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Jewelery as Mum's surprise.

Did you enjoy the festivities over Christmas? I hope so, and that you welcomed in the New Year with a feeling of optimism that it would be mostly of happy events, to be enjoyed with your family and friends. Thank you all, in your different ways, for making my Christmas another one to remember. I did not see any snow except on Christmas cards and I suppose if anyone really wants to experience a white Christmas, they should book a trip to the north or south pole fairly quickly before, even there, the snow and ice disappears!

During a visit in November 2004, there was some snow at the Shaolin Temple, and to get to my day room, by walking up the snow covered track, shown on the right of the picture, was quite an experience, although I did have a burly looking Monk, to almost carry me there ! Perhaps snow is very pretty to look at if you don't have to go out! A friend in Shanghai sent me some of his computer graphics, one of which was a snow mountain scene. Some of the images he sends me are quite amazing, but I have not the faintest idea how he does them! Very annoying! ! !

I had a 'Chinese Christmas' for 2006; no turkey nor Christmas pudding, but a Chinese banquet of about 20 different dishes! A Chinese Christmas in St Helens with Chinese friends from St.Helens, Bromborough, Preston, Warrington, Wigan, and Liverpool ! Perhaps it was a fitting way to bring the year to a close, as it was only the second year, in about twenty years, that I had not made at least one visit to China. A month's visit had been planned for September, but then came the trouble at the airports, so the visit was cancelled. If the plane had blown up in mid-air I would have known nothing about it...... but to have to wait in the airport for 2, or 3, or 4, or 5 hours..... would have been torture !!!!!

Of course, I can be in China at any time of the day or night, just by thinking about it, with my eyes open or shut! From the first visit in 1987 there is Xian, where stall-holders selling models of the Terra Cotta Warriors would tap the clay models with a stick to produce a ringing sound to prove that they had been fired and were durable. Some models offered on the streets might just be sun-dried and painted. Buyers beware! Just outside the main site, one man, probably a farmer, was trying to sell just the two models he held in his hand, hoping to make a profit of a few pence I expect.

From 2004, there is the visit to see Grand Master Su Xi in his temporary accommodation, while new rooms were being built for him, at the Shaolin Temple. He was venerated by Buddhists world wide and died last year to be interred in the Pagoda that had already been completed at the nearby Pagoda Forest, to receive him; the Pagoda Forest is near The Shaolin Temple.

 A few months ago I put a new program on my laptop called Picasa which just searches the computer and displays a list of all the photographs it finds. It found photographs that I had forgotten I had taken even, so that means I now have an almost endless supply of China photos to remind me of my visits and to talk or write about, so be warned !!!!! The trouble is that in a few weeks time I shall be in China again, and then there will be more photos to add to the stockpile. Have you ever seen the one of me when I was about 10 years old ? ? ? ? ?

Also from 2004 is the haunting face of a 16 year old boy working on the Shaolin Temple building site. He left school at the age of 13 to earn money to help support his mother and siblings after his father died. Whenever I met him he would smile as if he was the happiest boy in the world, but when he was not aware of people looking at him, his face appeared to be full of despair, perhaps wondering what the future had in store for him. What have we in the UK got to complain about ?

There have been a number of places where my visits have created bedlam, particularly where children are concerned who have an unabashed inquisitiveness whenever a strange-looking foreign fellow comes into view. The home of one family we went to visit in Vietnam, living in a town near the China border, was opposite the entrance to a school. When the children started to return to school after their mid-day break, I started taking a few photos of them walking through the school gates. Suddenly I was spotted by one of them, who shouted something out, then there was a rush towards me by children who wanted to be included in the photo. There was a lot of noise and they went to school only after I had gone back into the house !

