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Hong Kong and the Refugees Union
I will be in Hong Kong today and will get more on the Refugees Union. There are 6000 refugees in Hong Kong, most from the Asian Pacific area and Central Asia. Some have been in Hong Kong for more than 15 years and are still waiting for their paperwork to be processed. Many have wives and children in Hong Kong but aren't allowed to work and their children are refused resident ID cards, so they are also outside of the system in Hong Kong. I hope to spend the night at the street encampment (if there is either tent space or a free couch.) I will have pictures and more information here in a couple of days.
I will be in Hong Kong today and will get more on the Refugees Union. There are 6000 refugees in Hong Kong, most from the Asian Pacific area and Central Asia. Some have been in Hong Kong for more than 15 years and are still waiting for their paperwork to be processed. Many have wives and children in Hong Kong but aren't allowed to work and their children are refused resident ID cards, so they are also outside of the system in Hong Kong. I hope to spend the night at the street encampment (if there is either tent space or a free couch.) I will have pictures and more information here in a couple of days.
Shenzhen, the old and the new
Shenzhen is the worlds newest city but there are still remains of the villages that were here 60 years ago.Buji is what remains of a walled village that was made a part of the city. These are pictures of the old and the new living side by side (at least for now.)
Shenzhen is the worlds newest city but there are still remains of the villages that were here 60 years ago.Buji is what remains of a walled village that was made a part of the city. These are pictures of the old and the new living side by side (at least for now.)
Hong Kong at street level (this will be expanded)
The past week has been interesting and with a good supply of dark beer will be the source of quite a few stories. Part of the week was in Hong Kong with a videographer friend, talking with some very interesting people. These women are Phillipina domestic workers on their time off. They gather in a couple of public spaces to chat, play cards, and dream of saving enough money to return home and build a better life.
Another interesting group is the Refugee Union. Hong Kong has a small population (about 6000) of refugees. Some have been there for almost twenty years but still have not been processed as refugees. They are in a legal Limbo. Having no Hong Kong identity card, they can't work. They live on a (very) small amount of government support (and their wits,) to survive. It is life, trapped in the pages of Catch 22. If they work, they are breaking the law, and may be given the possible death sentence of deportation. They are now set up in a public space much like the Occupy Movement, in an attempt to show the Hong Kong people what is happening in their city. I will be going there for a couple of days this week and will have a lot more information and pictures.
The past week has been interesting and with a good supply of dark beer will be the source of quite a few stories. Part of the week was in Hong Kong with a videographer friend, talking with some very interesting people. These women are Phillipina domestic workers on their time off. They gather in a couple of public spaces to chat, play cards, and dream of saving enough money to return home and build a better life.
Another interesting group is the Refugee Union. Hong Kong has a small population (about 6000) of refugees. Some have been there for almost twenty years but still have not been processed as refugees. They are in a legal Limbo. Having no Hong Kong identity card, they can't work. They live on a (very) small amount of government support (and their wits,) to survive. It is life, trapped in the pages of Catch 22. If they work, they are breaking the law, and may be given the possible death sentence of deportation. They are now set up in a public space much like the Occupy Movement, in an attempt to show the Hong Kong people what is happening in their city. I will be going there for a couple of days this week and will have a lot more information and pictures.
How do you spell "modern" ???
It's interesting ..... while the rest of the world struggles to find low cost, energy efficient transport, China is putting more and more restrictions on some of the best transport in the world. The bicycle, electric bicycle and motor tricycle truck are doing more to lower the fossil fuel use than all the solar cells produced in China. They might be a nice idea for deliveries in New York or Chicago.
It's interesting ..... while the rest of the world struggles to find low cost, energy efficient transport, China is putting more and more restrictions on some of the best transport in the world. The bicycle, electric bicycle and motor tricycle truck are doing more to lower the fossil fuel use than all the solar cells produced in China. They might be a nice idea for deliveries in New York or Chicago.
Kung Fu direct from the Shaolin Monestary
This Kung Fu demonstration was at "Book City." Book City is a large bookstore in what can only be called a cultural mall. There is a concert hall, music stores, a great bookstore, and most important, buskers and street entertainers. This was a Shaolin monk doing some pretty interesting things. I have seen bricks broken before but I never saw a brick broken while laying on a flat hard surface. This boy might even hold his own on payday night in the Buck N'Doe Lounge down there in Logan County West by God Virginia..
Kung Fu direct from the Shaolin Monestary
This Kung Fu demonstration was at "Book City." Book City is a large bookstore in what can only be called a cultural mall. There is a concert hall, music stores, a great bookstore, and most important, buskers and street entertainers. This was a Shaolin monk doing some pretty interesting things. I have seen bricks broken before but I never saw a brick broken while laying on a flat hard surface. This boy might even hold his own on payday night in the Buck N'Doe Lounge down there in Logan County West by God Virginia..
Tai Chi in Shenzhen
Most of these pictures were taken at the city martial arts meet last year. The lady in red is Teacher Pang. They are looking at the new uniforms for the city meet. Teacher Pang is amazing, when she does the Tai Chi movements you can see the amazing strength in that small woman. Her husband is also a Tai Chi master, and their twenty year old son is well on his way.
Uighers
These are not Uighers. This is a picture of me, with Shelley at a Uigher restaurant here in Shenzhen. Uighrs are from the Northwest of China. Xinjiang the Uighur Autonomous Region boarders Pakistan, Afghanistan, Warezatistan, and two or three other stans that weren't in the geography books when I was in school. Their language is not Manderin, but rather Turkik, and they are Muslims. They are Muslims, but certainly not fundamentalists. (the hat was given to me by a Uigher.) There are even Muslim Uighers in Hunan who speak only Chinese, use Arabic for religious purposes, and eat pork. I must try to visit Chengde next month. These are my kind of Muslims. "Suicide vest? No thanks. Let's sit down over a beer and discuss that kind of theology."
