“我的丈母娘是东阳市六石街道吴良村人，我不仅是浙江女婿，更是东阳女婿。”贝茨勋爵说。

　　麦克·贝茨勋爵，英国上议院议员、终身贵族，现任英国女王枢密院顾问官。担任过英国保守党副主席、英国上议院副议长等职，他妻子李雪琳是杭州人，曾在浙江大学就读，已旅居英国30年。2009年，贝茨勋爵参与并发起了一些列徒步活动，包括“为和平徒步”等。截至目前，徒步活动累计跨越25个国家，行程约14208公里，募集善款90万英镑，成为加深各国人民间友谊、促进世界和平的重要纽带。

　　“为友谊行走”2019麦克·贝茨勋爵夫妇徒步中国行动于8月19日在杭州启动，贝茨勋爵夫妇从杭州出发，计划用一个月时间，徒步500公里抵达温州。沿途将为社会公益慈善事业募集善款，并将募集的善款投入浙江的儿童和残疾人公益事业。同时他们还将见闻拍成了纪录片《之江故事》，让世界上更多的人了解浙江和中国文化，通过文化交流架起友谊的桥梁。

　　关于诸暨，我的脑子里满满的都是珍珠和袜子，当何鸿成副市长告诉我诸暨也是中国篮球之乡时，我问这是否是指诸暨生产很多篮球？——不，诸暨人打篮球，这里有2500个篮球场。我建议第二天我们可以搞一场篮球友谊赛，何副市长欣然同意，并立即打起了电话安排。

　　我自从离开中学后就没打过篮球了，但我的儿子们都擅长打篮球，因此我和他们一起观看了数以百场计的篮球比赛。我的大儿子马修成功实现了在美国的大学打篮球的梦想，并在德克萨斯州的安吉罗州立大学担任篮球助理教练。

　　第二天我们就去比赛了——我本以为是哪个街头或学校的普通球场，结果却看到了一个巨大的、可容纳2000个座位的体育馆。球场上有两队球员正在进行赛前练习。何副市长走到我们面前，递给我一个袋子——这是一件特殊的篮球衣，后面印着“为友谊行走”中英文，前后一个大大的15号。我顿时感觉压力山大，我夫人雪琳问我：“你真的知道怎么打篮球吗?”

　　看了我几次投篮练习后，一个队员问我:“你离上次打球有多久了?”我回答说:“四十年。”他回道:“哇，你四年没打球了？”“不，是四十年。”我又重复了一遍——当我的另一个投篮没有击中篮板时，他看上去难以置信——我这样的水平竟然能上场。

　　我意识到比赛即将开始了，我们的教练在最后一分钟用中文热情地指导我们——幸好我没有听懂他说的话，这样至少我可以有借口说我是无知的。

　　比赛开始后，我便意识到这是一场高标准的篮球比赛。我观看过我儿子马修参与的许多篮球比赛，我的水平充其量也只能担任控球的角色，我尽量把球传给那些能力强的队友，让他们去投。我很幸运地得到几次罚球的机会并成功地把球投进了框里，为球队赢得了几分，这大大缓解了我的尴尬。

　　每次我有片刻休息的机会，雪琳就会冲到我面前，用纸巾擦去我脸上的汗——就像妈妈在孩子玩游戏时拍打孩子额头那样，而我一心想的就是要加入我的队友中，聆听那些我其实听不懂的战术讨论。这儿有许多欢声笑语，这就是运动带来的乐趣，它有一种非凡的力量联接团队和竞争对手。这就是为什么它是一场完美的“为友谊行走”友谊赛活动。这次篮球比赛从提议到完美收官只有12个小时，这也再次证实了在中国做事的高超效率——中国速度。

　　晚上，我们有幸在诸暨市中心的河边观看了当地的戏剧表演，它就像一场东方的爱丁堡音乐会。正在度假或乘凉的人们占据了好的位子，纷纷坐下来观看。地方戏是中国文化的重要组成部分，在地方戏中存在着竞争和骄傲。

　　我们看到的是越剧，它很独特，其中男性角色是由女性演员来扮演，服装和化妆令人惊叹。我承认我第一次听越剧时花了好长一段时间去适应，但现在听起来感觉十分令人愉快。

　　我喜欢这场演出的原因是它的地方特色，它不是大型音乐厅里的专业表演。幕布后面时时有人在大喊大叫，演员告诉音响师音乐对错了等。在戏曲节目中有一个喜剧小品，其中一位女士扮演一位富裕之后想去城市超市购物的农民大伯，在路上遇到年轻女士相助，很滑稽，赢得阵阵笑声，各种不同年龄段的都享乐其中。

　　最后一个节目是根据清代作家曹雪芹名著《红楼梦》改编的“宝玉哭灵”，这是越剧的经典之作。有人给我们送上了西瓜，雪琳说她年幼时经常听越剧很喜欢这一段，便全神贯注地观看、欣赏。《红楼梦》的故事围绕相邻的两个富贵家族展开，它也被认为是曹雪芹的自传体小说。

