bring to an occasion that was both a religious rite and a farewell banquet.
Lam Qua was not a "proper person," a term Nick had recently learned from the provincial graduate. According to Lawrence's other Chinese students, he was a vulgar fellow. He had once been Lawrence's prized pupil and had even served as his assistant for a time. They had been very close, but once he felt he could learn nothing more from Lawrence, he began stealing Lawrence's paintings, claiming them as his own and telling others that he had painted them.
Lam Qua paid no heed to those harsh words. He believed one could not always rely on Lawrence's protection and needed to "make one's own living" at the proper time. He also said such remarks had only been made out of commercial competition. From their first meeting, Nick had shown Lam Qua his sketchbook. Lam Qua had been