Home in Shenzhen
This is Shenzhen from my balcony. Actually it Shenzhen as it was seen from my balcony. There is a shopping mall going up that blocks the view now.These pictures describe life in Shenzhen, and particularly in Yitian Village for an old foreigner. They range from family pictures of Cathy, Lucky, and Cathy's parents, to street scenes, beach scenes, and restaurant pictures that will make you want to come to China.
Grand Daughter Shelley
Almost eight years ago, in Tianshui, a small city in Gansu province, I met Shelley. I went to an"English Corner"at a small school and as soon as I entered the room, I was greeted by a little middle school girl in a baggy school uniform. Two weeks later I was at another English Corner (a different school) and the same little Middle School girl rushed over to speak English. From then on, every Friday evening she was at my apartment with my university students watching English language movies. Within three months, I found myself adopted as a grandfather and since then I have watched the little Middle School girl from the Appalachia of China grow into an amazing young woman. I have seen her win national academic honors and I've been there when her heart was broken (as well when she was breaking hearts.) That's my granddaughter Shelley.
Some of my Students
On Getting Old in an Internet Driven World
It’s amazing; sometimes it can take so long to understand something that should be so simple. “How are you today Tom?” ….. “Just waiting to die, just waiting to die.” That was twenty years ago in a nursing home in Maine. I was pastor of a small New England church at the time and standing beside that bed, breathing the disinfected air of a nursing home, it was hard to think of a response. Now, at seventy five, I think I am beginning to understand what he meant. It was simple. It just meant; “I don’t like the world I find myself in.”
I am in China now, I’ve been here for seven years and it’s not China that I dislike, it’s a world that’s falling apart and leading China and itself rapidly on an electronic media leash into what is bound to be a social hell. I live in a disintegrating Chinese family, a family first broken by revolution, then, the pieces shattered by Cultural Revolution. I see young people convinced by media (and lives lived in a world formed by media) who believe that permanent relationships are impossible. I see other young people who see it as a non issue. We are now in a world where many of the men who were condemned for using women, are now role models for women as well as men, and the few young men and women who resist are more and more confused, hurt, or marginalized by their peers.
It’s a world I helped to create and I don’t like what I see. I bought too much of it as it began and failed to fight hard enough against it when I began to see where it was going. We are headed into a world where anomie rules and chaos is normal. I have had my hand in it’s creation but I now see what has been done. The 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of great turmoil. Things calmed down for a while (if we can call a couple of world wars calm,) but it will be far worse this time. China is an example. The Chinese family, the building block of Chinese society, is collapsing. It has already happened in America. Change is the fundamental quality of history, but change has never happened at such a rate and on such a scale as we see in the world today. Between the internet and mass media we are being taught to accept changes in basic values that will without doubt, have tremendous social consequences for both individuals and society itself. We have seen change that accepts what was once seen as “wrong” because it is so common, and rejects many of the rules of the past as either oppressive, wrong, or just obsolete in this new world.
I saw the evils. I was in the American South when bus stations had water fountains labeled “white” and “colored.” It was a world where abuse was accepted: “What do all battered women have in common? They just can’t shut up.” Seeing those water fountains turned me into a radical, and the jokes and attitudes turned me into (at the very least,) a feminist sympathizer. I saw the end of Colonialism and the beginning of a Neo Colonialism that now seems to be morphing into some kind of Multi National Corporate Colonialism. Now, looking back, I see that we have not “thrown out the baby with the bath water.” We have thrown much out, but seem to have saved (in the name of freedom,) the dirty water. Now, we are bathing generations of babies in the dirty water, then throwing them into a world with less and less structure, to develop their own rules for interpersonal behavior. We failed, when in our rejection of the evils of our society, we at the same time displayed such a casual attitude to those rules that gave society structure at the basic level that we made them seem irrelevant. We have failed to make the world into the future paradise imagined in the beautiful dreamtime of the 60's and 70'.
Having said all this, I’m not just “waiting to die,” there is still a lot that I must do (and see) before I'm ready for that, but at the same time I am certainly not unhappy with being seventy five years old and when I look at where we are going it's interesting but it’s not at all frightening to know that Sister Death is on her way to guide me to Fiddlers Green.
It’s amazing; sometimes it can take so long to understand something that should be so simple. “How are you today Tom?” ….. “Just waiting to die, just waiting to die.” That was twenty years ago in a nursing home in Maine. I was pastor of a small New England church at the time and standing beside that bed, breathing the disinfected air of a nursing home, it was hard to think of a response. Now, at seventy five, I think I am beginning to understand what he meant. It was simple. It just meant; “I don’t like the world I find myself in.”
I am in China now, I’ve been here for seven years and it’s not China that I dislike, it’s a world that’s falling apart and leading China and itself rapidly on an electronic media leash into what is bound to be a social hell. I live in a disintegrating Chinese family, a family first broken by revolution, then, the pieces shattered by Cultural Revolution. I see young people convinced by media (and lives lived in a world formed by media) who believe that permanent relationships are impossible. I see other young people who see it as a non issue. We are now in a world where many of the men who were condemned for using women, are now role models for women as well as men, and the few young men and women who resist are more and more confused, hurt, or marginalized by their peers.
