Mountains, Dr. Seuss and the People of China

In earlier posts, I have spoken about my students, and the great love I have for them. But they are but a tiny subset of a much larger group of people -- 1.4 billion, to be (approximately) exact.

Thanks to our generous Winter holiday, which runs from Christmas to February 24, Bonita and I have been traveling this wonderful country seeing new sights and people. I had to make a quick trip to the USA, but while I was there, Bonita went to Shanghai and Sanya on Hainan Island, which is in the South China Sea. From there, she went to Hong Kong, where I joined her and was there just long enough to lose my nice camera and telephoto lens -- I left it in a taxi.  As we filed police reports and tried to get it back, I was reminded of the Brooks and Dunn song Lost and Found, about trying to find a diamond ring in a border town -- "...they just look at you like you've lost your mind..." (and you ain't gonna find it!)!   And it was not found. I was able to purchase a new and upgraded camera and telephoto lens...so no need to worry about me!

Detour about lost cameras aside,...

From Hong Kong we went to Guilin, famous for mountains that reportedly inspired Dr. Seuss in his unique depiction of mountains:

 

The mountains are best seen from boat, so we traveled down the Lijiang River for about 50 miles (you can see the Lijiang River in Dr. Seuss's portrayal above).  It was a hazy, misty morning, so the mountains looked a little...other-worldly.  One difficulty with the weather was the blahness of our pictures.

China has fifty-six different ethnicities within her borders.  The largest ethnicity is Han, which represents nearly 92% of all Chinese. The remaining 8-ish percent is spread across the other fifty-five ethnicities. Most of the students we teach are Han Chinese, although there are a few other ethnicities thrown in.

This trip has taken us to southwest China, in areas where the Han are in the minority. Some of the minority groups we encountered were Zhuang, Bai and Naxi. While they looked a bit different from the Han Chinese, we found the same warm, kind, enthusiastic people. Without exception, we were treated very well, and warmly welcomed by people who were quick to smile and laugh and make us feel comfortable as foreigners in their midst.

From Guilin, we headed to Lijiang in far western China, near the Tibetan border.  It was probably the prettiest city we've visited in China. Lijiang is a small city by Chinese standards -- 1.4 million.  It is at 7,700 feet in elevation, and the blue skies and fresh air were a welcome change from Guilin (and frankly, from most of our experience in China), which had smog, opaque skies and heavy mists during our entire visit.

I grew up in Colorado Springs, which has a beautiful setting, with Pikes Peak overlooking it:

Pikes Peak -- Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA -- 14,114 feet

Instead of Pikes Peak, Lijiang is overlooked by the famous Jade Dragon Snow Mountain:

Jade Dragon Snow Mountain -- Lijiang, China -- 18,360 feet

(By comparing the two peaks, you can probably see a lot of resemblance between them.  And by the way -- did you check out Snow Mountain's height --> 18,360!)

As I have toured China, more and more I discover that my favorite subjects for my camera (old and new!) are the people.  Below are a few of those I have captured on this and other trips.

Little boy wearing a traditional Naxi
headress (Baisha village)

Little girl in Lijiang old town market

Little girl -- a budding water color artist -- in the Baisha village

Little girl in Old Town Dali

And recently, older folks have drawn the attention of my camera lens:

Old woman with child on her back in Baisha village

Two old women in Baisha village wearing Mao caps.

Two elderly men at the Confucius Temple in Qufu.  (DQ on the left!)

And of course, there are the students -- still -- that have themselves wrapped tightly around our hearts...

Polly (Gao Qi Feng) and Professor Quillen at Christmas (Chinese students
love apps that decorate their pictures with doodles, stickers, etc.)

Laura (Liu Zhao Tong ) and Professor Quillen at Christmas.

Tracy (Zhou Xuefei), freshman Business English student

The student above -- Tracy -- and I had a tender moment during her final oral exam of the semester in December.  One of the questions I asked all my students during their final exam was, "What thing did we do this semester that helped you improve your English the most?"  When I asked Tracy this question, she looked down and got very quiet. Then she looked up and with tears in her eyes, said, "You remember my name.  When you see me in the hallways, you say, 'Hello, Tracy.' When you come into class and see me, you say, 'Hello Tracy.'  And when you call on me in class, you call me by my name.  You are the only one of my professors that knows my name." Then she added, "And when you talk to me, you show your respect for me by looking me in the eyes." 

Sometimes it's the simplest things.  I have always felt people's names are important to them, and so I tried very hard to learn all 290 of my students' names -- a tough task for this old brain -- especially since I only meet with them once each week.  While it was difficult, it was nice to receive feedback that it meant something to this beautiful young woman.  (Remember, these kids grew up with the same teacher for first through sixth grades, then the same teacher during their middle school years, and finally one teacher for all their high school years. To be thrust into a university with 37,000 students and to become more or less anonymous must be a difficult transition for some of these young people.)

So whether Han or Naxi, Mongol, Uyghur or Bai, Zhuang or Dong, or any of the remaining 49 Chinese ethnicities, we continue to fall hopelessly in love with the people of China.