My view of the world changes daily. Last nite we had Chengdu native did a puppet show and a shadow show for us. This is becoming a lost art due to the internet and televison. Seeing how people here in Chengdu have entertained themselves for centuries if not thousands of years brings me closer to these people. We had some Tibetan youth (14-16) in attendance also for this show. Afterwords they went forward and sang and danced for us. It was truly amazing to see the open and friendy way they showed how they entertain each other as they live their nomadic lives.

On the whole, the Chinese life seems to be very similar to our western practices. Chinese people will wake up go to work for the day, come back for dinner and then go to sleep. The youth party like the students in the states. Last night we went to a club and it might as well of been in Seattle. However there are some major differences between our country and China. It seems that people have to work so much harder to make a living here in Chengdu. The taxi drivers will work 24 hour shifts every other day. Street vendors seem to never leave their corner.

My world view has changed significantly since I have been here. The theme of our course is the Arts of China. We have seen an artist paint with waterbased colors, calligraphy, a concert of ancient Chinese instruments, a Chinese opera, visited an art institute, wandered the halls of the Chengdu Art Museum, visited a thousand year old tomb to see the elaborate carvings and art work. We have been really busy here, but there is much to take in. The cultural history, pride and simplicity of the China made me realize that I take for granted my own.

It seems so far that the Chinese share many of our values. But one area I see a difference in, especially in the areas we have visited with this course so far, is the appreciation of art. It seems much more important here than at home. The Chinese government spends a lot of money on art and its promotion. We have visited artists who are paid a salary by the state just to produce art. There are also many state funded schools to teach both traditional and modern arts to children. I find this really amazing, as there is really no such thing in America.

After spending a week now in China I have learned alot about how simple life can be. At home we are so used to the many amenities that we have such as toliet paper, clean running water, clean air,clean public restrooms etc. Here in China has not been the case. Often times there is no toliet paper in the bathrooms and rarely are they very clean. To us westerners this is a big deal, but to the Chinese this is daily life. I never realized just how many people live in China.

Yesterday our "Arts of China" group met three people from two Tibetan NGO's working to preserve Tibetan culture and to assist rural village Tibetans with new schools, libraries, medical and midwifery training, and the dissemination of Tibetan Buddhist texts.

Yesterday, in Tagong, a small Tibetan city just beyond the start of the Himalayan mountains, we received a personal tour of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery from a real live lama. We spun the prayer wheels, traveling around the monastery as part of what is a daily ritual for some people. We have spolen to some people who spend 2 hours every morning in the temple. Prayer wheels have long scrolls inside of them which are spread good will to people across the land. (The tenet of altruism is a significant connection between Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity.)

One thing that I learned on our tours of various temples and monastaries was that the preservation of the ancient structure is very different than our culture's. To the Chinese it is better to tear down and rebuild an ancient temple that is rotting than to try to hold on to what remains. In that way they maintain the presence of a structure but are able to make it out of new materials. For our group it seemed so destructive and wrong to build something new and still claim that it had the same value as the structure built hundreds of years ago.

I am really enjoying China!

Before I came here I thought that many people in the West had a tendency to romanticize Tibet as being somehow intrinsically more magical and mystical. After having been in Tibet for a few days now I see that there is something special about the landscape here. While visiting the grasslands at Tagong I saw that there is a somewhat calming and mediatative sense that comes out of the landscape. A vast expanse with the Himalayas in the backdrop, and a gold roofed monastary shining in the sun.