It’s a world I helped to create and I don’t like what I see. I bought too much of it as it began and failed to fight hard enough against it when I began to see where it was going. We are headed into a world where anomie rules and chaos is normal. I have had my hand in it’s creation but I now see what has been done. The 19th and early 20th centuries were a time of great turmoil. Things calmed down for a while (if we can call a couple of world wars calm,) but it will be far worse this time. China is an example. The Chinese family, the building block of Chinese society, is collapsing. It has already happened in America. Change is the fundamental quality of history, but change has never happened at such a rate and on such a scale as we see in the world today. Between the internet and mass media we are being taught to accept changes in basic values that will without doubt, have tremendous social consequences for both individuals and society itself. We have seen change that accepts what was once seen as “wrong” because it is so common, and rejects many of the rules of the past as either oppressive, wrong, or just obsolete in this new world.
I saw the evils. I was in the American South when bus stations had water fountains labeled “white” and “colored.” It was a world where abuse was accepted: “What do all battered women have in common? They just can’t shut up.” Seeing those water fountains turned me into a radical, and the jokes and attitudes turned me into (at the very least,) a feminist sympathizer. I saw the end of Colonialism and the beginning of a Neo Colonialism that now seems to be morphing into some kind of Multi National Corporate Colonialism. Now, looking back, I see that we have not “thrown out the baby with the bath water.” We have thrown much out, but seem to have saved (in the name of freedom,) the dirty water. Now, we are bathing generations of babies in the dirty water, then throwing them into a world with less and less structure, to develop their own rules for interpersonal behavior. We failed, when in our rejection of the evils of our society, we at the same time displayed such a casual attitude to those rules that gave society structure at the basic level that we made them seem irrelevant. We have failed to make the world into the future paradise imagined in the beautiful dreamtime of the 60's and 70'.
Having said all this, I’m not just “waiting to die,” there is still a lot that I must do (and see) before I'm ready for that, but at the same time I am certainly not unhappy with being seventy five years old and when I look at where we are going it's interesting but it’s not at all frightening to know that Sister Death is on her way to guide me to Fiddlers Green.
Snakebite Medicine?
This is medicinal Beijiu, a fermented and distilled millet alcoholic drink. In this case the snakes provide the real medicinal value. Alone, Beijiu has a smell reminiscent of lighter fluid. (It can't be used for lighter fluid as it softens the flints.) The snakes not only provide health benefits , they also make it a much smoother drink (except for occasional scales,)
A Short Slide Show
An example of amazing self control. H.D. Peaudle (Harry da poodle) inspects sausages made by a neighbor.
Free markets at the street level
It's interesting that here in China,( the country where everyone is forced to wear Mao jackets and walk in lockstep) it seems there is more true free enterprise at street level than in the USA. Many of these street peddlers begin with their merchandise on a blanket laid out on the sidewalk. From that, they move to a pushcart, then an electric bicycle and finally end up with a small shop. Maybe we could learn something from that.
How about these guys for the Para-Olympics?
Wheelchair basketball ? How about acrobatic wheelchair dancing?
New Contract With The U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services
SinoGruelCo, A wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton/Walmart International has announced a new long term relationship with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. "Sinogruel," a new, fortified and enriched gruel is expected to solve the problem of hunger in the developed world. Sinogruel uses the previously useless soy bye-products of the pet food industry to produce a nutritious instant food that has been a fundamental part of Western culture for hundreds of years. It is produced in a variety of flavors including free range chicken, roast beef, and spiced chicken feet. In the opinion of this financial columnist we will soon be hearing the Sinogruel motto much more often in the developed world. "Please Sir, More Gruel"
Ecumenical conference in Dafen Village
I met this Taoist monk in Dafen Village. I went with a friend who had to get some model releases signed by an artist. While he was in the gallery with the artist I found this monk. I'm not sure what he does in Dafen Village. He has what appears to be a small shop, with a Taoist alter in the center and a table on one side of the room where he sits smoking and drinking tea. The second time I walked past I was invited in and offered tea. We talked a while, using a lot of sign language.
When he understood that I couldn't do Tai Chi because of shoulder pain, he immediately got up, felt my shoulder, then massaged it with a grip that could crush walnuts. After the short massage he brought out a small bottle with a medicine dropper cap and put two drops of something in my tea. He then put a kind of heat plaster on my shoulder. There was no charge for this. I must go back with a good interpreter and find out much more about him.
When he understood that I couldn't do Tai Chi because of shoulder pain, he immediately got up, felt my shoulder, then massaged it with a grip that could crush walnuts. After the short massage he brought out a small bottle with a medicine dropper cap and put two drops of something in my tea. He then put a kind of heat plaster on my shoulder. There was no charge for this. I must go back with a good interpreter and find out much more about him.
Heroic Bible Smugglers, And other Grifters.
Missionaries and bible salesmen. Two groups that haven't impressed me much. I've yet to meet one of the bible hustlers but I've heard a lot about them in on line Christian chat rooms. Heroic Christians smuggling bibles into repressive Communist China. Well, I don't know where they get their bibles, but they could probably save a lot of shipping costs by buying them here in China. If the marks would just send the money, I could buy the bibles locally, distribute them by subway, and have enough money left over for a few beers and a couple of nice meals at the Uighur restaurant near Cathy's sisters house.
As far as missionaries, I did know a couple. There was a dream job for one 25 year old asshole. Support from some church in Mississippi. Plenty of courtesy converts too polite to say "no," and a license to chase college girls from all the Christian churches in the area. The other was in his 30's. He ministered to the Philippine workers and was a true wonderful man of God. He married a Phillipina and they had a beautiful baby. It was sad. Something terrible must have happened to him. He went back to the States with the baby and something terrible must have happened. His wife never heard from them again.