Then in 1992 [I think !] we went to visit a friend's family in Pailou, a countryside town well off the tourist routes, to which we travelled from HuaiHua by taxi with a woman driver. The taxi took us to the door and we all went inside where Mum made tea for us; Chinese tea of course! A few minutes later we had visitors; women carrying babies, men eating their lunch with chopsticks, children aged between 4 and 13. A boy in a yellow tee-shirt standing in the middle of the front row was eager to show me a shoulder bag he had been given, for when he started school. That was something he was looking forward to but when I met him again 3 years later he was looking forward to the day when he could leave !

Now it is time for me to leave! Not to China yet, but so that I can get these letters posted before another Christmas comes along. I suppose the shops are already working on plans to advertise Easter Eggs, then a month or so after, their windows will be decorated with holly!

I hope the year goes well for you….. keep looking forward to something special…. And I hope that at least one of your wishes will come true!

 

 

Although it was during the school summer holidays, some extra classes were being held at the No4 Middle School, Huaihua, at the time of our visit. The pupils in the English class were certainly surprised when a westerner walked in and started taking photographs. Quite quickly afterwards came the questions from the pupils..., "Do you like KFC?"... "Do you like McDonalds Hamburgers?"... "Do you like Coca Cola?" ...

 

In the school gardens a group of school children posed for their photographs giving the "V" sign on the count of 4. The ages of the children were between 10 years and 13 years and they spoke English with hardly a trace of accent, American or Chinese. 

 

Growing vegetables in China is part of the lifestyle of any Chinese family that has a plot of land available near their home, or at the roadside, or on a mountain slope, or on a river bank. If there is a spare plot of land anywhere that is reasonably flat, and capable of being cultivated, then it will most likely be used for growing vegetables. Chinese farmers grow vegetables, and the boat people of Nanning grow vegetables. Growing vegetables by Chinese farmers in Gansu Province where the land is mostly desert and mountains, is certainly a challenge. Their method of growing vegetables in raised beds covered with polythene reduces the evaporation of the fresh well water, with which they irrigate their crops. The raised beds enable the farmers to divert the well water between the beds and thus change the color of the yellow earth to green. Sweetcorn, broadbeans, sunflowers and tomatoes are amongst the crops growing in the fields.

 

The Boat-People of Nanning also earn their living by growing vegetables not in the open countryside but on the banks of the Yong Yang river that flows through the city. Different vegetables growing in narrow raised beds on the banks of the river make it look like a patchwork quilt in different shades of green. These plots of land are cultivated by Chinese people in Nanning who live in river boats.

 

The ever changing capital of China, Beijing, seemed like a furnace during a June visit, but that is where the 'plane landed so it was a case of making the best of things. "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun!" but thousands of other ethnic people were doing the same thing, and not appearing to be concerned about it. In Wangfujing Street, where a visit was made to the Foreign Language Bookshop, a Rickshaw Man was rushing away to pick up his next passenger, without showing a single sign of perspiration. Perhaps he was trying to get away from the "Barber" and the "Erhu Player" who were also on display in this very famous shopping street of Beijing.

 

But still, the object of the visit was not to go sight-seeing in Beijing, but to visit Chinese farmers in Gansu Province. Looking through the window of the Beijing International Hotel, it was difficult to imagine the conditions in Gansu province, where mountains and deserts dominated the scenery. The train station was close to the hotel, very convenient on the day of departure. Provisions for the journey had already been bought, including drinks, bread and biscuits, fruit, and tubs of instant noodles, so we were well prepared for the twenty-eight hour train journey from Beijing to Zhangye.

 

The journey did in fact take 29 hours, but that was an extra hour to marvel at the scenery, so there were no complaints. Mongolian Round Houses, dust storms, deep gullies in the yellow earth, eroded by rainwater rushing from mountain storms; a fleeting glimpse of Chinese fishermen on the banks of the Yellow River, images only the mind could capture. In the village of Nainhua, about a ninety minute car journey from Zhangye, many of the houses were built of mud-brick with yellow-daub.

 

The Yellow Earth had its uses but looking at the barren scenery it seemed impossible for anyone to make a living here. Billions and billions and billions of dollars are spent in trying to establish if there is, or ever was, water on the planet Mars, yet where is the will or incentive to change to green the colour of the worlds deserts? The farmers in the village of Nainhua used fresh well water to grow their crops of corn, wheat, beans, tomatoes and cotton, and to nourish trees to break the destructive power of the winds.

