Eric's Beijing Diary

"So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him." (Genesis 12:4)

Sometimes, you just have to go. Start moving. A rudder only works when the boat is moving. I do not mean that we should be presumptuous, but (and I don't want to beat a dead horse) sometimes it is better to start moving, because you pick up information along the way that will help you make a better decision than you could have if you had insisted on having everything planned from the point of departure.

Shambala's in Hezuo. A guy from Australia I met on the bus told me about this place. It is a combination bar and coffee bar. Nice quite place to read. I was able to get a very nice room at a nearby hotel for 80 RMB (after a little haggling). I had originally planned to take the bus through to Langmusi today, but the village school teacher I met in Lanzhuo told me it was quite a long ride. He advised me to take the bus here to Hezuo, from where I could take any number of busses to Langmusi the next day. Since I am no great fan of long bus rides, I did not hesitate to take his advice. And since I don't know where I'm going, I don't need to be in a hurry to get there.

Yesterday afternoon, Eagle and her uncle came to the University guest house and picked me up. After helping me to get set up in a hotel near her place, they took me to Eagle's home, where we had some fruit and talked about the difference between "plum" and "apricot." Eagle is the only child in her family. She has no brothers or sisters, but she does have cousins. She is a very bright, friendly young lady, with a lot of ambition. She has been asking me lots and lots of questions about what she can expect in Canada, and what advice I would give her. I told her a few things, and she grabbed a notebook and asked me to write them down.

After awhile, we went to a restaurant known for it's delicious mutton dishes. It was very good food, but it just kept coming and coming. I really like mutton, but this stuff was especially good. Mutton is good in this part of the country because of the sizable Hui Muslim community. Although Hui Muslims are found all over China, they are concentrated in the Ninxia Hui Autonomous Region, which borders Gansu. After dinner, we went down to the fountain along the Yellow River. It started raining, but we found an umbrella table and sat there sipping yoghurt, and watching the lights and water show. This morning, Eagle and her uncle and cousin picked me up at the hotel and took me to the South Bus Station, which is the predominant long distance bus station in Langzhou.

The bus broke down twice today. Fortunately, the bus driver is really good at doing roadside repairs. I don't think we were out of commission for more than a half hour.

The "Wu Mao." It's a small, 20 passenger bus that ferries passengers back and forth from the ends of the avenue that runs in front of the University. There is a large shopping area with a supermarket on one end, and another shopping area on the other end, with everything else in between. These guys race (and I do mean race back and forth between the two locations. A conductor (I call him a "crier.") stands on the running board and calls for passengers. If the bus is not too full, sometimes he will close the door and step inside when the bus is moving. Otherwise, he is calling for passengers. People along the way flag down the bus and hop on. I don't know how these guys get by with running full speed in the dark of night without headlights. They pass on the left, they pass on the right, they lean on the horn, they do whatever they have to to get where they are going. I will say one thing: This service is very convenient. I don't know what the price of a taxi is in this town, but it is a little cheaper than Beijing, because the sticker on the window says "1.40," which means they charge 1.4 Yuan per kilometer after the initial flag drop fee (don't know what that is), but even at 5 kuai, that would be ten times the cost of the "Wu Mao," and not necessarily faster.

This evening, I was sitting in a small booth at the Hualian Supermarket near the University having an ear of corn and a cup of coffee, when a guy came over to my table and asked if he could sit down. This, of course, is not an unusual occurance in this country. Quite often I have had my study interrupted by someone who wants to practice his or her English. Just this morning, a nice little girl sat down at my table and introduced herself. After introductions, though, she ran out of things to say and rather sheepishly walked away. I had tried to help the situation by asking a couple simple questions, but that didn't help, because she couldn't understand me. I tried repeating one of the questions in Chinese, and she answered me in English, "yes!" But the conversation soon fell apart. She had reached the limit of her English competance. I waved to her as she left--the international language--and she waved back rather shyly. I admire her. If she keeps trying, she has great potential, because she is young.

