Sunday morning

Delighted to see that Elise added a comment. And I also have a twinge of pride that I can leave a little bit of Uncle Moe in China. I think of him often when I stop to speak to any young person or child that I can. I don't have all his Origami tricks but I do keep them all entertained with tales about America. If I am not understood by my words, I use my meager acting talent to tell them what I mean. That works well and they are doubly entertained by my contortions.

Yesterday, Shelley and I spent the whole day on a tour provided as a courtesy for all teachers in our group by the University, HUST. We started at about 8:30 in the morning and returned after 10 PM. First we drove around Wuhan and our guide, who spoke excellent English, entertained us with lots of funny stories and facts. There was a second busload but I think that we were lucky to chose the one we were on because I cannot believe that the other guide was as knowedgeable or as much fun. We stopped at a major attraction in Wuhan, the Yellow Crane Temple. It is Taoist and apparently very important in China. From what I can understand, the big difference between Taoism and Buddism is that Taoism does not believe in an afterlife while Buddism does. The Yellow Crane Temple is very old in concept but the current structure is quite modern, built within the last 20 or 30 years. It was originally built hundreds of years ago in the Soong Dynast as a 2 tier Temple. After it was destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty with 3 tiers. Each Dynsty seems to have rebuilt the Temple because it was destroyed by eith natural disaster or during a war. It was completely destroyed by fire and was not rebuilt for 100 years, in about 1958 (? It may have been much later but I am guessing). Now it is 5 tiers and is beautiful. We were told that there are about 3 million visitors a year, probably mostly all are Chinese because Wuhan is not tourist city. We had a very delicious lunch and went on to a very old Buddist Temple. Interestingly, many Buddist Temples were destroyed by students during the Cultural Revolution, but this one was saved by the direct intervention of Cho En Lai. Finally, we were taken to a Pier on the Yangtse River for a dinner cruise for a couple of hours until about 9, getting back to the hotel after ten. Wuhan is a very large city with about 8.5 million people, but it is the largest city in China when talking about physical size.

We have seen no squallor or poverty anywhere in China and certainly none here in Wuhan. Of course, we have seen only major cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an and Wuhan, and I suspect that the countryside more refects what many people think of when they think of China. But everything is changing so fast for them. It is a standard joke for the tour guides to say, "I don't know that building, it was not here last month" And that is not far from the truth. So if the cities are changing rapidly for the better, I suspect that there are significant changes in the countryside. Even China makes a clear distinction between cities and countryside. For example, we all know of the 1 child policy in China, but I did not know that there was a change in the last couple of years to allow those people in the countryside to have 2 children. Additionally, while 90% of Chinese population are Han, the other 10% is broken into 58 different minority groups. Based upon the total population, that 10% is a sizable number. And all of those minority groups are exempted from the 1 child policy (though I do not know if the 2 child restriction applies.

In all, yesterday was an exhausting day, but terrific. Shelley and I slept like babies and are ready to go again today. We were going to take a very long walk to one of the major shopping areas, but it is very hot today. Wuhan is known as the furnace of China and is living up to its reputation. So, we will take a cab, for about $5 an hour, and spend our energy AT the stores instead of GOING TO them.

Love you all. If any of you talk to anyone else in the family or friends, tell them I think of all of them everyday and especially when I write this blog. Ask them to let me know how they are and tell them that I hope that they are following our adventures by reading this blog. I know its wordy but once I start, I want to share our fun with you all. Love from Shelley and me.