 

At intervals along the unmade road, fronting the mud-brick homes of the Chinese farmers, were outlets for the well water, government installed, controlled by a simple screw valve. Behind the houses were plots of land turned green with the lush growth of their crops, a seemingly miraculous transformation of the arid land. On one evening fresh beans were picked from the crops and cooked for dinner. The lifestyle of the families of the Chinese farmers may not have been as affluent as the Chinese families in the China cities, but they were generous with their hospitality; the community spirit was evident and one was made to feel at home.

Vietnamese people may be living far away from their homeland but they still follow the ancient customs of their Ancestors. A Vietnamese wedding in the western world still observes traditions which are recognised in Vietnam, as are the traditions of a Chinese wedding recognised in China.
There is the go-between; there are the wedding gifts to the family of the bride; there is the ritual of paying respects to the ancestors, as shown in the picture on the left; there are the traditonal gifts given by the groom's family to the bride, there is the wedding banquet where the newly married couple visit the tables of the guests.

At the end of the ceremonies at the home of the bride's family, at this particular Vietnamese wedding, the bride, now dressed in a white wedding dress, carrying a large wedding bouquet and wearing a tiara, together with her groom, their entourage, families and friends, attended la mairie de Creney-Pres-Troyes. Here, the Registrar and officials conducted the formal registration of marriage, in French and Vietnamese. The ceremonies were witnessed by families and friends, then the registration was completed by the signing of marriage certificates. The Wedding Party then proceeded to the Catholic Church for a marriage service.

Vietnamese bridesmaids dressed in cheongsams and carrying baskets of flowers were followed by the bride and groom in procession down the aisle of a Catholic Church in France for the start of the marriage service. During the service, a Vietnamese singer accompanied by a violinist, friends of the bride and groom, gave a solo performance singing Ave Maria.

The long day of these Vietnamese wedding ceremonies and Vietnamese ritual ended with an evening wedding banquet in the Troyes, Town Hall. For the banquet both husband and wife were dressed in cheongsams as they visited each of the tables to exchange toasts with their guests. It is at this time that guests handed their gifts of fun bao to the married couple.

Wherever you go in Beijing these days there are new buildings going up and more new roads being constructed. Much of it is in preparation for the Olympics 2008. Some of the new buildings show a feature, such as upturned eaves, so that they can easily be identified as Chinese, but some do not. The picture on the right is a view from the revolving restaurant at the top of the International Hotel, Beijing. The restaurant was closed at the time, so there were no customers nor other visitors to block the views through the windows. A colorful mixture of buildings, tower-blocks, and hutongs, ancient, and modern, but very few signs of traditional Chinese architecture with upturned eaves.



Close to the International Hotel there is a restaurant, Yuxin, undoubtedly Chinese, in style and service. The menu is fully illustrated with pictures of the dishes available, and a "chilli motif" to indicate the amount of chilli used in the preparation of the food; 3 chillies* very hot, no chillies* not hot and spicey. Language is no problem! Many of the dishes available are suitable for vegetarians. The picture shows:- Top right,"Three Times Cooked Pork" delicious, melt-in-the-mouth! Bottom center, "Ducks Tongues", looking a bit like beetles, but very tasty. There is also, "Winter Melon Soup", "Yellow Bean, Sweetcorn and Peas", "Beans and Plums", and "Lotus Root Stuffed With Sticky Rice". The Chinese food served at the restaurant should satisfy most tastes.


Another bird's eye view, from the roof top of the Grand Hotel, Beijing. This was also closed at the time but we were given permission to enter, to be met at the roof-top by the restaurant manager, two of his staff and two security guards. Here was part of ancient China, only in the distance could be seen the modern tower blocks contrasting with the roof tops of the palaces and halls of the Forbidden City. Below us, but not shown here, was Chang An Avenue leading to Tiananmen Square.

