The Last Supper

Last night was our last meal as a group of 26 hardy voyageurs. Today, several students have already left for home, and the rest of us are starting our independent travel phase. Jim and I are heading for Cambodia this afternoon.

Here are the photos from our last meal together in China. I need to especially recognize our two Chinese companions: the man is Mr. Wang Jun and the woman is Miss Chen Christina. They have lived these last four months with us. Ms. Chen met us in August at the airport. They taught us to use chopsticks, to get around in Beibei, answered all our questions, and became our dear friends. We will miss them! (Connie)

Quadrangle Homes

For Chinese Literature this year, we were asked to read a Chinese masterpiece called Dream of Red Mansions, or Story of the Stone. It depicts a family of highest rank in China during feudal society. It follows the Chia family, comprised of an grandmother dowager, her sons, their wives, concubines, and servants. And, they each had many hundreds of personal servants! (I drew up a family tree just to keep track of the characters.) While reading it, I had a hard time imagining what this "mansion" must have been like physically. It depicted the mansion as actually a series of buildings, set among tree-filled courtyards, rock formations, and streams.

I found out. On our last day in Beijing, we visited two 'quadrangle homes' on very different scales. A quadrangle home has rooms set around a common courtyard. It is a very traditional, rapidly disappearing style of Chinese home in Beijing.

The first was the home of a Prince that was the model for the home described in Dream of Red Mansions. It was simply beautiful! On a nice day, I could have wandered there for hours. Set in the middle of Beijing, it has courtyard after courtyard intermixed with the "natural" (man-made) amenities mentioned above. I hope you can get a sense from these two pictures I'll post.

The second was a private home of a 6th generation Han family that has now opened their home for visits during the Olympics. Their home consisted of one quadrangle. Traditionally, the grandparents live on the north side (in order to get the sun in southern windows), the servants live on the south side, the sons on the east, and the daughters on the left. In the picture, I'm sitting in their courtyard.

I did smile at this information contained in information about quadrangle homes; it said, Happy the man with sunshine, fishbowl, pomegranate, a fat dog, and a plump wife. I would say Jim has it made! (Connie)

Shopping Fever

Thursday, December 11, was our free day, although it turned out to be anything except "free". We had no scheduled tours and were on our own. Jim and I decided to spring for a Western breakfast, but while I enjoyed the bacon and fresh fruit, it wasn't worth the extra expense. Then, we and some students went to see Mao's body under glass at his Memorial Hall. There was a long, continuous, reverential line.

The rest of the day we went shopping at both Silk Street and the Pearl Market. These are multiple level stores that sell almost everything - especially name-brand knock-offs. I have a tendency to "love bargains" in the first place, and when you can bargain items down to 10 percent of what the sellers originally asked, the hunt is on. Jim called it "a fever."

I bought some bags, pearls, and a Chinese silk jacket. Jim bought some silk ties and two pairs of pants. I'm ready to go back again, but thankfully, I am out of both time and money. (Connie)

Summer Games = Olympian and Emperial

Today was the 21st birthday of the twins in our group, Amanda and Linda Phan. They are pictured here at our first stop of the day - the 2008 Olympic Water Cube. We explored both that facility and the Bird's Nest. We all liked pretending that we were Olympians.


We spent the afternoon at the Summer Palace - a massive, beautiful oasis, man-made for the pleasure of the emperor(s) and his family. It snowed lightly on us while there, and as the place is meant for warm summer days and nights, we spent a lot of the time hopping from gift shop to gift shop to keep warm.

My favorite spot there is the Long Corridor which is painted with scenes from history and folklore. What images; what colors! (Connie)

The Great Wall

Today we visited The Great Wall. We were fortunate to have a December day in the 40's (Fahrenheit), with a spot of sunlight. All of us were eager to see one of the seven wonders of the world. Actually, the Chinese know The Great Wall as Chang Cheng, or "the long wall". The original wall was first started over 2000 years ago (220 B.C.). We saw one of the recently renovated sections (which was easier to climb/walk), and were charmed with how the wall undulates across very rugged terrain into the far horizon.

