First, I'd like to send my condolence to the death from the cyclone in Myanmar, as well as death and the injured in the explosion in Shanghai. I felt deeply sorry to hear that.

Word came that three people died in a bus explosion in Shanghai. My first reaction to it was: a terrorist attack? However, the tragedy was caused by a passenger who took along flammable materials onto the bus, according to the municipal authority, which eased people's worry.

I am quite interested in the attitude towards marriage and single life held by Bacon, which is rather different from China's traditional values. In his Of marriage and Single Life, he said, he hath wife and child, has given hostages to fortune; for they are impediment to great enterprises, either of virtue, or mischief.

Then what did Mencius say about that? He said:

When a son is born, his parents wanted him to have a wife, while a daughter is born, her parents want her to have a husband. All men have such feelings of parents. (丈夫生而愿為之有室，女子生而愿為之有家；父母之心，人皆有之。孟子·滕文公章句下)

Also, there's an old saying in China, Get married and start you career. (成家立業) it means a man should first marry then he could start and boost his career. On the contrary, there is also a British wisdom, first thrive and then wife.

The latter may be gradually accepted by Chinese people, as more and more youths refuse to marry and remain single.

In the end, I wish the hand-foot-mouth epidemic to stop spreading in China.

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