Every now and again I write these things that don't seem to have too much to do with "adoption" per se, at least at first. But the thing is the "adoption" part of my family actually seems pretty minor compared to the lasting reality of being a parent who isn't Chinese raising children who are. So, this is one of those things.

It started listening to classical music in the car last week.

This classic song, though part of an opera highly regarded over most of the world for the better part of 100 years, is not authentic Chinese music.

It is, however, based on authentic Chinese music. And a Persian folktale. About, um, a Russian. With a pretty complicated plot, besides. This strange mixture of here, there, there and there is probaby why the opera was banned in China for the better part of a century. But in the 1990s, perhaps because of those authentic melodies (by the way, doesn't #2 sound a little like some of the oddments from our last jaunt into musical Orientalism?), Beijing decided to put on its own lavish version. The free market Communists reappropriating the European appropriation of decadent imperial culture... the politics behind that makes my head hurt.

So, I've been thinking about this because Daughter and Son (son!) and I were doing a bit of driving and listening to the classical music because it expands the brain and when it gets into the sex and violence, it does so a/ not in English, and b/ in very grand fashion. And this came on. Turandot. It's being performed near -- well, wherever you are, if you're reading this, chances are you can get to a show. It's Puccini's most famous opera. And everywhere you're likely to see it (unless you luck into a Beijing performance -- sometimes they roam), the lead role is going to be done by a lady with a name like Stottler or Sutherland or Callas or Marton (or Gruber) or Ricciarelli or Sweet or Nilsson. And now, even if you see it in China, it's likely to be fake people rather than flesh-and-blood Asians.

Yeah, Zhang Yimou is creating China's first all-CGI film to coincide with the 2008 Olympics, and it's going to be Turandot.

So I'm not sure how to respond to hearing this come on the car stereo in the middle of the day with the kids in the back, but I can't help bouncing back and forth. On the one hand, it's stirring stuff, for those that's into it. (And you can hear pretty much all the opera at the classicistranieri.com opera library, from a really clear 1937 recording. The one song you'll probably recognize is this one, "Nessun Dorma.")

On the other hand, is it yellowface? Should I feel that weird about it?

Sometimes, I'm just not ready for this level of complexity. But you know, it's always out there, waiting for you.