As far as missionaries, I did know a couple. There was a dream job for one 25 year old asshole. Support from some church in Mississippi. Plenty of courtesy converts too polite to say "no," and a license to chase college girls from all the Christian churches in the area. The other was in his 30's. He ministered to the Philippine workers and was a true wonderful man of God. He married a Phillipina and they had a beautiful baby. It was sad. Something terrible must have happened to him. He went back to the States with the baby and something terrible must have happened. His wife never heard from them again.
In a Couple of Christian Bookstores in Shenzhen
Free enterprise in China (at street level)
Westerners often think of China as some sort of bee hive society. A Socialist Realist painting of workers in Mao Jackets marching in lockstep towards the future. It might have been great poster material 50 years ago but it sure isn't what China looks like today. The streets are full of entrepreneurs, everything from balloon peddlers to noodle restaurants mounted on the backs of electric tricycles.
These are a couple of success stories from the Shenzhen streets. The bicycle repairman is at a shady corner near Yi Tian Village. He made his own shopmobile and crutch as well. The crutch is interesting. He uses it as a kind of almost prosthesis.When he walks he puts the stump of his right leg on the cross brace and supports himself on the leg.
This family started by cooking in their apartment kitchen (about the size of a New York closet) and selling food from an electric tricycle set up with a steam table on the back. They ended up with a flower shop in the flower district.
1/8/04
In the Hot Room
This is a "Hot Room" here in YiTian Village. The floor is heated to 42 degrees centigrade (114 F.) It's not quite a sauna but after 20 or thirty minutes on that hot floor you work up quite a sweat. It's traditional Chinese medicine with a modern touch.
In the Hot Room
This is a "Hot Room" here in YiTian Village. The floor is heated to 42 degrees centigrade (114 F.) It's not quite a sauna but after 20 or thirty minutes on that hot floor you work up quite a sweat. It's traditional Chinese medicine with a modern touch.
Happy New Year
2014
Lion Dancers, Yi Tian Village
This is the Lion Dance, a thousand year old mix of Kung Fu, Dance, and Street theater. The first Lion Dances were in the Chin Dynasty (3rd century BC.) This was on New Year's day at a new Beauty salon here in the village.
Dafen Village, Shenzhen
Huang Feng Rong
There is original art in Dafen village and it's art in true Shenzhen style, "Performance Painter" Huang Feng Rong.
The young ladies are dancers in a new performance work. (ah but to be in my 20's again ..... (hell, even in my 40's) These were taken at a rehearsal. His website is: http://cnpaintingart.com I saw "off Broadway" in a Jersey City loft in the 70's and I think I'm having a flashback.
Yi Tian Village ..... A new Chinese village
This is about a Chinese village. Not the one where I met the two on our left, but a village in the South of China. Yi Tian Village in Shenzhen. Yi Tian is in the worlds most modern city but in many ways it as much a village as is Zhu Lin Village in Gansu Province. Yi Tian Village is a bit bigger than Gansu Province's Zhu Lin village, and a lot more 21st century but it still has many if the characteristics of a village. The ground floor of all the high rise buildings is open space. There is an administrative center that includes a police precinct, a small medical center, and a great deal of open space. In the U.S.A. it would be seen as some kind of housing project and it would probably be dangerous to go within a half mile of it. In Shenzhen, China it's one village in a larger city. What makes it interesting is that it's a village, a village with 400,000 residents. A very big village indeed.
This is Yi Tian Village (with 400,000 residents,) and a bit of Shenzhen life.
12/1/13
It's been a busy few days and I'm still not sure what's happening at times. I've been talking with some people in Kurdistan about some sort of short term teaching job, but there seem to be some problems in communication. I've also been working on some u tube videos with a mad Polish videographer. They should be a lot of fun. They are the voice of God (or GD as he prefers to be called) and spoken as clearly as if he was sitting on the bar stool next to you in the Buck and Doe bar, just next to the Sunset View Trailer Park. This is a God who isn't afraid to call bovine fecal matter what it is ..... bullshit. One of his particular gripes is snake handlers. The people who take the bible so literally they miss what it's talking about. The morons in Mississippi who handle rattlsnakes are an extreme example . It's not just them, its all the fundamentalists who get such pleasure out of the idea that Hell must be expanding faster than Walmart to keep up with all the sinners they see around them. This God, being sovereign, has not only the right but a complete willingness to call them what they are .... theologically constipated assholes. It should be interesting to see the responses. The point is I'm not mocking God but I am mocking the idea that we can draw some sort of God picture in out mind. God is bigger than that. One of the Gnostic sects defined God as "the reality behind our symbols" and I like that. The God I draw in these videos isn't a God in white robes wearing a golden crown. This is a god who has been a part of humanity at the lowest level and understands. We have shot the first one and I'll post here as soon as we put it on u tube.
It's been a busy few days and I'm still not sure what's happening at times. I've been talking with some people in Kurdistan about some sort of short term teaching job, but there seem to be some problems in communication. I've also been working on some u tube videos with a mad Polish videographer. They should be a lot of fun. They are the voice of God (or GD as he prefers to be called) and spoken as clearly as if he was sitting on the bar stool next to you in the Buck and Doe bar, just next to the Sunset View Trailer Park. This is a God who isn't afraid to call bovine fecal matter what it is ..... bullshit. One of his particular gripes is snake handlers. The people who take the bible so literally they miss what it's talking about. The morons in Mississippi who handle rattlsnakes are an extreme example . It's not just them, its all the fundamentalists who get such pleasure out of the idea that Hell must be expanding faster than Walmart to keep up with all the sinners they see around them. This God, being sovereign, has not only the right but a complete willingness to call them what they are .... theologically constipated assholes. It should be interesting to see the responses. The point is I'm not mocking God but I am mocking the idea that we can draw some sort of God picture in out mind. God is bigger than that. One of the Gnostic sects defined God as "the reality behind our symbols" and I like that. The God I draw in these videos isn't a God in white robes wearing a golden crown. This is a god who has been a part of humanity at the lowest level and understands. We have shot the first one and I'll post here as soon as we put it on u tube.
