A Buddhist Temple in Tonghai

This was one of the Buddhist temples we visited in Tonghai, like the Confucian temple built by the Mongolians which we would visit later, this temple had become an active grounds for the elderly community.

There were no saffron robes, neither heaping mounds of incense, nor mystical chanting of mantra filling the air. The temple, now turned into a tourist attraction, seemed dead. Religion seemed to have left it long ago leaving behind rotting statues of the Buddha and famous boddhisatvas.

The only existing community consisted of a few cooks and two monks dressed in grey boiler suit jackets.

The eldest of the two monks was eager to speak to us, approaching us with rapid Chinese and a large smile. He approached me as well, but I couldn't understand him. In desperation I simply said, Wo de Hanyu bu hao (My spoken Chinese is not good). He simply smiled, repeated what I said, and just sat in silence next to me.

Charles, one of our teachers and our interpreter, said the temple was Chen Buddhist, a sect of buddhism which established itself on action, not removed doctrine.

We ate lunch at the temple, in the small courtyard at the base of the mountain complex. The monks and cooks had prepared for us a vegetable meal of feast proportion, including tofu which tasted exactly like meat, crafted into sausage and fish shape.

The vegetarian diet is a distinct characteristic of non-Tibetan Buddhism. After the meal we were free to explore the mountain. The vast complex stretched up the side of a mountain, tucked away behind forest and rock.

Liuyi Village

On Sunday, February 22nd, our group arrived in Tonghai County. Li xiansheng, the local philanthropist and highly regarded official, introduced us to the beautiful community. Our first trip out that afternoon took us to Liuyi Village, a small traditional village located just a few miles away from our hotel.

Li xiansheng had arranged for us to watch a traditional dance performed by the village elders, a tradition leaping closer to disappearance with every year that passes. The eldest of the women was 93 the youngest was in her early seventies. There were seven dancers in all, one appeared to be missing.

This village was famous...

(to be continued)

A Confucian Temple with History

Lu Yuan, a teacher of mine, once quoted, "The mountains are high and the emperor is far away;" of its origin I am unsure, yet the quote, in its simplicity, encompasses the complexity with which we must learn to understand Yunnan, or even China, itself.

I am, so far, unable to describe the feelings I have had. Driving to Tonghai from Kunming one is not oblivious in any way to the apparent poverty and tradition, clashing and composing with the modern, industrial, and highly technical new China. Is it a matter of change, or of cultural preservation?

The rape seed lined the highway with its delicate yellow blossom, stopped by the occasional dyke or a cluster of bricks and squaller which cannot be avoided. Yet, amongst these shacks, these homes, lives religion, and life.

One cannot avoid it. An eighteenth century Confucian temple was one of our last stops in Tonghai, this supporting beams one of the last things we were shown. Amidst the hustle of the men and women smoking and playing games, amidst the children running and shouting, sat this pillar. This supporting pillar, built some three hundred years ago, bares the marks of a people. Now faded, these characters scream of a free China, unsuppressed by war. These marks, painted during the Sino-Japanese War, claim death to the Japanese, and victory for the Chinese.

It is hard to know what to think, what is right, and what it all means. Kong Fuzi was a philosopher and a great politician. I am not sure if there exists any material culture which might separate Confucian followers from others, yet this temple seemed to serve as a social place for the elderly community.

Here, China existed. The remnants of a former communist union, controlled and regulated by the state were strewn throughout Tonghai and, later, Hexi Village.

A Cry for Help!

So, gmail is a no go.... for some reason it has been really slow and won't start up. For now my college e-mail seems to be working well...

Comment with your e-mail address so I can get in touch!!!!

Baller Documentary

So... I saw a baller documentary today on Discovery Chanel Theatre... actually it was one which I had recorded. Totally worth the watch if you can track it down. The documentaries are collectively known as "China Rises: Behind the Great Wall."

Each installment of this four part series is approximately 45 minutes long.

I recently watched "China Rises: Getting Rich," the second documentary of the series, examining the growing economic gap between the poor and rich in China due to the vast and sharp reintroduction of private enterprise in the late 1980s.