This guy I was talking with this evening, though, was really quite conversational, and I was interested in talking with him because he is an elementary teacher in a village near where I am going on Monday. It's actually not that close, but it is in the same region, and the odds are I will be passing through it once or twice. I told him of my interest in rural education. I am concerned that many children in China do not have adequate education because there are not enough teachers. He told me that things had improved considerably in the last two years. He said that the real problem was not a lack of teachers, but a lack of good teachers. I am not surprised by this, because I know from my own research that many teachers in the countryside have only a middle school education. I asked him where he went to university. He told me that he had never been to college. He went to a four year teacher training program directly from middle school. This was interesting to me. He skipped highschool and went directly to teacher training. So he started the program when he was 16, and started teaching elementary school when he was twenty. His dream is to be a high school English teacher. I think he will go beyond that if he maintains such a positive attitude. He is constantly trying to improve his qualifications. This summer, he is attending a special training program here at the university. I am hoping to visit his village before the summer is over.

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." (Genesis 12:3)

There is something both very important and very special about seeking God's blessing and annointing on what you are doing. My prayer to God is always, "If you cannot bless what I am doing, or the way I am doing it, please show me how to do things in the way that pleases you." Hudson Taylor said, "God's work done God's way will never lack God's supply." This is true. The trick is not in somehow persuading God to support us, it is in seeking God with our whole hearts, to find the way that pleases Him so that he can bless the work we are doing, because it is His work.

Lanzhou. I wasn't sure where I should stay when I got to Lanzhou, becuase this city does not have any youth hostels that I know of. I finally got a brainstorm to call the University (Northwest Normal University) and see if they had a guest house. Lucky me, they did. It isn't luxury, but it is about the same as a nice hotel for a much lower price (120RMB/night). When I first called the guest house, the desk lady, who is sweetness personified, was embarrassed at her difficulty with English. I finally got her to give me her email address, and I sent her an email in Chinese, requesting the address and location. That way, I could show her email to anyone who knew they area, and they would be able to help me.

I boarded the train yesterday evening in Beijing. I had only been able to find a hard sleeper ticket, so I asked the fuwuyan if I could upgrade. She told me to go ahead and get on the train, and she would check it out for me. But you know how it is. The train sits in the station for almost a half-hour before leaving, so by the time she came around and asked me if I still wanted to switch, I had already gotten settled in and was getting acquainted with the neighbors. When my new neighbors heard me talking with the train steward about upgrading to a soft sleeper, they insisted on switching places with me so that I could have the middle bunk. I didn't want to make that big a deal about it, but they were such nice people, that I went along with the deal.

One of my neighbors was a young lady named "Eagle," who was traveling with her family back to the city of Lanzhou. She had just been to Beijing to appy for a visa from the Canadian government. She is planning to go to Canada in the fall to study. She will start out with an English language training program in Toronto, then switch to the University of Alberta. As I was telling her a little of what I am trying to do in China, she said, "Do you believe in Christ?" I told her that I did. She said, "We all believe in Christ." I asked her if she went to church. She said, "No, I'm not a Christian. But I will be a Christian when I go to Canada."

This morning, when the train pulled into Lanzhou, a kid from Lanzhou who had heard me asking folks which bus to take to the University told me that he would take me to the guest house. Saved me a lot of trouble, because he knew the area really well. Before I left the train, Eagle made me promise to call her when I got settled. She wanted to show me some of the city. Handy, because she has lived here all her life, and could probably show me more in a few hours than I could see in a couple days on my own. I didn't really come to Gansu Province to see Lanzhou, but I wouldn't mind taking in a couple things before I leave for the countryside.

Labels: Travel Gansu

"and he [Abraham] went out, not knowing whither he went." (Hebrews 11:8)

Riding the rails on the way to Lanzhou. I have, for some time, been interested in the problem of rural education in China. My own involvement with this problem as far as China is concerned began in the Fall of 2001--my first trip to China. I was traveling with a group from Church on Mill in Tempe, Arizona. But my involvement in rural education itself goes back to my days as a country school teacher on the prairies of North Dakota. And when it comes right down to it, it goes back to my childhood because I myself got my early book learning in a one-room school. It wasn't exactly a rural school. I attended a school for missionary children in Akita, Japan for six years. But the concept was essentially the same.