Shenzhen is the worlds newest city, and of course every modern city must have some sort of artists district. Well, Dafen Village is Shenzhen's artists district. It's the Left Bank, Greenwich Village, and Coney Island; taken apart, reassembled by Lewis Carrol, then fed steroids and managed by P.T.Barnum. Its great. Dafen Village has everything for the art market. There's a showroom for a Huighou art factory that makes everything from hotel lobby sculpture to fiberglass Disney figures and a large, red, fiberglass male nude that must sell well to San Francisco interior decorators. * Every other shop has a smiling Mona Lisa looking out at passers by. If I meet one of the painters who do Mona Lisas I'm going to see what a nude Mona Lisa on black velvet would cost. That would be great art.
I did meet a couple of real painters (I think.)One of them is Huang Feng Rong who is (in his words) "The founder of Chinese performance painting". I'm not one to judge the painting, but the performance was great. Here are a couple of pictures of him.
*Please note: I didn't say "Frisco," I said San Francisco. (I was being polite) There was once a city named Frisco located in that same place. Frisco didn't have interior decorators so a lot of them moved there and changed it's name to San Francisco. I think that was in the late 50s or early 60's. Personally I prefer Frisco.
here to edit.
I did meet a couple of real painters (I think.)One of them is Huang Feng Rong who is (in his words) "The founder of Chinese performance painting". I'm not one to judge the painting, but the performance was great. Here are a couple of pictures of him.
*Please note: I didn't say "Frisco," I said San Francisco. (I was being polite) There was once a city named Frisco located in that same place. Frisco didn't have interior decorators so a lot of them moved there and changed it's name to San Francisco. I think that was in the late 50s or early 60's. Personally I prefer Frisco.
here to edit.
A few more recent pictures; the wedding, Halloween, and a bit of the village.
The wedding picture is of the bride and groom making their vows. I like the idea. When I pastored churches in the States I sometimes thought it would be better to skip the registration with the state. The ceremony would be for the couple and the church family that promises to support them in the difficulties that lie ahead. If they want the benefits of a government marriage, then go to city hall. There's also one of Cathy, looking at the large bride and groom picture outside of the banquet room. This was a house church wedding so at least in this case, this house church is hardly "underground.
I particularly like the picture of the Christian bookstore. I wonder why the "missionaries," who collect donations to "smuggle" bibles into China don't just buy them here in Christian bookstores or church bookshops. I've been considering setting up a bible service for missionaries. They raise the money and I'll buy the bibles here for a fraction of what they must be paying, (unless they steal them from hotel rooms) and I'll have enough left over for scholarships for a couple of Chinese kids, and a few evenings at "Weegers*" eating barbecued mutton and drinking the only good dark beer made in China. I'll put more pictures of Weegers on here sometime. Its run by Uighurs, a Muslim minority from the far Northwest, interesting people and hardly hard core Salafi Muslims. The seem to be more like the UCC of Islam.
The two night pictures show what is happening to the view from my balcony. The view of the city and park are being replaced with a view of a shopping mall's wall. Progress strikes again and in Shenzhen it seems to strike more often than in other places. There's one of my newest student. And NO, i don't give out email addresses and another of me sitting in my office. Wide angle lenses are great. The picture shows almost all of my luxurious corner office without showing the sink and washing machine or the clothes drying racks that hang from the ceiling.
The picture on the bottom left is a display of masks in a small Chinese shop. It appears that China is learning to take Halloween seriously. The last one is photographic proof that a Miniature Poodle can be a real guard. If anyone goes near that bed while Cathy is sleeping the whole house will hear how loud a poodle can growl.
The wedding picture is of the bride and groom making their vows. I like the idea. When I pastored churches in the States I sometimes thought it would be better to skip the registration with the state. The ceremony would be for the couple and the church family that promises to support them in the difficulties that lie ahead. If they want the benefits of a government marriage, then go to city hall. There's also one of Cathy, looking at the large bride and groom picture outside of the banquet room. This was a house church wedding so at least in this case, this house church is hardly "underground.
I particularly like the picture of the Christian bookstore. I wonder why the "missionaries," who collect donations to "smuggle" bibles into China don't just buy them here in Christian bookstores or church bookshops. I've been considering setting up a bible service for missionaries. They raise the money and I'll buy the bibles here for a fraction of what they must be paying, (unless they steal them from hotel rooms) and I'll have enough left over for scholarships for a couple of Chinese kids, and a few evenings at "Weegers*" eating barbecued mutton and drinking the only good dark beer made in China. I'll put more pictures of Weegers on here sometime. Its run by Uighurs, a Muslim minority from the far Northwest, interesting people and hardly hard core Salafi Muslims. The seem to be more like the UCC of Islam.
The two night pictures show what is happening to the view from my balcony. The view of the city and park are being replaced with a view of a shopping mall's wall. Progress strikes again and in Shenzhen it seems to strike more often than in other places. There's one of my newest student. And NO, i don't give out email addresses and another of me sitting in my office. Wide angle lenses are great. The picture shows almost all of my luxurious corner office without showing the sink and washing machine or the clothes drying racks that hang from the ceiling.
The picture on the bottom left is a display of masks in a small Chinese shop. It appears that China is learning to take Halloween seriously. The last one is photographic proof that a Miniature Poodle can be a real guard. If anyone goes near that bed while Cathy is sleeping the whole house will hear how loud a poodle can growl.