　　回家的路上，雪琳向我解释说，《红楼梦》是通过两个家族的明争暗斗和爱情主线串联，反映封建大家族从富贵堂皇走向没落衰败的历程。我想起了简·奥斯汀的《傲慢与偏见》中的班纳特一家和达西先生。从希腊悲剧到现在的电视连续剧，财富、权势、明争暗斗、禁忌之爱、英雄主义和失败都是艺术的主题。它们提醒我们，文化以另一种方式将我们所有人联系在一起，即使在梦里也是如此。

“My mother-in-law is from Wuliang Village, Liushi, Dongyang. In this sense, I am the son-in-law of Zhejiang Province, or more specifically, of Dongyang,” says Lord Bates , a Conservative member of the House of Lords and currently Privy Counselor. His Chinese wife, Xuelin Bates, is from Hangzhou. Xuelin Bates graduated from Zhejiang University, and has lived in the UK for three decades. ‘Walk for Peace” was initiated by Lord Michael Bates in 2011. He has walked 14208 miles through 25 countries with her wife who through the walks has raised £900,000 for charities.

The couple launched their ‘Walk for Friendship’ 2019 in Hangzhou, on August 19. The plan was to cover 500km by walk from Hangzhou to Wenzhou within a month, and raise a fund for charities targeting children and disabled people in Zhejiang, with a documentary named  to be made in the process for more people to understand China and the culture of Zhejiang Province.

My head was spinning with the facts about pearls and socks, but when Deputy Mayor He Hongcheng declared that Zhuji was also the centre of basketball in China, I asked whether that meant that they made basketballs–no, they play basketball. Zhuji has 2,500 basketball courts. I suggested that we might have a few shots on a court the next day. Deputy Mayor He agreed and immediately got on the phone.

I hadn’t played basketball since school but I had watched hundreds of games with my sons who were both good players–my eldest son Matt managed to achieve his dream of playing basketball at college in the United States and went on to be an assistant coach at San Angelo University in Texas.

Next day we turned up for the game–I was expecting a street court or a school court, but instead we had a vast 5,000-seat arena, which is the home court of the Zhuji Lions. On the court there were two full teams of remarkably athletic people going through their pre-match exercises. The deputy mayor came up to us carrying a package–In the package was a special basketball jersey for ‘Walk of Friendship’ with Number 15 printed on the back. The pressure mounted as Xuelin said to me “are you sure you know how to play?”

After watching me take a few practice shots one of the team members asked “How long since you last played?” I replied “Forty years.” He said “Wow! You haven’t played for four years?” “No. Forty,” I repeated. He looked in disbelief as I took another shot that fell short of the backboard. Before I knew it the game was on and our coach was giving us all enthusiastic last minute instructions in Chinese–it was just as well that I didn’t understand as I could at least claim ignorance.

Once the game started the basketball was of a very high standard and my touches were limited to playing a kind of point guard role which I had watched my son Matt play many times and then getting it to my able team mates to try and keep us in the game. I was lucky in getting a couple of fowl decisions and managed to land a couple of my free throws to score some points which eased the embarrassment.

Every time we stopped Xuelin would rush out onto the court with paper towels to wipe the sweat off my face–it was like having your mum at the game dabbing your forehead when all you wanted to do was join your team mates and listen to the tactical team talk that I couldn’t understand. Still there was lots of laughter and fun and that is what sport can bring. It also has a remarkable power to bond teams and competitors alike and that was why it was the perfect activity for a Walk of Friendship.

In the evening we had the treat of attending a local opera performance by the river in Zhuji. It was like an Oriental Edinburgh Fringe. Regional operas are a key part of Chinese culture and there is competition and pride in local versions. The version we were watching was Yueju Opera which is distinctive because the male roles are played by females. The costumes and make-up are stunning and the music, which I confess took some getting used to when I first heard it, is now very enjoyable.

What I loved about this performance was that it was locally produced and not the polished professional performances that command great audiences in the major concert halls. There was lots of shouting behind the curtain and impatient actresses telling the sound guys to get the right piece of music. In the midst of the opera sets there was a comedy sketch in which a women again played the role of an old peasant man who was wanting to find his way to the market and encountering young ladies on the way. There was lots of laughter and all ages were just enjoying the fun.

The final piece was the famous  by Cao Xueqin that is one of the classical story lines in local opera. Xuelin bought some water melon and she sat intensely following the words as she would have done as a child. The plot surrounds two wealthy and aristocratic families who live next door to each other. It is regarded as an autobiographical of Cao growing up in the Qing dynasty.

As Xuelin explained it to me as we made our way home I found myself thinking of by Jane Austin and the Bennet family and Mr Darcy. The themes of wealth, power, rivalry, forbidden love and heroism and loss are a staple of the arts from the Greek tragedies to Netflix box sets. They remind us of another way in which culture connects us all if only in our dreams.