Life in China (2)

Well, our "life in China" page has gotten too big to add more photos, so it must be time to start a new page... (left) This is Michael in the hospital--a grim reminder of how ill he was before receiving two weeks of treatment for pneumonia in January 2005 (doctors said that Xi'an's pollution was the cause, and advised us to move to a city with cleaner air). We find it interesting that the hospital's main symbol (right) looks a lot like the Madonna and Child. You can also learn the origin of the "snake on a pole" symbol (on the hospital's ambulances) in Numbers chapter 21, verses 4 to 9 (that's in the Bible). Jesus also refers to this in the book of John, chapter 3, verses 14 to 18.
Michael left the hospital on January 20, 2004, and flew (the same day) to Qingdao in northeastern China, looking for a job in a less-polluted environment. This windy port city was controlled by Germany before the Japanese took it over in the 1930s. The Germans built breweries here, and ever since then the city has been the home of China's most famous beer (Tsingtao). (Michael wasn't happy with the job prospects there; so we turned our attention to Kunming.) Michael left Qingdao a week later, and was joined in Hong Kong by Vivian and Andrew for an annual conference for Jian Hua Associates. After a week in Hong Kong, we headed to Xiamen.
There was something poetic about this lonely lion, one of two beasts guarding a great field of rubble in Kunming's expanding high tech zone. The old buildings that were torn down were not very old, but apparently the space was needed for even grander facilities. I guess the lions weren't moved because they are very heavy, but to me they present a small portrait of China: ancient beauty and culture in the midst of continual change. Just as the lion is "king of the jungle," business is "king" in China. But like the immovable lions, the forces of change must dance around China's core values and traditions. The rubble is temporary, and the traditional lions will vigilantly watch over the changes, ready to welcome whatever comes next. (Click here for another note about construction sites.) Vivian and I (shown in front of the main "Business School" building in 2005, and then near the Terra Cotta warriors in 2011) enjoy being here to help in whatever way we can, seeking to equip tomorrow's leaders with the language tools they need for success in the 21st century. By creating a textbook, we feel that we have made a lasting contribution to China's development, though each life we touch is also part of our "lasting contribution." If we can help students and colleagues to embrace the virtues and values that have served mankind well for millennia in the process, then all the better. To paraphrase a great leader, what good is it for a person or nation to gain material success at the expense of his or her soul? That which can be seen is temporary, but that which is unseen is eternal.
David Scott with some students in Wuxi. For an interesting article about bike helmets in China, visit: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2009-01/05/content_7364828.htm On-line friends: One joy of living in China is meeting other foreigners who love the people of this country, and this website even allows me to meet people "virtually." Such is the case with David Scott, a Canadian who teaches in Wuxi. He stumbled onto my website while looking for teaching materials, and via email we found that we have several things in common. In January 2009, I found out that he has been promoting the use of bike helmets in China, so I've posted a photo here (above) and a link to a China Daily article about his new passion. You can also visit his website at http://www.themaninchina.com/	When I see a sign with substandard English, it just reminds me of how important my job is! Most of the mistakes are small, but sometimes they really get it wrong. Notice that the letters are not backward; they just wrote them from right to left. My guess is that the people in this sign company just don't use English much, and so they mistakenly assumed that both languages can be written "front to back." Oddly, when I show this picture to students, many don't know what is wrong. I guess they can read the English just as well left-to-right or right-to-left. But if you ask them to read something in ALL CAPS, that gives them a lot of trouble. Can Chinese people buy homes? Well, not really. They buy homes on land that is leased from the government. Click here for more info (look for the word "purchased").
I don't try to hide the fact that I don't like being a judge for English competitions (mainly because I don't think it is fair to judge someone's language ability from a short speech), but I must also admit that it is gratifying to see the fruit of hard work obvious in these competitions. It is also great to see how happy the winners are!	Another benefit of judging is to meet other teachers, often from a variety of schools. In my experience, most foreign teachers don't have much contact with our Chinese colleagues because we (both foreign and Chinese) are all very busy with our teaching duties. But I've enjoyed the occasional chances to work together.
Officials from Yunnan Province (one is a close friend) invited us to join them for some of Xiamen's delicious seafood during a break at the 16th China International Fair for Investment and Trade (第十六届中国国际投资贸易洽谈会, Sept 2012). They tried to persuade us to return to Yunnan, and on Xiamen's hot summer days such an invitation might be hard to resist! (Right) More special treats in the summer of 2012.