At any rate, I have an interest in the problem, and a belief that maybe I can do something about it. Rural education is not the only problem in the world. It is only one of them. It's not the only problem I am concerned about. But it is a problem that is key to the future development of China, especially in the countryside.

I have never been to Gansu Province, and I am not sure where I am going. But that is not a bad thing. When Abraham went out from his home country, God told him to go "unto a land that I will shew thee." (Genesis 12:1) And "not knowing whither" involves both direction and action. We need God to show us both where to go, and what to do. But God does not always show us ahead of time exactly where we are going to be going, or what we are going to be doing. Sometimes we have a vision, or a clue, and sometimes the impressions become stronger as we follow him. But we must never insist on knowing before we obey. God's order is for us to step out when He calls us, and let Him fill in the details as we obey his command.

Sometimes the less we know, the better, because then we are moved to depend on Him to guide us. But we should never use this principle as an excuse for not doing our homework, and finding out what we need to know from the information God has made available. It sounds like a contradiction, I know, and I guess I would have to admit that it is a bit of a paradox, but the balance, I think, is that we should try to find out as much as we can about the place we are going to, so that we can be prepared, but still leave to God the precise details. Plan, but don't plan to rigidly. Leave your plans a little open ended. That seems to be the gist of what God was saying to Abraham, and it is a lesson we would do well not to forget.

I've been having a bit of a harder time getting out of Dodge this summer. It's already the 26th, and I am still sitting here in Beijing. Part of the problem is my schedule. I spent a couple more weeks in Beihai than I had wanted to. So my final exams here in Beijing were given two weeks later than they were last year. The other part of it is that I was a little more stubborn this year about getting a train ticket. Last year I gave up rather quickly when I couldn't get a soft sleeper ticket. I was going to Xinjiang, and Urumuqi (the capital city) is a long, long ride from here, and I was taking another 24 hour ride after that to go to the extreme western tip of China. The trip from Urumuqi to Kashgar takes about as much time as the trip from here to Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu Province. So it wasn't too hard for the travel guy to talk me into a plane ticket, especially since he was able to save me about 1000RMB on the price. Anyway, I really didn't want to fly to Lanzhou this year. As I have mentioned before, getting sleeper tickets (especially soft sleeper, but this time of the year, any sleeper) can be really tough. The high demand breeds a shadow business of scalpers who buy up bunches of tickets to control the distribution, and make a bunch of money in the process. What I have never been able to determine is whether this is done through bribery or through speculation. At any rate, tickets cannot be purchased more than four days in advance. So when I showed up at the ticket window near the East Gate of Beihang University Friday to buy a ticket for Tuesday (July 25th), they told me that the tickets would be available at 7 pm. But when I got back shortly after 7, there were no tickets available. This is what makes me think that the there is some corruption involved. Somebody is paying someone to release a bulk of tickets early. Of course I don't know, but it sure seems that way. When I was in Dali a couple summers ago, many (but not all) of the travel people absolutely refused to do business with these guys.

I called my travel agent as soon as they told me at the ticket window that there were no tickets. He said he would try to find a ticket through one of his connections. He has managed to do this before, but I am getting more and more irritated by this process. As I said, I have never been able to determine that this is indeed corruption rather than speculation. But I really don't want to be part of something shady, and even if it is not shady, it is still extremely distasteful, and going through a travel agent who has back-channel connections just seems to me to be encouraging whomever is buying tickets in bulk to sell through these connections.

But I had no luck. Monday morning I called my agent's office to see if they had anything. Zilch. I told them to contact me as soon as they heard something. I didn't get a call, so I called them. No luck. Finally I decided to give them until morning. When I called yesterday morning, they told me it was really difficult. Nobody had anything. OK. I gave up. I went to the ticket window to buy a plane ticket. The guy at the ticket window saw me and asked if I wanted a plane ticket or a train ticket. He had obviously seen me in there several times trying to buy a train ticket, and was wondering why I went to the plane ticket window. I told him that I had wanted a train ticket, but that nothing was available for my destination. He checked the computer, and told me there was a hard sleeper ticket on the top for the 27th if I wanted it. I have no idea how that ticket suddenly appeared when none had been available before. Probably someone cancelled out at the last minute.