Happy Halloween ….. It’s even happy Halloween here in Shenzhen. We just had visit by some strange horrifying creatures. First it was Jack (Jumping Jack,) my favorite student. Jack would probably be off the scale on any scale that measures ADD. He might be bouncing off the walls, but if I speak to him or ask a question, he will immediately calm, answer the question and go back to bouncing off the walls. He’s also a really neat 8 year old. When he gets a little too active, all have to do is say “Jack “ … then place my hands on my knees and take a deep, slow breath.” Jack immediately does the same. Cathy’s brother is teaching him saxophone and in 2 weeks he’s beginning to play scales.
After Jack left we were visited by three more scary creatures. I was in bed but they wouldn’t be bought off by candy from Cathy, they had to see “teacher.” They woke me up but it was worth it. They’re really nice kids.
Jack’s family is wonderful, we have become friends. They are a true romance story. His mother was a waitress in a small restaurant. His father is a small business owner. He asked her out and she refused, so he kept going back. For a couple of weeks he ate there every night until she went out with him. Jack is now 8 and Jennie just presented him with a
baby brother. We had lunch with them today. Cathy’s brother is 41 years and unmarried. Jennie had to have him meet her good friend’s sister so she took us all to lunch.
It’s been an interesting week. As well as watching “Yenta the matchmaker” at work in China, I went to a “house church” wedding. It wasn’t held in the church but in a restaurant ballroom. In some ways it was like the wedding at Cana. The civil ceremony was done. This was a celebration of the marriage. There was a short homily, then the couple took
their vows in the presence of the church. The minister didn’t “pronounce them man and wife.” They were man and wife and we were celebrating that fact. I suspect that Jesus would have liked it. (Especially when the bride and groom led
a line dance around the room.) I think he would have done something about the toasts being drunk with coconut milk though.
I’ll close this now. I was just told that I’m making mashed potatoes tonight so I must get on my bicycle and go to the
supermarket for butter. I’ll try to post more often from now on, so bye bye and see ya later.
After Jack left we were visited by three more scary creatures. I was in bed but they wouldn’t be bought off by candy from Cathy, they had to see “teacher.” They woke me up but it was worth it. They’re really nice kids.
Jack’s family is wonderful, we have become friends. They are a true romance story. His mother was a waitress in a small restaurant. His father is a small business owner. He asked her out and she refused, so he kept going back. For a couple of weeks he ate there every night until she went out with him. Jack is now 8 and Jennie just presented him with a
baby brother. We had lunch with them today. Cathy’s brother is 41 years and unmarried. Jennie had to have him meet her good friend’s sister so she took us all to lunch.
It’s been an interesting week. As well as watching “Yenta the matchmaker” at work in China, I went to a “house church” wedding. It wasn’t held in the church but in a restaurant ballroom. In some ways it was like the wedding at Cana. The civil ceremony was done. This was a celebration of the marriage. There was a short homily, then the couple took
their vows in the presence of the church. The minister didn’t “pronounce them man and wife.” They were man and wife and we were celebrating that fact. I suspect that Jesus would have liked it. (Especially when the bride and groom led
a line dance around the room.) I think he would have done something about the toasts being drunk with coconut milk though.
I’ll close this now. I was just told that I’m making mashed potatoes tonight so I must get on my bicycle and go to the
supermarket for butter. I’ll try to post more often from now on, so bye bye and see ya later.
I haven’t said much about missionaries here. It’s probably my natural reluctance to offend that stopped me, but I met a good one yesterday. My previous experience with missionaries hadn’t impressed me. I lived in a building with two of them when I was in Gansu Province and sometime I’ll tell the story of looking for help for the fifteen year old prostitute. It didn’t take long before I decided that the natives of the Solomon Islands might have had the right idea. Since missionaries claim God sent them, then they must be good for something. A skinny Jehovah’s Witness or a fundamentalist Mississippi Baptist might not be as good as a fat Anglican bishop but when times are tough maybe they’re still better than the local McRatburger. I suspect that they would have to be boiled a long time though. A cannibal recipe for Southern Baptist soup would have to be a little like the old Yankee recipe for Coot Stew. "Put the coot in a pot of cold water along with a brick. Bring to a boil and cook till the brick is tender. Throw away the coot and eat the brick."
Yesterday I met a different sort of missionary. He wasn’t a clean cut young American fresh from completing his Bachelors of BS (that’s Bachelors of Biblical Studies) from Brother Bubba’s BBQ Stand and On Line Bible College. He was a crippled Chinese beggar, playing traditional Chinese music on the street. I discovered that he was a missionary when he gave me a tract, but he wasn’t sitting there passing out tracts. He was bringing traditional music to the Shenzhen streets and it was after I had put some change in his cup that he gave me one. He wasn’t passing them out, hoping that a few people would respond by putting something in his cup. He was instead, returning a favor with a greater favor. I wonder which of these missionaries showed passerby’s the face of the Body of Christs: the foreign teachers telling frightened students (during the aftershocks of an earthquake,) that according to ancient scriptures they have never heard of, they must accept Jesus, or be forever tortured in Hell like their ancestors, or the smiling beggar on the elevated walk way over Xinzhou Liu ?
Yesterday I met a different sort of missionary. He wasn’t a clean cut young American fresh from completing his Bachelors of BS (that’s Bachelors of Biblical Studies) from Brother Bubba’s BBQ Stand and On Line Bible College. He was a crippled Chinese beggar, playing traditional Chinese music on the street. I discovered that he was a missionary when he gave me a tract, but he wasn’t sitting there passing out tracts. He was bringing traditional music to the Shenzhen streets and it was after I had put some change in his cup that he gave me one. He wasn’t passing them out, hoping that a few people would respond by putting something in his cup. He was instead, returning a favor with a greater favor. I wonder which of these missionaries showed passerby’s the face of the Body of Christs: the foreign teachers telling frightened students (during the aftershocks of an earthquake,) that according to ancient scriptures they have never heard of, they must accept Jesus, or be forever tortured in Hell like their ancestors, or the smiling beggar on the elevated walk way over Xinzhou Liu ?