I was in China for about two months last year, one month in hot and humid June and one month in cold and frosty November. Variety is the spice of life they say and certainly there was plenty of variety to experience during the visits. Dressing up and having a picture taken on a visit to a Buddhist temple might be considered as one of them!

Another event was the 8th birthday of my friend's nephew, my first one in China, complete with a birthday cake and candles. The birthday cake looked so beautiful it seemed a pity to eat it, but Du Fei did with obvious pleasure! The weather wasn't particularly kind during the evening and when we came out of the restaurant it was pouring with rain; just like UK weather. It was November so what else could one expect.



A few days later, the snow and ice came, made worse by a bitterly cold wind. Fortunately this cleared after four days so it was possible to walk amongst all the building work at the Shaolin Temple without sliding down the slopes out of control. Even in such weather, visitors still came to the temple, sometimes in groups and sometimes just one or two people with their temple guide.



There was a lot of work going on at the Shaolin Temple with some of the workers using skills that could well have been used by the craftsmen who built the original temple halls. Large trunks of trees delivered to the site were prepared, shaped and carved into posts, beams and figure-heads, to fit together like a jig-saw.

Still more new Kung Fu Schools were being built between the Temple and the city of Dengfeng. Quite often there would be school-crocodiles making their way along the road. Lines of hundreds of walking students that seemed to go on for miles and you could always hear their approach by their school chants.

I hope the coming year will bring you days of happiness to enjoy and share with your family, your friends and neighbours. Whenever you think you are having a bad day, remember, there is always tomorrow......... Dont worry about things you cannot change........ BE HAPPY !

We have already started a new year, so here is a hope that for the one we have just left, you can say that it was a good year for you. Despite all the problems faced by other countries there is still a lot of good will and cheer in the world, proof of which, is in the number of presents and Christmas cards that come home every year. It is nice to know that someone still remembers to do that, which is always appreciated. Whatever experiences you had in the old year hopefully the new year will bring you better ones, happier ones and more exciting ones and you will always have something happy to look forward to.

One of the exciting experiences last year was a stay in the Shaolin Temple with the Buddhist Monks and the Kung Fu students. Many people will know something about the Shaolin Temple and kung fu through watching "Bruce Lee" or "Jackie Chan" films in the cinema or on television. Although there had been the "Shaolin Temple Warrior Monk" staying with me earlier in the year, I was still not prepared for what was awaiting me on arrival at the Songshan Mountains.

The next stop on this visit to China was Nanning where there had been so many changes during the past 10 years, it was quite unrecognisable. On to Longzhou and the Chinese-Vietnamese border to meet up again with old friends and particularly "Grandma" now aged 92 years, then back to Nanning before paying a visit to the scenic mountains of Guilin. Here again new roads, blocks of flats and office buildings presented a different Guilin to the one remembered from a previous visit. There was a temperature change of 23 degrees during the flight from Guilin back to Beijing; +20C in Guilin to -3C at Beijing in 2hrs 30mins!

On Boxing Day there was another flight, but this time to Paris to attend a Vietnamese Wedding in Troyes. By car from Paris on a 3 hour journey to the Champagne region of France, to meet old friends and to make new ones. Discover new customs and taste new dishes. Two happy days, very long, and two peaceful nights, very short. How do people manage with so little sleep? It was certainly a happy and memorable event to end the year.

The pictures of old people and pictures of young people on these pages were taken in China or in France. In the pictures of old people, Grandma was aged 92 when the photo was taken, and still had a very alert mind of her own. Perhaps, in the faces portrayed in the pictures of old people can be read the story of their lives. Perhaps, from the captured faces in the pictures of young people, can be foretold their future fortunes. The pictures of young people include faces of children whose thoughts are in worlds of their own making. The imagination, inquisitiveness and inborn talents of the children, in the pictures of young people, will shape their future lives. The people, in the pictures of people, between the particular age groups, have experienced much already, to guide them through their future years.