There's an Internet joke making the rounds. I got it from my Kurdish friend:

Last month, a world-wide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was:

"Please give your honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey didn’t get any results because...:
1. In Africa they didn't know what “food" means.
2. In Eastern Europe they didn't know what “honest" means.
3. In Western Europe they didn't know what "shortage" means.
4. In China they didn't know what "opinion" means.
5. In the Middle East they didn't know what "solution" means.
6. In South America they didn't know what "please" means.
7. In USA they didn't know what “the rest of the world" means.

Of course, I was most interested in the stereotype of China. Hmmm...is it really true that Chinese people do not have opinions?

No, I wouldn't say that. But the stereotype is not completely wrong, either, because there seem to be certain key issues in this country where, although most people have opinions about them, it is very difficult to determine whether or not these opinions are really their own.

I guess I became alerted to this because I have had many conversations with people in China about Japan. When I tell people here in China that I am originally from Japan, I very often hear them say, "We hate Japanese." When I first came to China, this statement didn't bother me that much, because I have read the history. The kinds of hideous crimes perpetrated upon women and children during the "Rape of Nanking" are not mentionable.

After living in China for awhile, though, I began to notice something different. I think the thing that set it off was the sequence of riots in the city of Shanghai in April of 2005. It really began to look like the government was using the young people to make a point that they did not seem to be able to make themselves diplomatically. Since that time, I have paid attention to how Japan is portrayed in the mainstream Chinese media. It is interesting to watch. Japan is constantly compared to Germany in terms of the sincerity of its apologies. And in documentaries, there is much talk about the actions of the Japanese against Chinese, and almost no talk about the actions of Chinese against Chinese.

Of course I still have many interesting conversations with Chinese young people about a whole host of issues, but on a few of these key things, it is getting kinda boring. I can just about always guess what they are going to say, because I read and watch the media, and I know what the government wants them to believe.

Read an interesting essay on NPR by a young Chinese American. She is a fourteen-year-old immigrant, who grew up in China, and now lives in the US. I would encourage you to read and/or listen to this essay. I think this young lady expresses well some of the influences that come to bear on Chinese students who are put forward by their families as the best hope for the families future. I'm not sure that all students are quite as compulsive as her essay implies--I have students who are studious, and others who are not quite so studious. But generally speaking, Chinese students are geared toward study as the pathway to success and hope. I don't want to say too much more, because I think I should let the young lady speak. But she does say something a bit perplexing :

Here in America, there is almost a pressure to follow your dreams. I don't want any more dreams -- dreams are illusions. And it's too late for me to work toward another future, to let the foundations I have built go to ruins.

I would be interested to hear what any of you have to say about that statement.

Well, it's getting worse. This evening on Dialogue, Yang Rui had Nadav Eschar, press officer from the Israeli embassy on again. The other side was represented by an Egyptian journalist, whom I have seen before. In between them was a research fellow from the Chinese Academy of International Studies. He didn't have much to say. He started out by saying that the whole thing got started because Israel was occupying Lebanese territory. That lame argument fell apart when Eshcar pointed out that the government of Israel actually allowed an Israeli village to be partitioned in order to comply with UN border determinations. I think Israel won that point without much trouble. But the spokesman also insisted that the Israeli army is "extremely careful" to avoid hurting civilians. Here I am not convinced. My strongest criticism of Israel is and has been that they have not shown proper regard to Palestinian (and now Lebanese) women and children. Mind you, boys throwing stones do not qualify as "women and children" in my opinion. But many of the civilians being killed now have no connection whatsoever with the terrorists, and no power to stop them.

Nevertheless, Hezbollah is an evil organization, and this action was clearly initiated by them. I think Israel has no choice but to take them out. If I were making the decisions, I would be tempted to declare war on Iran, because that is where Hezbollah gets their money. But that is probably out of reach, especially since Israel is fighting on two fronts this time. Yang Rui (the moderator) was fair, I think, because he confronted the Egyptian journalist with the frustration China feels about a situation where Ehud Olmert is clearly trying to work for peace by pulling out of occupied areas. The whole process was sabotaged when Hamas captured an Israeli soldier. The Egyptian journalist protested, but not very effectively.

