On May 12, 2008 the ground began to shake in Sichuan Province. By the time it stopped, nearly 100,000 people had lost their lives. Anyone who was in China at the time can say where they were when they heard about it. I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the time, attending a conference. I was […]
Twin Bells?
The second bell that Noël Piper and I found in China was at a church in Ya’an, Sichuan Province. Like the bell we had found the day before, this one was cast in a foundry in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pastor didn’t know what had happened to the bell during the Cultural Revolution, and how it had survived. […]
Yibin: Then and Now
The first bell that I found in China was in the city of Yibin, in Sichuan Province. The American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society began work there in the late 1800’s and in the early 1900s they built a church and hung a bell that had been brought over from the United States! Here’s what the […]
Published: “The Bells Are Not Silent”
For a long time, friends and colleagues of mine have urged me to write a book about China. “You lived in China for nearly three decades,” they say. “Surely you have something to say.” My standard reply has been that there are so many books written about China each year; I don’t want to write […]
Climbing Home
Last week one of the hottest stories flying around the inter-webs was about a village perched on top of a mountain in China where the children have to climb an 800-foot cliff to get to and from school at the bottom of the mountain. Here’s how The Guardian reported the story: To attend class, backpack-carrying pupils […]
Friday Photo: Sitting in the Street
Spotted in Xichang, Sichuan Province….I always wondered why she chose that spot in the middle of the road to plop down her plastic stool! Related Posts: Xichang City Gate Friday Photo: The Happy Couple Friday Photo: Old and New The Flying Lutherans Don’t Bare Your Arms, Please
