In my post from a couple of weeks ago titled A Tale of Two Bells, I wrote about finding 2 old bells hanging in church steeples in southern Sichuan Province. Both were cast in Cincinnatti, OH, and both are still being used in what were Baptist churches before 1949. As I mentioned in that post,…
Month: March 2012
Please Give me a Test
On Sunday afternoon last week, we went with some friends to to Jinli Street in Chengdu, an old, yet newly gentrified part of the city that supposedly dates to the Qin Dynasty (220 BC). We had 2 purposes for going there. One was to see the street itself, with its teashops and Chengdu snacks and…
So Long, Esther (for now)
It’s hard to believe that we have come to the last day of our Esther Expedition. Our journey yesterday down from Wuhan to Guangzhou to Shenzhen to Hong Kong went like clockwork, with each successive train we were on moving more slowly. We collapsed in our hotel rooms at 4, only to rally (after eating…
Three Days, Three Cities
Noel and I are sprinting to the finish line of our Esther Expedition, which ends in Hong Kong on Wednesday. Today we flew from Chengdu to Wuhan. On Tuesdaywe take the bullet train from Wuhan to Guangzhou, then another train to the border the Hong Kong border in Shenzhen. We will cross the bridge into…
Last Mao Standing
There was a time when statues of Mao were ubiquitous, found on every college and factory campus, every government building, and every public square. In most cities they have disappeared from view, and only on occasion can one be spotted tucked away. There are only a few cities where he is still visible in…
Atomized Bobbling
I spotted this sign on a public toilet in a park in Xining, Qinghai Province this weekend: I have no idea what an “atomized bobbling system” is, and I’m not even sure I want to know!