9/27
in my office
Well I guess I'm finally getting settled again here in China. I've already been reprimanded by two Chinese women and a reprimand by a Chinese woman isn't like a reprimand from a Japanese woman. A Japanese woman lowers her eyes and displays proper humility. A Chinese woman raises her voice and if necessary, escalates the reprimand to the level of thrown objects. This is one thing that many foreigners here have learned in a painful way. The only thing worse than operating with misinformation is having a wrong stereotype. The first reprimand was mild. A week of Tai Chi has made me sore enough to take three evening off from the class. Teacher Pang mad it clear that was no excue. She clearly explained, without speaking a word of English, "No pain, no gain." I'll have to get Adam to video the class some night. Watching the leader take the class through a warmup routine makes it clear that hes not giving dancing lessons.
The other reprimand was from Cathy. Cathy feels that she must take care of me and that means being sure that I'm careful, eat well, and don't sleep with open windows. I had gone shopping, walked all around Center Walk Mall, then carried a bag of very heavy groceries home. I was pretty beat when I got there. My explanation was that I had to go to the mall because Carrefours Market was the only place I could get good, sharp, Cheddar Cheese, (and even more important,) "Original Formula" Pabst Blue Ribbon, dark beer. It's not even available in the States ( I can only find the it in a French supermarket in China. I guess that's one of the benefits of multinational capitalism.) The second reprimand and of far more importance, was that I was drinking cold beer. Apparently two cans of cold beer is deadly but a coffee cup of medicine Bei Jieu, (this stuff is about 140 proof and has been sitting with everything from a large ginsing root, to a variety of what look like beans floating in for 6 months. There are other things in the jug as well but I won't even guess what they are. They could be anything from insect parts, to the dried and powdered reproductive organs of a couple of endangered species. To be good for ones health a liquid must be hot, and tasting like waste water from a factory farm, or, like good American Moonshine whiskey (when some moonshiers still took pride in their craft,) strong enough to make one of Mother Theresa's dying beggars jump up, stamp his foor, and say "DAMN !!!! " (The better varieties would make Mother Theresa herself do it.)
I've been having internet problems since I got back. I can't get on Facebook yet but I've found the religious chatrooms on Yahoo a lot of fun. I have already been banned from two of them. A catholic room because I suggested that the Catholic Church in China was a part of the "true church," and from a fundamentalist room for suggesting that the constant posting of scripture, and hymn playing was a kind of "spiritual masturbation," harmless in itself but it certainly limited ones social life. Maybe it would have been OK if I had said Onanism. When I see what people say in Christian Chat Rooms I can understand "The Secret Letter of The Pope to Martin Luther." It's been hidden in the Vatican Library since the Reformation. The only ones allowed to see it are a secret group of Jesuits sworn to blow up the English House of Parliment the next time a king named James sets foot in it. What they didn't know was that Luther gave a copy to Erasmus of Rotterdam one night they were drinking together. It's just a short note: "C'mon Martin, theologically I agree. Sola Scriptura's a great idea. But do you know what the Jehovah's Witnesses will do with it? Instead of hooded monks preaching in the town square, you won't be able to step outside without some smiling twenty year old in a cheap suit selling a new variety of Christianity, everything from Tutti Frutti to Cherry Garcia. And Martin, seriously take my word, I really know because I'm infallible"
Some of the internet people are pretty serious about their particular flavor of Christianity. I wish they were as serious as that guy who told the story about the rich man and the beggar (I can't think of his name at the moment,) but it's about what happens to you if you live fat and ignore the beggar in your doorway. They tend to get even more upset if I suggest that it happens to nations as well as individuals. I think the great Hebrew Prophets gave me that idea. Oh well, sometimes I can be misunderstood. At times people don't understand the difference between what I say seriously, and the occasional slightly sarcastic comments I might make. It's an understandable failure, it happens to me all the time.
The other reprimand was from Cathy. Cathy feels that she must take care of me and that means being sure that I'm careful, eat well, and don't sleep with open windows. I had gone shopping, walked all around Center Walk Mall, then carried a bag of very heavy groceries home. I was pretty beat when I got there. My explanation was that I had to go to the mall because Carrefours Market was the only place I could get good, sharp, Cheddar Cheese, (and even more important,) "Original Formula" Pabst Blue Ribbon, dark beer. It's not even available in the States ( I can only find the it in a French supermarket in China. I guess that's one of the benefits of multinational capitalism.) The second reprimand and of far more importance, was that I was drinking cold beer. Apparently two cans of cold beer is deadly but a coffee cup of medicine Bei Jieu, (this stuff is about 140 proof and has been sitting with everything from a large ginsing root, to a variety of what look like beans floating in for 6 months. There are other things in the jug as well but I won't even guess what they are. They could be anything from insect parts, to the dried and powdered reproductive organs of a couple of endangered species. To be good for ones health a liquid must be hot, and tasting like waste water from a factory farm, or, like good American Moonshine whiskey (when some moonshiers still took pride in their craft,) strong enough to make one of Mother Theresa's dying beggars jump up, stamp his foor, and say "DAMN !!!! " (The better varieties would make Mother Theresa herself do it.)
