ChinaEncounters

Much more to come from Xian

On Wednesday evening last week I wrote that there would be much more to come from China Encounters time here in Xian. Well there is more to com, but it has been delayed. I was struggling with a streaming cold, and low grade fever for some days, and Anne from a low grade stomach disorder, which have slowed us down some and which meant that when we did get back from busy days  posting didn't happen.

There is certainly more to write on all we have seen. We have taken lots of photos and many of them are already available on our flickr site, Moreoever as we have sought to engage with the deep and rich history of this city,lots of thoughts have ben flowing. For now here are the pics:

Great Mosque, at the centre of a vibrant muslim community.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda reflects a very interesting period in the history of Buddhism in China.

Xian's city wall   and the Drum and Bell Tower in the city centre

Terracotta Warriors - one word sums them up, Amazing!

and to come:  The Forest of Steles and the Nestorian Stele, Dong Xin church and the Xian Bible College, the Silk Road and of course some general comment on the city. Also the results of tomorrow's last foray to the very early Christian Daqin Pagoda; the Louguan Temple, where Laotzi wrote the Tao te Ching, which is the heart of Taoism; and possibly some pics of the Qinling Mountains where apparently Giant Pandas live!

Anticipating tomorrow, I have looked forward much to this visit since we helped friends make the trip a couple of years ago. We reflected much on the arrival of gospel in the hands of the Church of the East (often erroneously called the Nestorians) in 635 when we saw the Nestorian Stele last Friday. What has struck though is the very fertile context at that time. Islam arrived in 651, via the same Silk Road. And at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda on Thursday I learnt of its founder, Xuan Zang, who travelled to India and brought back the Buddhist Sutras for the frst time in 646. While Buddhism had been in China since 120BC, the translation of the Sutras gave it much greater presence in China. All three foreign religions were welcomed and actively and engagingly hosted and facilitated by China's native Daoism.  Hence our attendance at a key Daoist location tomorrow.   

What was going on in the Tang Dynasty of the early 7th century? More anon.   

Muslim Quarter in Xian

DSC01186, originally uploaded by China Encounters.

China Encounters has come to the city of Xian for a week for a variety of things, to meet some people, but perhaps most interestingly to look at some fascinating things in the history of China. We have been many places in China but this is our frst time to Xian and we are really excited to see much of ancient China make some useful friends.

We arrived mid afternoon, and after settling took things easily with a walk.We are staying at the King Dynasty Hotel just outside the city wall by the gate on the NW corner. I normally try to note useful hotels so will do so in a day or so; certainly the location of this one is great!

We walked from the King Dynasty through the gate towards the north of Xian's western city wall, through the western part of the Muslim district, along the main eats west street to the centre of the city by the Drum and Bell Towers. We ate cheaply and easily of local muslim fare at at Kaiyuan Shopping Mall food court (7th floor), back through BeiyuanMen muslim shopping street and the central part of the Muslim Quarter. The walk was about 5 miles. The photo above is part of the set on Flickr  and the route of the walk is here on ChinaEncounters map of Xian.

Comments on Muslim Xian another time, but this walk was great introduction. Its certainly a very different culture to Nanjing.

Chinese Treasures

DSC01114, originally uploaded by China Encounters.

A Chinese student who we are getting to know for purposes of work - she has been studying peace and reconciliation in the UK - wanted to take us to Nanjing Museum today. So we didn't argue! She is a history major so has all the vocabulary and was able to tell us the facts, the stories in the illustrations and all the things labels don't tell you.

There is a set of pictures on Flickr here. The Nanjing Museum's location is here.  Nanjing Museum has one of the largest collections of all that is good in Chinese porcelain, lacquer ware, bronze, calligraphy, gold, silk etc. Nanjing Museum has a website here, and also on Wikipedia.

I am not going to go on as its time for bed, but we just have to gasp in admiration of a culture that was making finely decrated pots when we Brits (or at least our predecessors living in what is now our island)were running around using flint axes and baked mud bowls. You cannot get away from the amazing depth of the culture.

Encouraging Reports on the Catholic Church

Shanghai Scrap and Shanghaiist are two China blogs I visit regularly. In the past few days both have covered an very encouraging story about the Catholic Church in China.  The Underground Grotto and the Papal Letter.  and A year after Pope's letter to Chinese Catholics, some positive developments.

They draw attention to a story in Union of Catholic Asian News: CHINA  Church Observers See Some Positive Results One Year After Pope's Letter. It reports the way that members of the official Catholic Churches in China, and so called "underground catholics" are beginning to talk together, work together and be reconciled. This was a result of the Pope's letter to Chinese Catholics just over a year ago which was very honouring of the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and setting some guidleines in place that would allow the relationship to get closer.