China has a keen interest in seeing peace in the Middle East, and they do not tend to be sympathetic with Islamic terrorists--they have their own fears about such people. But I do not think China will emerge as the new mediator between the Arabs and the Jews. If the Americans can't pull it off, I don't know who else will be able to. There are several reasons why America has been "cast" in this role. First of all, America is actually a very Jewish society. There are as many Jews in the United States as there are in Israel. Furthermore, many of the Jews currently in Israel are Americans by upbringing and culture.

But I think the more important reason is the Christian heritage of many Americans. To understand this, you really have to know something about the history of the people groups concerned. Basically, the Arabs are descended from Ishmael, the illegitimate son of Abraham, who was born before Isaac, but was not entitled status, because he was not the legal and legitimate heir. That, of course, is a theme as old as human history. The Jews are descended from Isaac the legitimate son. (The term "Jew" comes from the name for the tribe of Judah, but generally refers to all of the twelve tribes, which are the sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to "Israel.") The Christians are the "adopted son" of the family. Christians come from a gentile background. They have no ethnic, cultural, or familial connection to Abraham, but are very closely connected spiritually. Remember that the early Christians never called themselves "Christians." They saw themselves as proselytes to Judaism. Historically then, Christianity was a Jewish sect that accepted Gentiles as proselytes on the basis of their faith rather than on the basis of conformity to Jewish ceremonial law.

Put simply, the Arabs are sons of Abraham by blood, the Jews are sons of Abraham by promise (Romans 9:7), and the Christians are sons of Abraham by faith. The Arab feels aggrieved, because he has been left out of the covenant. The Jew is vigilant (and rightfully so) in defense of his position as the legitimate heir, but because the Jew has rejected the promised Redeemer, God cannot fully bless the Jews' possession of the promise. The Christian, as the adopted son, has a natural desire to see both of his older brothers come together. He has no need to defend his position, because he is an object of mercy. The Christian recognizes his Jewish brother's right to the promise, but also perhaps feels compassion for his Arab brother as a son of Abraham. America, as a "Christian" nation, has had a unique role to play in mediating between the Arabs and the Jews. But America, a country that is turning from God, is, sadly, going to be less and less able to bring healing to this troubled situation. And China, a country that has little appreciation for these matters, is in a very limited position to offer help.

What would happen if the Chinese as a people began to turn to God in large numbers? Would there then be a possibility that China could become the peacemaker? Chinese Christians certainly support Israel, and the Chinese people have great admiration for the Jews. But there are conflicting factors. Yassir Arafat was welcomed in China as a fellow "revolutionary," and his death was big news here. I believe that it would be fundamentally impossible for any nation to mediate between the Arabs and the Jews unless there was a substantial understanding among the people of that nation that the promised land is precisely that. A promise. And the promises of God are yea and amen. The Arabs do not accept this. That is why they are always fighting. The Jews accept it, but they do not accept their Messiah. That is why they do not understand redemption, and are not kind to the Arabs. Who, then will be the next peacemaker? Whichever nation fills this role will certainly be blessed, because God's Word says, "Blessed are the peace makers," and there is a special blessing for those who pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Whew! What a job! I really do not like moving. The University is doing a massive renovation of the 14th floor, which is where my apartment is. To keep us out of the way, they have provided apartments for us for the summer. They hired a moving company to move us over to the temporary quarters, but we were supposed to pack everything up. I wasn't worried. I walked into that apartment two years ago with two suitcases. Actually, a suitcase and John's old army dufflebag. I thought, "How hard can this be?"

Man, it's amazing how stuff just sort of accumulates over the years. Even just two of them. Seems to be a little bit of everything. For one thing, every time I have some friends come and cook for a party, it seems like I end up buying some utensil or other. So I have a kitchen full of dishes, and they are a bit hard to pack. The guy from the International office said, "It seems that you like to cook Chinese food." Actually, I am not much good at cooking it, but my friends are, and I am very good at eating it. My Chinese daughter came to the rescue. She brought over a suitcase for the dishes.

