Chen Family Mansion

After the temple, we went to a government run store. We were disappointed, because we were picturing an outdoor market with really great prices and lots of bartering. It was indoors (which was at least cooler) very controlled and kind of pricey. Not much shopping for us.

After this we went to the Chen Family House. Well, it USED to belong to the Chen family--now the government owns the spacious buildings and grounds. The beautiful buildings now house museums for various crafts of China. There were also some gift shops with decent prices. The carvings and architecture were beautiful. If is wasn't so beastly humid, we would have enjoyed it even more!

Buddhist Temple

Sunday morning (of all times) we took a tour to the local Buddhist Temple. We understand it to be quite ancient--over a thousand years old. It is both tourist sight and functioning Buddhist monastery and worship sight. The structures, including the 17 story pagoda, were quite impressive. There were numerous statues of various buddhas including a female buddha. Worshipers could be seen lighting incense sticks and kneeling before the various statues. Offerings of fruit and....water bottles (!)could be seen in front of the various statues. (Note the pyramids of oranges and cellophane wrapped water bottles in the pictures.)


We, along with most of our group, abstained from an optional buddhist blessing of our kids in front of the three giant buddha statues of past, present and future blessing. We still watched the ritual from a distance. The monk chanted for a few minutes while beating a small drum. He then sprinkled (water?) a liquid over the family members with a small branch.

We are eager for M. to receive true blessing from the Living God soon, through baptism.

Guangzhou

If I'm reading my internet resources right, Guangzhou (the capital of the Guangdong Province of China) has an area of 547 sq miles and supports over 12 million people. New York City has an area of 305 sq miles and has a population over 8 million. (the whole area deemed the metro-area of NYC including areas of NY, NJ and CT has over 19 million.)

There are apartments like in these pictures EVERWHERE as we drove in from the airport and as we drove around town on Sunday morning. EVERYWHERE. We can't imagine what the INSIDE of these must look like nor what the quality of life is.

How Much?

And how much do those works of embroidery sell for? We saw some of the larger double sided ones going for over 100,000 yuan. (around $15,000 US dollars) I saw mid-sized ones selling for 18,000 yuan. (under $3,000 US Dollar) You could get really small ones for around $100 US Dollars. Here are a couple more double sided ones I liked (R)

More Embroidery

The Banner across this room reads:
"Fashion a State Stitch Work in Full Passion to Honor the Country!

And so the women work by hand for hours and hours and hours. We just confirmed again with our guide--they work full days (8+hours) for a whole seven days a week. They make maybe 800-1000 yuan for the whole month. (that's around $120 US Dollars.)


Here are so close ups of the women at work.














Some work solo.













And then there are teams of women working on larger pieces. They always have a photo or a painting from which to work.

More Embroidery

I thought of my mom and Grandmother the whole time we were in the embroidery factory/museum. I think you would have loved this. They specialized in "double-sided" embroidery. It was truly beautiful and amazing! (The tiger and panda are an example--two sides of the same piece!)

--R

Great Moments

We each continue to get smiles and giggles.
We've each had M. lift up her arms to be held.
We've each received numerous kisses.

One of the best was saying goodnight in a family hug, kissing each other. She is soooo precious and we thank God for her. --Can't wait for that family hug to be complete with her three brothers!

Tomorrow we head to an embroidery factory. (Hunan is apparently known all over China for a certain kind of embroidery we'll see there. Then we'll go to an ancient university, Yuelu Academy, originally built in 976.

That's it for tonight.

Thanks again for your prayers and your love.
R and J

Moon Over Changsha

I wish I could do justice to the wide variety of lights as seen out of our hotel window. Flashing, blinking, moving, changing. It's almost like Broad Way all over the place. This must be some town for night-life.

Random Images of Changsha

Pics of the Big Blue--Changsha Style

Not so sure about these fish, Mama!




























No aquarium is complete without synchronized mermaids! They're real, folks--we wouldn't make this stuff up!

A Few Random Pics

Here are a few random images from our trip before we post the really important ones later today. :-)









On top of a turret on the Great Wall with a man from Russia and two men from Le Sotho. (no, I'd never heard of it either.)

Holy cloisonne bat-man!



















Bikes in Beijing.














Fun in the park outside the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven

Today we toured the Temple of Heaven which was built in the Ming Dynasty for the Emperor to worship the gods and ask for a good harvest for his people. Outside the gates, hundreds of senior citizens gather for Tai Chi Ball, to ballroom dance, and for impromptu singing. As I (J) passed by, a Chinese woman asked me to play Tai Chi Ball. All those years playing ball with the boys paid off! I wished I could've learned the behind the back move, but the group was waiting. :-)

You could see so much love for the arts here and also watch great interactions between the people. We tried to just absorb all of the sights, sounds, and smells that make up our daughter's homeland.

Now, we're off to Changsha, Hunan! See you there!