Ascent to Heaven
Climbing a pagoda symbolizes the journey from earth to heaven. There is considerable effort involved. Though it was a hot day, I felt compelled to climb the pagoda at Beijing's Summer Palace. Joe never cares one way or another how high we climb, but he always humors me and does it as well, and with much more ease.

Chinese Fire Drill
There is an electric excitement in Beijing as China prepares to receive the world. At all the parks and tourist spots, English-speaking volunteers abound. There is a great emphasis on emergency preparedness, perhaps intensified by the recent earthquake.














The Summer Palace, China's largest and best preserved imperial garden features an artificial lake which one may cross in a dragon boat, motor boat, or pedal boat.















To insure the safety of the boat area, a fire drill was held this morning.
















Not everything floats. This marble vessel, commissioned by China's last empress, could be used for parties only.

Fruits
Beijing is abuzz with preparations for the Olympics. Here on the campus of NCUT where we are staying, the flurry of activity is especially evident, for the campus is in the heart of Beijing.
Hundreds of volunteers have been recruited, and they are given a rigorous training in English language and foreign customs. Teachers with foreign experience are being pressed into service to assist. Several of these are the NCUT faculty trained at ETSU last summer. Very gratifying.

Do Not Ask What Is It















The US is full of Chinese restaurants which do not serve Chinese food. Real Chinese food is alien and more varied. The Chinese serve animal parts we don't normally eat-- claws, faces, male genitalia. They eat all manner of sea food-- for example sea cucumber (above). Joe and I are fairly adventurous eaters, and much of the strange food is delicious. But poorly prepared food, strange or not, can cause problems. Here in Weihai, our friends made sure we went to safe places. But I sometimes made mistakes in Nanjing and suffered the consequences.

Toys and Reasons

Girls the world over like to jump rope, but in urban one child families, the game must be arranged differently, for there are no siblings to participate by turning ropes. Dianyu Zhang's daughter plays jump rope in her parents' apartment by leaping over strings tied to heavy chairs.
She enjoys working with playdough, like many of our own children, but of course the objects she creates reflect her culture.

Following Chinese custom, Joe and I are called "grandpa" and "grandma"by our Chinese friends' children. These titles are markers of intimacy and closeness. This was disconcerting at first, for in America, calling an unrelated woman "grandma" is not exactly a sign of respect. But it's different here. When Dianyu told his daughter I was "grandma," she immediately invited me to play with her. Between her primary school English and my emergent Chinese, we understood each other.















Dianyu's daughter playing solitaire jump rope





















Play reflects culture:
Using playdough, we created a complete dinner plate: Several varieties of Chinese dumplings, rice, rice bowls, chopsticks, and shouzi (Chinese soup spoons).

The Russians are coming!


















The seaside community of Weihai where we are now staying is on the Yellow Sea, just across from the Korean Pennisula (see map). Russia is to the North, and many Russian families vacation here. The areas by the beach are multi-lingual, with many signs in Russian and Korean, as well as in Chinese and English.

Russian tourists often speak to me in Russian. Upon reflection, I realized why this is so-- my ancestry is East European, and I look like them!




















bi-lingual sign in Chinese and Russian.
















Common genotype: The reader will note a decided resemblance between these Russian ladies and yours truly

Two Chinas, two childhoods.
China is enjoying a new prosperity, but this does not affect everyone. Especially in rural communities, poverty persists. The schools in the affluent urban areas are better. Those in rural communities lag behind. No country I have visited (including my own) has solved the problem of offering equal opportunity to all of its children.
In some areas, children attend excellently equipped public schools; in others, there is a lack of basic schools supplies. The Chinese government is aware of the difficulty, but like the US government, it has difficulty addressing it.















Children at the Confucius Elementary School in Nanjing.

















At a visit to He Feang, a rural community outside Nanjing, we presented school supplies to a girl who attained top grades this year. She is twelve, but is the size of an American seven year old.
Nutrition is probably an issue The parents are dead, and she lives with her grandfather, a subsistence farmer.

















For affluent children, the Nanjing Kentucky Fried Chicken is a celebration spot, especially for birthdays.