Last night in China!! oohoo.. I can't wait to go home, but it is also a bit sad to leave. I did grow fond of being Chinese traveling here with ease.. I feel very safe here which is such a different feeling from traveling in South America or even in Europe and in the US.
I am in Beijing again. This morning I went to the Heavenly Palace and saw so many many many many many many Chinese elderly get together doing all sort of interesting stuff, ball room dancing, sword dancing, kicking jianzhi (similar to hackisack(sp?) in the US), single singing, group singing, group meditation, tree hugging, playing badminton (sp?), playing Chinese version of beach board balls, listening to a taped speech, playing card game, playing Chinese chess, doing tai qi (of course), and tai qi dancing!!! (and few other games that I missed and did not know how to call in English) Amazing!! I was stunned!! Beijing must be a heaven for the elderly people. :-)
The trip has been nice since last email. I stopped by Shaolin temple near Luoyang the other day and I was soooo excited. They have daily live performance by the monks that would easily wowow any black belters. I saw a monk not breaking bricks but breaking steel bars with their heads. The iron head martial art definitely has progressed even further since this century. I was absolutely stunned. If you guys are a fan of martial arts, definitely make a pilgrimage here before you die.
I've been meeting and talking with more Han Chinese people since. My conclusionis that this dominating communist government must go or transform to a democractic one. It really confirms that once a party controls the media, it controls the people. I still get lots of typical standard answers from people in all wakes of life regarding Taiwan's issue and current affairs. I did get a different view this morning from the bike repair old man, who told me that the open up of the Chinese society has made poor people even poorer. I am sooo lucky to have grown up in Taiwan where there is Democracy. The news from CCTV is not like news to me (fact describing) rather it is the Communist party policy announcement .. It is really hard to watch.
But, the TV soap operas in China are pretty interesting to watch.. :-) I have not really ventured outside at night in the cities. Lonzhou, Xian, Louyang, and Zhenzhou are all very congested around the train station, which is not pleasant at all. For the sake of convenience, I stayed near the train station always. The train stations are all huge. Things are huge and distances are big in China. It is such an opposite of that in Taiwan. There is so much more potential in China, I must say. I could only hope that there will be some enlighting rulers coming in this great civilization.
Greetings from Xian, where the tarra cotta soldiers are! went and saw them today. I must say that it *WAS* impressive. It is odd to know that Chinese people have such advanced techologies in building things 2000 years ago already and yet they are still doing the catching up right now... hmm..
This has been an intense trip both physically and mentally... My trip started off in Beijing on Oct 22. Since then, I went to Dunhuang, Gansu province, and then to the southern part of Gansu province where Tibetans dominate the region. I was lucky enough to meet a very nice young college Tibetans couple, who showed me around for the past 4 days. Now, I am on my own visiting this formal capitol of Han and Tang dynasties and working my way back to Beijing on Nov 7.
I am really lucky to have met this couple. I felt that I got a very intense Tibetan culture immersion. I visited both of their parents' homes and got to see how secular Tibetans live outside of Tibet. The girl of 20 years old is so much wiser than her age. She works as a tour guide as her part-time job and had so much to tell me about Tibetan Buddhism and culture and the place where she grew up. The guy of 25 year old was actually a lama for six years before he returned to secular life and went to college. He had a very colorful life already. He told me about his three tries to walk to India from Tibet. Two of them failed and he got put into the jail for both times. He described to me what he saw on the border... the desolate landscape and the really poverty stricken Tibetan migrants village. It sounds beyond imagination... Through him, I met two of his *brothers* who are still lamas. One of the nights, I was able to ask them all I wanted to know about lamas. :-) Both him and one of the lamas keep on telling me how bad and disrespectfully Chinese government treats Tibetan culture and people. Chinese goverment is systematically destroying the culture. They want me to go outside of China and tell the truth to the world. :-( It is very difficult for a lama to get a passport to travel outside of China. Alas.. let me stop the depressing stuff. I did find Tibetan culture extremely colorful. Lama's clothes are always in Tibetan Red.. So many people are having the bright red chicks in the southern part of Gansu province. It is so beautiful to look at. Did you know that Tibetans don't have surnames? Did you know lamas don't wear underpants? Did you know that many Tibetans are still shepards who herd sheep? It is so visible and alive. The sheep sometimes dot in the beautiful rolling prairie land, which is very pleasant to look at. Sometimes, when our vehicles pass through a herd and you see the very cute sheep behavior.. First, they waited to decide which side of roads to retreat, and as the car comes closer, they dodge to one side in one big herd movement. How cute..