I hate moving. This one came by surprise. It's a nuisance, but I suppose if they are doing a major renovation, they feel better having us out of there. The apartment I am in for the summer is a little smaller, but it will do. I lived in a truck for many years. What the university provides me is more than adequate. As long as it is clean and quiet, and I have a hot shower, what more can I ask for?

Jean and Claire came over today to help me get everything put away. The moving guys hauled all my stuff over, which was nice, because in China, there is a general rule that if a building doesn't have more than six floors, it doesn't need an elevator. Guess which floor they put me on. And six weeks from now, I have to do the whole thing over again.

Saw an interesting discussion on Dialogue the other day. An Egyptian journalist and the press officer from the Israeli embassy were the guests. I've seen these guys on before. This time, there was a Chinese guy sitting between them (presumably to keep them apart), who kept saying, "I'm optimistic."

Well, I am not optimistic. This situation just won't go away. I guess we shouldn't be surprised. Right now, I don't know who to blame most. I blame the Americans because they have turned from faith in God to faith in Democracy. They talk (and seem to think) as if democracy is the answer to all the world's problems, but when the Palestinian people elect a bunch of gangsters to lead them, the Americans hypocritically refuse to deal with this democratically elected government.

I blame the Israelis, because I think they have real trouble showing genuine compassion to the Palestinians. I understand their frustration (as if!), but the Palestinians have a unique set of problems that Israel must play a large part in alleviating. Israel is far too willing to jeopardize the safety of (Palestinian) women and children to accomplish a military objective. This comes pretty close to terrorism. Perhaps we could call it reverse terrorism.

And I blame the Palestinians because they hold stubbornly to the idea that some day in the blissful future, Israel will just go away. Israel is here to stay.

Click for larger image.
Jean and Claire and I had dinner with Rachel and her husband in Chegongzhuang this evening. We enjoyed a delicious meal of boiled mutton. Jean was the only one who knew what the special occasion was. She somehow remembered that the Fourth of July was America's Independence celebration. She was trying to get at the official name of the day, so she asked me, "What do Americans call July fourth?" I said, "Actually, they call it the Fourth of July." They all asked me what I thought about the situation in America today, so I told them the story about the pastor from Pennsylvania who wrote a letter to Salmon Chase, the Secretary of the Treasury during the early years of the Civil War:Dear Sir: You are about to submit your annual report to the Congress respecting the affairs of the national finances. One fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.

You are probably a Christian. What if our Republic were not shattered beyond reconstruction? Would not the antiquaries of succeeding centuries rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation? What I propose is that instead of the goddess of liberty we shall have next inside the 13 stars a ring inscribed with the words PERPETUAL UNION; within the ring the allseeing eye, crowned with a halo; beneath this eye the American flag, bearing in its field stars equal to the number of the States united; in the folds of the bars the words GOD, LIBERTY, LAW.

This would make a beautiful coin, to which no possible citizen could object. This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally claimed. From my hearth I have felt our national shame in disowning God as not the least of our present national disasters.

To you first I address a subject that must be agitated. The pastor's letter found a responsive ear. Salmon Chase, who made his reputation as an attorney defending escaped slaves, ordered the mint to prepare a coin with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. It's interesting that the original letter does not mention this exact motto. I suppose it is impossible to know just where Salmon Chase got the exact words, but he could have taken them from the national anthem. The fourth stanza says:Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"At any rate, the point is that the motto seems to stand in contrast the direction of the country. America is turning from God. I suppose it is only a matter of time before the motto is removed from the currency, and when that happens, America will implode, morally speaking. So much of what America has been through all the years, is a result of a sort of national dependency on the mercy and provision of God. Now that is dying. I was listening to a guy on Israel National Radio the other day. He said, "American Evangelicals are always talking about how their country is turning from God. They should take a trip to Europe--it would give them a new appreciation for America." Perhaps, but how much consolation can one take from the knowledge that one is just a little bit less decadent than God-forsaking Europe? America is clearly a civilization in decline. This in itself does not establish that there is no hope, but it does not look good, because the tendency is clearly downward. This means that there is far too much acquiescence to evil on the part of those who claim to believe in something higher than the standards of this world. Edmund Burke said, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."