What is China?
China is a metaphor used by Mary Malone to describe love to two adolescents who couldn\’t yet recognize the feeling. She says China is like love because it\’s exotic and seems thrilling. China is also far away, as if you think you can never have love. But you know it\’s there, and you want to go there – you want to fall in love. Mary used China because she hadn\’t been there but she knew that China existed, until she realises that she had been to China. Meaning she had been in love, not to the country.