One "special" moment was when several of us danced on the Great Wall. Of course, there is a story behind this... In our Chinese language class earlier this fall, our teacher had students draw slips randomly from four piles. The first pile contained whom you had to invite; the second was the location; the third was an activity; and the fourth was the time. The student then had to use their Chinese to issue the invitation in front of the class. One student, David Camerino, was unfortunate enough to draw these instructions: He needed to invite Jim to dance with him on the Great Wall at noon. The invitation was extended and accepted. So, for days, Jim has been teasing David about dancing with him at noon. As it turned out, several of us joined in. (If you can't tell, we are doing the macarena.) Those participating are: Nakita, David, Valentin, Connie, Jim, and Bibi. (Connie)

We're in Beijing

We are in Beijing! We spent an early morning in Tiananmen Square, the world's largest public square. For some reason, I expected to see a huge banner of Mao Zedong on one end. Actually, his picture (which is smaller than I imagined) is across the street from the square.

Later, we spent a full afternoon inside the Forbidden City, so named because it was off limits for 500 years. The Forbidden City was home to two dynasties of emperors. It's truly palatial; I found it hard to even imagine what it would have been like to been a concubine or servant here during the emperor's heyday. It is said that the last emperor would yearn to leave its walls, and would sometimes climb up to the rooftops to see what "the outside world" was like. (Connie)

Serendipity

While here, I am teaching a seminar course to our students regarding intellectual property and technology. We have explored many aspects of copyright law, how it has changed through the years, and how technology has generated many issues with the law. Among the activities we did in class were several mock trials of relevant American court cases. Of course, this topic has a great deal of relevance in China so I have tried to add some connections to China.

In BeiBei, an area frequented by the students (and us) is called the underground market. It is a basement of a building covering an entire city block. Inside is a maze of hundreds of little stalls selling anything and everything including lots of clothes, household items, paper, notebooks, pens, bedding, DVDs by the thousands, etc.

One day a couple of weeks ago, we wandered into an area of the underground market where we had not been before and found a series of stalls selling books, mostly used. Since the titles are all in Chinese characters, I had no hope of reading the titles, let alone the books themselves. But being a book lover, we still scanned the shelves until I found the only book that had an English title on its spine:

Connie immediately bought it for me for my birthday, but I am donating it to the "lending library" we are leaving behind for next year's group of students from CSB/SJU. (Jim)

Beibei Good-bye

When we came in August four months seemed so long, but the time has flown by. As I write this, a going away party is being hosted by our St. John's, St. Ben's students for their Chinese friends - and for themselves. There are smiles - and there are tears.

I am thankful that our students have made us proud all semester long. I am also thankful for the friendship that the Chinese and other international students have extended to all of us. Both sides have benefited. Many, many friendships have formed - and memories for a lifetime.

I am also thankful that our students while here lived in an international dorm. There are Chinese students living there, who are studying for an English exam in January that determines whether they are eligible for study abroad. Many of them are eager to chat with our students. Most of the students in the dorm are from all over -- across Asia, Africa, Europe. That international living experience has taught us as much as, if not more, than the classes themselves.

Many of these students have come here on their own - and I give them lots of credit for their moxie. Early in the trip we met a young woman who had just graduated from high school in Bangladesh; Shaz immediately became 'one of us.' Then, we met her friend Kunduz who is here from Kyrgyzstan. We hope to see both of them in Minnesota as students of St. Ben's in the future. They would be real assets! They are each only 18 years old, but possess wisdom and poise beyond their years.

Shaz and Kunduz are seen here with another visitor from a long way away. He lives at the North Pole, but did make an appearance tonight at the Beibei good-bye party. On Sunday, we leave for a week in Beijing. But, we will be taking the people of Beibei along with us in our hearts. (Connie)