Subject: China Ramblings 7

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Dear ones all -

November 13 - Darleen took me for a walk this morning to the "wet" market - farmer's market. On the way we visited a little gathering place where there was a group of people seated at tables set up in a circle. Each had tea and bananas and other food in front of them. They were playing and singing traditional music. They invited us in and offered us food. We listened to a couple of songs and then took our leave. In a small park near the market there was a small group of people gathered around a man playing his. two string violin ( I have yet to learn the name of this instrument). It was neat to observe. Unfortunately I left my camera at home. The instrument is strung so that the bow is drawn between the strings. The market area was really large with all kinds of things that are not preserved except maybe dried and salted meats. There is certainly a wide variety of fruits and vegetables; many we have never seen Some are imported not only from southern China but also other countries. We are now enjoying some very good tomatoes ­ perhaps from south China.

Today it turned rainy and cold; the outside temp tonight is about 50 degrees, inside it has dropped to 69. I don't know when heat will be turned on, I suppose December whether it is needed or not. Since that note we have discovered how to use a small heater in our apartment and it does a nice job.

We have fireworks usually several times a day. Sabbath we were greeted at 5 a.m. and again at 6 a.m. Usually it is only the explosions we hear but those at 6 a.m. we could see over a neighboring apartment building. These are star bursts, whirly-gigs,and grapshot. Many of them as large as those displayed on the 4th. The one at 6 a.m. went off at the rate of about 1-2 per second and continued for at least 5 minutes.

November 15 - I spent most of my day counseling students on how to study. They are the same here as in the States. They do a lot of reading but don't put out much consistent effort in recitation. Of course they are struggling with the English some more than others.

It has turned cool. Down to 50 today. Our apartment is 69. We don't know when the heat will be turned on. So far it is not bad. The office they gave me at the university faces south so I think it will stay reasonably warm especially if we ever get some sunshine. We have only seen a couple of days of veiled sunshine since arriving in China.

November 19. This week has been eventful. The notes above will give a glimpse now let me try to fill in some of the details. Last Sunday afternoon our friend, Laura Welch, arranged to put us in touch with her tailor. We had purchased material the previous week so Darleen is getting a brocade silk jacket made and I will be getting a new suit made of wool from Australia. Fitting is to be December1. We have had a few shopping excursions this week. Darleen went to the silk market Wednesday morning with Dolores Wright. Then Thursday evening she, Dee Hart and their translators took us to the night market. We did not purchase much but enjoyed the experience. Now that we know a little of what is there we will probably pay it another visit and just might indulge ourselves a little more. It was interesting to see a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy, artists at work, different kinds of food being prepared, many restaurants and clothes, trinkets and foods of all kinds.

Thursday afternoon Darleen and I went on our own to visit Wushan Square that is situated at the base of the first of a series of high hills. The square is a large area where vendors have set up booths selling mostly ceramics of all kinds. At the top of the hill is the Chenghuang Pagoda. There are paved trails and stairs leading up the hill and it was a good climb. For a fee of 30 Yuan each ( about $4) we went in and took an elevator to the 5th floor and from there we went up one more level to view the country side and what a view even through the haze! Hangzhou (pronounced Hangjoe) is on the northwest bank of the Qiantang (pronounced Chantang) river that, when the tide is going out, flows northeast. We learned last week that twice a year when the highest tides come in there is a tidal bore that comes up the river sometimes 5-6 feet high. They have special celebrations at these times and tourists from many parts of the world come to watch for it. There is a large shallow lake to the west of the city, West Lake. Beginning at Wushan Square that is toward the southern end of the lake a crescent of hills and small mountains surround the lake to the south and west. Many of these hills have Budhist shrines on them and within the forests that cover the hills are many paved trails. On the first floor of the Pagoda is a very large diorama of more than 1000 carved buildings and 3500 figures of people and animals. It is depicting what Hangzhou might have looked like at the time of the South Song Dynasty (about 1200AD). It is really a remarkable work that required 2 years and several thousand people to complete. The Pagoda is surrounded by some beautifully arranged flowers mostly chrysanthemums in some remarkable arrangements. They are allowed to grow tall and are supported to form trees and umbrellas and the like. We continued to explore and found the temple housing the Buddahs behind the Pagoda. We didn’t see any monks but 2 candles were burning in front of the temple and 3 large incense sticks were hung and burning over a large urn. As we tried to continue up the hill we found we were fenced in and had to back track to a gate that opened to a street on which people were coming and going so we continued to climb, now more gently than before. As we progressed there were smaller paved walkways that branched off and the one were following progressively got narrower. We eventually came to a small pavilion that permitted us to look down on the large Pagoda. After getting some pictures we headed back. We soon realized that we were not sure of which trail to take. I thought I could find my way and tried to take branches to the right since I thought that was the side of the hill we had come up. We eventually found ourselves passing between some residences and finally reached a city street. I thought we had come out on the right side of the hill and Wushan Square should be to our left but we soon learned that I was wrong and the Square was to our right. Oh well one can’t be right all the time.

Darleen’s English group are enjoying their times together and my class continues on schedule. Darleen’s group delved briefly into religion Friday. Some knew that in some religions one had to earn your way to heaven. Darleen was able to share briefly the meaning of John 3:16 MP3 || Read Verse At the end of my class on Friday I shared a little bit about the relation of life style to disease and how we have grown to expect medical science to find a way to cure our diseases without changing our life styles. Next Wednesday they have their midterm test. I have given two practice quizzes, one at the end of each week. They did much better on the second one than on the first. I am hopeful that they will do well on the real thing. Friday afternoon I presented the seminar on writing high quality multiple choice questions to students and faculty at ZU. There were about 25-30 present (13 students). I was pleased with the response and felt that God had blessed in the endeavor. I learned that when faculty make an examination here they simply choose questions from those that are at the end of each chapter of the text. Obviously students simply memorize the questions and may not understand anything about the subject. I will present the same seminar next Wednesday for Grand Rounds at the hospital.

It has rained most of the day and we only went out to church this morning with Carlyle Wright, Laura is in the States. We had an interesting time. The lady who has translated for us the last few weeks taught the lesson so another young lady served us. She graduated from medicine a year ago and is now in a neurology residency. During the sermon a lady sitting in the main room had a seizure falling to the floor and had a scalp laceration. The ambulance was called. We prayed and sang songs while we waited. We had to clear a path by folding chairs for the EMTs to come and go. Then the sermon continued. The Pastor’s son had the sermon. He spoke on deceptions that will precede the coming of Christ focusing on the verses Matthew 24 MP3 || Read Chapter He especially called attention to the verses that say that Jesus will not come in secret but as the lightning is seen by everyone so will Jesus coming be. Jesus warned about false Christs and said if someone says he is in the desert or elsewhere don’t believe them. The speaker than spoke of a cult that has considerable momentum here in the east so much so that the Chinese government has banned it. The organization is called Lightning from the East. As I understand it their teaching can be summarized as follows. There are 3 comings of God. The first was at Sinai, the second He came as a man, Jesus, and the third he has come as a woman in China. They take the verse that says He will come as a thief and say that you are not aware when a thief comes and so he has already come, this time as woman. Further more the lightning is to shine from the east and so from China. They work more or less in secret and try to get their friends and relatives to submit to an indoctrination session that lasts 3 days and 2 nights with out stopping. Enough said?

I think this is enough for now. There is much to do before we go home so we won’t start thinking about that yet.

Love to all, Darleen and Paul