The stories reported are interesting and encouraging. In the process it rather ruins the poular myths of the underground (unregistered) movement, noting for example that in Tianjin, where part of the the story is focused, they tend to be those who worship outside the Cathedral at Mary's grotto, and thus very publicly, rather than in the Cathedral. It describes close relationships, cross over of worshipper, and walls coming down.The same of course is true of the Protestant registered church in its relationship with the protestant "underground".

There are still stories that give concern; just a few days ago of two "illegal" Cathloic priests who have disappeared near Beijing. But even then there is often a story we do not hear, so lets listen rather than ve quick to jump to conclusions.

St Paul's Nanjing again.

DSC00951, originally uploaded by China Encounters.

We worshipped at St Paul's Nanjing again yesterday -- at their English service. (** below for details)  (The above picture was taken after the main Chinese service in the main sanctuary - these are just the stragglers praying, chatting etc. There are more pictures of St Paul's here.) Previous short report here.

This was the third Sunday we have attended ... [see extension below]

Comment: Forced evictions before China's Olympics

Reporters gathering in Beijing for the start of the Olympics in three weeks time have focused attention on a house that has been standing alone in the middle of a flower bed. Its owners have refused to move on.  Last night  it seems they were forcefully evicted. This morning the house is a pile of rubble:

Forced evictions before China's Olympics  is the BBC's footage on that story and a similar one out of Beijing earlier this year.

Before I say anything else, I do not seek to downplay this story. Nothing justifies violence. But it is going to focus yet another bout of outrage at China, so I do want to make some comment and put it in context. [Read on on the extension of this page.]

Not the Chinese Laundry?

  Well, a few days ago I [Anne] promised some insights into laundry here. At last, some time to sit and write.

Perhaps it is not unusual that as a mother that as we were planning our 2 month stay in China I wondered what our laundry arrangements might be. I suppose this is a normal thing for mothers to think about occasionally as it is vital to the smooth running of life. When it's challenging, for whatever reason, to get the washing done life is that bit more tedious. When we stayed in Kunming in the West of China over 10 years ago as a family there seemed to be a lot of hand-washing combined with taking larger items to the street-side laundry down the road. This was very efficient & cheap but had the slight downside of having all your clothes on display to all who passed, including your own family (not very helpful when you were trying to hide the fact from your son that you had sent his prize football shirt to the Chinese laundry as things sometimes came back slightly smaller than you sent them – but they were certainly clean).

Please excuse any formatting errors: While I can post from China, I cannot access this site there, and so the layout of some posts may be messy.

Grace: facing disability in China.

[Anne writes:]  I said I would write about my laundry experiences – but before that I wanted to write about a set of experiences that I have just had that are very dear to my heart. As a physiotherapist I have often wanted to see how physio is practised in China. On previous visits to China I have asked about it, but the people we have met have not seemed to understand the role of a physio or had personal experience so I have not had the opportunity to pursue this.

Last week, our friend asked if I wanted to visit someone she has got to know. She knew I would be interested, but also wondered if out of my professional experience I might have some help to give. So I joined her in visiting Grace & her mother, Ma.

Grace is about 23 years old & was married. About 3 years ago she was a passenger in a car involved in a traffic accident, and as a result of her injuries, Grace was left quadriplegic, that is only able to move her head, with some movement in her arms, but not complete use of her hands. In all other ways she is paralysed & obviously needs care 24 hours a day. Her husband could not adjust to this new situation & has divorced her.

This set of circumstances would challenge any family. In China where living everyday life is hard in the best of times such a challenge is greater. .... [see extension page]

"The Good German of Nanjing"

John Rabe Memorial Hall, nanjing, originally uploaded by China Encounters.

Yesterday we met with Yang ShanYou, the director of the John Rabe Memorial Hall and Nanjing University Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. Links to more pics here: John Rabe Memorial Hall

I first described the centre in October 2006 when we were in Nanjing showing friends the city. A Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Nanjing!!   I don't think I can better what I wrote then:

Remember Oscar Schindler?  He rather defied the popular image of the Nazi by the way he saved so many Jews during the second world war. Well China has its own story of a "good Nazi". In this case its John Rabe, an employee of the German Siemens electrical goods company, who served his company here in China.  He was in Nanjing  during 1937-38 during the 6 week period when the Japanese slaughtered some 300,000 Chinese men, and raped at least 80,000 Chinese women, the event known as the Nanking Massacre often and often popularly known as the "The Rape of Nanking" after the title of the book by Iris Chang.

[More on the extension page below]