I've been having internet problems since I got back. I can't get on Facebook yet but I've found the religious chatrooms on Yahoo a lot of fun. I have already been banned from two of them. A catholic room because I suggested that the Catholic Church in China was a part of the "true church," and from a fundamentalist room for suggesting that the constant posting of scripture, and hymn playing was a kind of "spiritual masturbation," harmless in itself but it certainly limited ones social life. Maybe it would have been OK if I had said Onanism. When I see what people say in Christian Chat Rooms I can understand "The Secret Letter of The Pope to Martin Luther." It's been hidden in the Vatican Library since the Reformation. The only ones allowed to see it are a secret group of Jesuits sworn to blow up the English House of Parliment the next time a king named James sets foot in it. What they didn't know was that Luther gave a copy to Erasmus of Rotterdam one night they were drinking together. It's just a short note: "C'mon Martin, theologically I agree. Sola Scriptura's a great idea. But do you know what the Jehovah's Witnesses will do with it? Instead of hooded monks preaching in the town square, you won't be able to step outside without some smiling twenty year old in a cheap suit selling a new variety of Christianity, everything from Tutti Frutti to Cherry Garcia. And Martin, seriously take my word, I really know because I'm infallible"
Some of the internet people are pretty serious about their particular flavor of Christianity. I wish they were as serious as that guy who told the story about the rich man and the beggar (I can't think of his name at the moment,) but it's about what happens to you if you live fat and ignore the beggar in your doorway. They tend to get even more upset if I suggest that it happens to nations as well as individuals. I think the great Hebrew Prophets gave me that idea. Oh well, sometimes I can be misunderstood. At times people don't understand the difference between what I say seriously, and the occasional slightly sarcastic comments I might make. It's an understandable failure, it happens to me all the time.
with Teacher Pang
It's been a long time but I'm home, I'm back in Shenzhen. This is a picture with Teacher Pang. It was taken about a year and a half ago, I'm smaller now but I'm back at Tai Chi. Yesterday evening when I dropped out after the first time through the movements, (even tho I was soaked with sweat and exhausted,) she made me promise to make it thru twice today. It's great. Tai Chi will either keep me going for a long time (along with the meds) or it will kill me quickly.
I put the table of contents and first three chapters of the Cross manuscript on a separate site that's a lot easier to read. It's http://ronsmanuscript.weebly.com I really would appreciate comments before it gets sent it off to be torn apart by an editor.
I put the table of contents and first three chapters of the Cross manuscript on a separate site that's a lot easier to read. It's http://ronsmanuscript.weebly.com I really would appreciate comments before it gets sent it off to be torn apart by an editor.
I'm back in Hong Kong and will be home in Shenzhen Tuesday. I just added the first three chapters of my cross manuscript. They are in the menu on the left. As soon as I finishing editing it I'm going to "Kickstart" and try to fund the project there.
This is a "Separate Baptist" church in Illinois. They go back to The Great Awakening. Many congregations split over the issue of the unconverted in the church. The more extreme of these groups formed new congregations made up only of the "saved." They based this on II Corinthians 6:17 " Come out from among them, and be ye separate."
There are a lot of new pictures of the USA in the resume section. Most of the pictures were taken in Maine and I haven't labelled them yet. I head back to China n the 21st and have been pretty busy at Eastern Maine Medical Center getting ready to go.
There are a lot of new pictures of the USA in the resume section. Most of the pictures were taken in Maine and I haven't labelled them yet. I head back to China n the 21st and have been pretty busy at Eastern Maine Medical Center getting ready to go.
7/26/13 .......... update
I will be back in China by the end of August. My last oncologists appointment is in mid-August and I will be in Hong Kong on the 22nd. All of this is making me really look at my "bucket list" seriously. I have a lot to do in the near future. One of those things will involve connecting Chinese folk artists and craftspeople with the online world. I will be opening a new website, "China From Street level" It will be a place to display the kind of thing that is made in China but not sold in the "big box" stores of the West.
Maine is great for lobster, but I want to go home
There are some new pictures on the "This is Me" page but I haven't had time to put my thoughts and feelings fully together so nothing new has been written. When I came back in June the fear that seems to pervade America was overpowering, but I wasn't able to fully organize my response to it before I was face to face with this cancer thing. I'm getting back in shape now and will be writing again soon. I may even start sending Op Ed pieces to the Bangor Daily News again.
I will be back in China by the end of August. My last oncologists appointment is in mid-August and I will be in Hong Kong on the 22nd. All of this is making me really look at my "bucket list" seriously. I have a lot to do in the near future. One of those things will involve connecting Chinese folk artists and craftspeople with the online world. I will be opening a new website, "China From Street level" It will be a place to display the kind of thing that is made in China but not sold in the "big box" stores of the West.
Maine is great for lobster, but I want to go home
There are some new pictures on the "This is Me" page but I haven't had time to put my thoughts and feelings fully together so nothing new has been written. When I came back in June the fear that seems to pervade America was overpowering, but I wasn't able to fully organize my response to it before I was face to face with this cancer thing. I'm getting back in shape now and will be writing again soon. I may even start sending Op Ed pieces to the Bangor Daily News again.
These are are pictures of Chinese and Western medicine at work. The Chinese practitioner is a Shifu, a folk healer trained in the Shaolin monastery. The other pictures range from a Chinese pharmacy to radiation therapy in the US of A.
March 15th update
I came back expecting that I would need back surgery and suspected prostate problems as well, but I was wrong. It turned out to be stage 4 prostate cancer. It has metastasized and it is in the spine now, but it seems that it is still quite treatable so I expect to be back on the road again in a few months.I'll try to keep things posted up to date here.
I've been back for more than three weeks and I'm still seeing doctors but don't have a complete treatment plan yet. Hopefully I will be able to head back to China in a few months though. I must also find time to go to visit "grand daughter" Beckey in Sudan.
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