Journey to Nanchang

(written Wednesday, May 23, 2007)
Greetings from Beijing once again! Our schedule has been so full and we have seen so much - it is difficult to write about it at the end of every day as I get so tired. Since I last wrote, we have seen the Forbidden City and walked through Tiananmen Square (that was a powerful experience - more on that on another post), seen several tombs of ancient Emperors and climbed the Great Wall (an experience that far surpassed any expectations I had). I am also learning a great deal from our classes which I am really enjoying - and it gives a helpful perspective to the sites we visit. This past weekend, I made a quick trip to Nanchang in the south of China. What a contrast with Beijing! While we had absolutely glorious weather the first week we were in Beijing - warm, but not unbearably hot, very dry (no humidity), blue skies, breezes and no pollution, Nanchang was hot and humid and somewhat overcast. It is lush green as there is lots more rain in the south of China. I saw rice farming, lots of rivers and some lakes so it is perfect for farming. The city of Nanchang has many universities and is a bright and cheerful town - lots of color and decoration in the downtown square. I visited Mikayla - a former student and friend who is teaching English there - and we had a wonderful time - lots of great conversation, some different food and a glimpse into Chinese university education
and living - very different from what I am used to. I also experienced my first Chinese foot massage - a fairly painful experience but oh so wonderful once it was over! Most of all, these experiences and conversations are causing me to think a great deal - a lot of which I am formulating in my mind - too soon to write about. I am learning more about the church in China - somewhat different from our perceptions and what we are told in the US; the faithfulness and suffering of many people for their faith; the long history of those who have been faithful to the gospel. Today we went to the Ricci tombs - Mateo Ricci was a Jesuit who came to China to evangelize around 1600; many other Jesuits followed and made a significant impact in China. It was a powerful experience today to have some of the students in our group reading the translations of the tomb inscriptions as we stood in front of them - 60 some graves - and how they had been faithful to their calling to the Jesuit order and to Christ, and all of this before the US was a country. Pretty amazing to think about! Well, I will stop here... tomorrow we fly to Xian - an ancient dynastic capital southwest of Beijing. We will be there for five days.. To be continued...