OK.. back to the present.. The trip has been quite physically demanding the last few days. Traveling in China is not very comfortable especially on the less developed area. I have to admit that outside of Beijing China is not all that up-to-date yet. I miss the cleaniness from where I am from, both US and Taiwan. People (both men and women) are spitting left and right and everywhere, which is really gross (and I have to practice my mindfulness to overlook that.) Also, in this ancient city, nothing ancient could be noticed at all and the smog is so thick that sun could barely break out... The traffic is horrendous... I could go on and on about how much I dislike the cities in China but what I saw in the southern part of Gansu province... wide open prairie, beautiful mountains, clear sky, Tibetan Buddhism culture, Labrang monastery, and friendly Tibetans and lamas really impressed me.
As for my opinion on Chinese people, I have yet to figure them out. They do notice my difference among them. For a few times now, some of them thought that I was a Japanese. Not sure why.. I do notice that Chinese people have some sort of group behavior. I think that I should limit this on Han Chinese people b/c muslim Chinese and Tibetan Chinese definitely think differently from Han Chinese. Han Chinese tend to give out the similar opinion (if not identical) on many matters, such as current world affairs and Taiwan. I wonder if that is because the media is controlled by the government. (I did meet one different Han Chinese who enlighted me on top of the sand dune in Dunhuang, though.) The modern Chinese seem very interested in economic and money making. They are very interested in telling me how much things cost at the very beginning of the coversations... hmm... I will do more home work on Chinese observation..
I am in Beijing again. This morning I went to the Heavenly Palace and saw so many many many many many many Chinese elderly get together doing all sort of interesting stuff, ball room dancing, sword dancing, kicking jianzhi (similar to hackisack(sp?) in the US), single singing, group singing, group meditation, tree hugging, playing badminton (sp?), playing Chinese version of beach board balls, listening to a taped speech, playing card game, playing Chinese chess, doing tai qi (of course), and tai qi dancing!!! (and few other games that I missed and did not know how to call in English) Amazing!! I was stunned!! Beijing must be a heaven for the elderly people. :-)
The trip has been nice since last email. I stopped by Shaolin temple near Luoyang the other day and I was soooo excited. They have daily live performance by the monks that would easily wowow any black belters. I saw a monk not breaking bricks but breaking steel bars with their heads. The iron head martial art definitely has progressed even further since this century. I was absolutely stunned. If you guys are a fan of martial arts, definitely make a pilgrimage here before you die.
I've been meeting and talking with more Han Chinese people since. My conclusionis that this dominating communist government must go or transform to a democractic one. It really confirms that once a party controls the media, it controls the people. I still get lots of typical standard answers from people in all wakes of life regarding Taiwan's issue and current affairs. I did get a different view this morning from the bike repair old man, who told me that the open up of the Chinese society has made poor people even poorer. I am sooo lucky to have grown up in Taiwan where there is Democracy. The news from CCTV is not like news to me (fact describing) rather it is the Communist party policy announcement .. It is really hard to watch.
But, the TV soap operas in China are pretty interesting to watch.. :-) I have not really ventured outside at night in the cities. Lonzhou, Xian, Louyang, and Zhenzhou are all very congested around the train station, which is not pleasant at all. For the sake of convenience, I stayed near the train station always. The train stations are all huge. Things are huge and distances are big in China. It is such an opposite of that in Taiwan. There is so much more potential in China, I must say. I could only hope that there will be some enlighting rulers coming in this great civilization.
