I am American, but I lived in China for eight years, in Shanghai and Kunming. Kunming is the capital of Yunnan, a mountainous province that is home to the China side of the Old Silk Road and where the people often said:     天高皇帝远 Tiān gāo, huángdì yuan Heaven is high and the emperor is far away   My time in Yunnan was memorable but brief. The lion’s share of those years in China was lived in Shanghai. Shanghai, 上海 (Above Sea; Upon the Sea): a city that is both sinking and flooding – expected to be underwater by 2050.   I write this from California where fires of a season like no other in history are still burning and lockdown orders are the strictest since spring. 1. ~Space~ Cicadas  Dew-rinsed: their pure notes carry far. Windblown: as dry, fasting leaves are blown.  Chirr after chirr, as if in unison. But each perches on…