英国母女捡到中国情侣七夕漂流瓶

A romantic message-in-a-bottle discovered by a mother and daughter at a Scottish beach has sparked a mystery about whether it could have travelled 5,000 miles across the seas from China.

Nicola MacFarlane, 41, and daughter Lucy, four, from Portobello, near Edinburgh, were scouring Portobello Beach when they came across an old glass bottle sticking out of the sand containing a note inside written in Mandarin.

Now the family are trying to work out if the letter has managed the extraordinary journey across the South China Sea, into the Indian Ocean and through both the South Atlantic and the North Atlantic Ocean's before washing up on the shores of Great Britain.

It is unclear when the letter was sent off, as it was written on Chinese Valentine's Day, or Qixi Festival as it is more traditionally known, which falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.

While the letter bears the date in line with the lunar calendar - July 7, 2012 - it could have been sent off as recently as six days ago if it followed the modern calendar, which celebrated the occasion on August 23.

Whether the message has travelled thousands of miles from China or whether it was penned by a love-struck pair much closer to home remains a mystery.

But for Nicola it doesn't matter - she was still excited to read about the Chinese love story after having it translated.

She said: ‘I really do hope that it is from China but even it is from nearer to home, it’s still a lovely gesture and an inspiring find. It’s a love story regardless of where it came from.’

Nicola, who runs a beach art business in Portobello, added: ‘I’m always at the beach looking for bits of driftwood but I’ve never come across anything like this before.

Unable to read the Mandarin text, Nicola turned to the internet and her Australian friend, Julie Gould, whose daughter attended a Chinese school in Sydney.

Several hours later Julie returned with the news that it was in fact a love letter.

The translated letter reads: ‘Da Hai: Ocean, I hope no-one will get this bottle, as we just wish you can hear our voice, and get your blessing.

‘Today is the Chinese Valentine’s Day, we pray that our relationship will last forever and we will have a long happy life together.'英国苏格兰一对母女近日在海滩上捡到了一个装有中文纸条的爱情漂流瓶。它是如何漂洋过海五千英里来到英国的也成为谜团。

41岁的尼古拉•麦克法兰和她4岁的女儿露西来自爱丁堡附近的波多贝尔，当时她们正在海滩寻找废弃物，无意间发现有个半埋在沙中的旧玻璃瓶，里面装有一张中文纸条。

现在全家人试图搞明白漂流瓶是不是从中国海岸出发，穿过南海、印度洋、南大西洋和北大西洋，最终被海浪冲上了英国海岸。

目前尚不清楚漂流瓶何时寄出，但瓶中信写自中国的情人节―七夕（农历七月初七）。

瓶中信的落款日期是2012年7月7日，日期和中国七夕节的农历日期吻合，因此若按公历推算，瓶子主人写下这份宣告书是在8月23日，即拾到漂流瓶6天前。

漂流瓶在6天内漂洋过海到达英国？或者，这只是一对家住附近的情侣的杰作？答案不得而知。

但尼古拉并不在乎，在瓶中信翻译成中文后，她对阅读中国的爱情故事仍然十分激动。

她说：“我希望这个瓶子来自中国。但是如果它来自海滩附近，这仍然很有趣，而且是个激励人心的发现。无论它来自哪里，都是个爱情故事。”

尼古拉在波多贝罗做海滩艺术品生意，她补充说：“我经常在海边捡废弃物，但从没见过漂流瓶。”

她看不懂中文内容，上网向澳大利亚好友朱莉•古尔德求助。后者的女儿在悉尼上中文学校。

几小时后，古尔德告诉尼古拉，这的确是一封情书。

信上写道（根据中文原文）：“大海：这个漂流瓶并不是希望让别人来捡到，而是希望你能听到我们的声音，得到你的祝福。”

“今天是七夕情人节，我们向你祈福，保佑我们的感情长长久久，幸福甜蜜。”