Greetings from Xian, where the tarra cotta soldiers are! went and saw them today. I must say that it *WAS* impressive. It is odd to know that Chinese people have such advanced techologies in building things 2000 years ago already and yet they are still doing the catching up right now... hmm..
This has been an intense trip both physically and mentally... My trip started off in Beijing on Oct 22. Since then, I went to Dunhuang, Gansu province, and then to the southern part of Gansu province where Tibetans dominate the region. I was lucky enough to meet a very nice young college Tibetans couple, who showed me around for the past 4 days. Now, I am on my own visiting this formal capitol of Han and Tang dynasties and working my way back to Beijing on Nov 7.
I am really lucky to have met this couple. I felt that I got a very intense Tibetan culture immersion. I visited both of their parents' homes and got to see how secular Tibetans live outside of Tibet. The girl of 20 years old is so much wiser than her age. She works as a tour guide as her part-time job and had so much to tell me about Tibetan Buddhism and culture and the place where she grew up. The guy of 25 year old was actually a lama for six years before he returned to secular life and went to college. He had a very colorful life already. He told me about his three tries to walk to India from Tibet. Two of them failed and he got put into the jail for both times. He described to me what he saw on the border... the desolate landscape and the really poverty stricken Tibetan migrants village. It sounds beyond imagination... Through him, I met two of his *brothers* who are still lamas. One of the nights, I was able to ask them all I wanted to know about lamas. :-) Both him and one of the lamas keep on telling me how bad and disrespectfully Chinese government treats Tibetan culture and people. Chinese goverment is systematically destroying the culture. They want me to go outside of China and tell the truth to the world. :-( It is very difficult for a lama to get a passport to travel outside of China. Alas.. let me stop the depressing stuff. I did find Tibetan culture extremely colorful. Lama's clothes are always in Tibetan Red.. So many people are having the bright red chicks in the southern part of Gansu province. It is so beautiful to look at. Did you know that Tibetans don't have surnames? Did you know lamas don't wear underpants? Did you know that many Tibetans are still shepards who herd sheep? It is so visible and alive. The sheep sometimes dot in the beautiful rolling prairie land, which is very pleasant to look at. Sometimes, when our vehicles pass through a herd and you see the very cute sheep behavior.. First, they waited to decide which side of roads to retreat, and as the car comes closer, they dodge to one side in one big herd movement. How cute..
OK.. back to the present.. The trip has been quite physically demanding the last few days. Traveling in China is not very comfortable especially on the less developed area. I have to admit that outside of Beijing China is not all that up-to-date yet. I miss the cleaniness from where I am from, both US and Taiwan. People (both men and women) are spitting left and right and everywhere, which is really gross (and I have to practice my mindfulness to overlook that.) Also, in this ancient city, nothing ancient could be noticed at all and the smog is so thick that sun could barely break out... The traffic is horrendous... I could go on and on about how much I dislike the cities in China but what I saw in the southern part of Gansu province... wide open prairie, beautiful mountains, clear sky, Tibetan Buddhism culture, Labrang monastery, and friendly Tibetans and lamas really impressed me.
As for my opinion on Chinese people, I have yet to figure them out. They do notice my difference among them. For a few times now, some of them thought that I was a Japanese. Not sure why.. I do notice that Chinese people have some sort of group behavior. I think that I should limit this on Han Chinese people b/c muslim Chinese and Tibetan Chinese definitely think differently from Han Chinese. Han Chinese tend to give out the similar opinion (if not identical) on many matters, such as current world affairs and Taiwan. I wonder if that is because the media is controlled by the government. (I did meet one different Han Chinese who enlighted me on top of the sand dune in Dunhuang, though.) The modern Chinese seem very interested in economic and money making. They are very interested in telling me how much things cost at the very beginning of the coversations... hmm... I will do more home work on Chinese observation..
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