On October 24, 2009, this Blog was moved to:  
http://learningchina.wordpress.com/

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To understand China, we will start with modern China before we travel back in time.

Why am I doing this?  Simple. When the 2008-2009 school year started, our daughter returned home one day to tell us that her history teacher talked about China and said the people in China had to be very depressed to live under a totalitarian government like the Communists.

When our daughter attempted to disagree, the teacher and the entire class put her down, so she shut up.

My daughter was born in Chicago and grew up speaking English. Her mother, my wife, was born in Shanghai and survived Mao's Cultural Revolution (which killed thirty million). My wife came to the United States in the 1980s when she was twenty-eight. Our daughter has been to China more than thirty times during her seventeen years, and she speaks fluent Mandarin and has been learning Spanish for the last four years.

I wanted to go and straighten that ignorant American teacher out with the truth, but my wife and daughter said not to stir the pot (very Chinese). I've been to China many times and have never seen the people depressed like I’ve seen here in the country of my birth. I was born in Southern California soon after World War II. My ancestors come from Ireland, England and Europe.

Other than Western media reports, when in China, you hear little about the government unless you listen to the official, government media. The people are too busy living life and enjoying it to be bothered by a government that is doing all it can to raise the standard of living for 1.3 billion Chinese. I see more depression and anger in America than I have seen in China.

There are seventy million communists in China and more than a billion people that love life and live it to the fullest without chasing one material thing after another with credit card debt.  

As an example, my wife has an American-born friend from her days at the Chicago Art Institute that broke into tears once because she couldn't buy a two thousand dollar jacket. I've never seen or heard of that type of behavior in China. I'm sure it happens, but I haven't witnessed it. Most Chinese live simple lives in simple, but crowded, surroundings. Over the years, I’ve discovered that family, friends and gaining an education are more important to most Chinese than buying material junk.

On September 18, 2008, my wife and I flew to China (my ninth trip since 1999). My wife planned the trip and made all travel and hotel arrangements.

During the next twenty-eight days, with my older sister Nancy and her youngest daughter Jenny , we traveled China. Starting from Shanghai, we took a train to Beijing where we visited the Great Wall.

Several days later, we flew to Xian, the ancient capital of China where hundreds of emperors ruled the empire for more than a thousand years before the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing.

After a few days in Xian, we flew back to Shanghai and took a train to Hangzhou, better known to foreigners as the West Lake, where  the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1279) ruled what was left of China after invading barbarians conquered Northern China.

After Hangzhou, we took a slow train back to Shanghai and then to Suzhou, where I got sick. I returned to Shanghai to recuperate before we flew southwest to Guilin near Vietnam.

While in Guilin, we took a slow boat down the Li River and attended a musical and lighting extravaganza "Impressions of Liu Sanjie" near the town of Yangshuo.  

This outdoor show, with a cast of six hundred local people, takes place at night on a stretch of the Li River with real mountains as a backdrop.  The "Impressions of Liu Sanjie" is the creation of Zhang Zimou, China's famous film director. Zhang is also world famous for directing the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

However, Zhang directed “Impressions of Liu Sanjie" several years earlier.

During the trip, I took a thousand pictures. While America's inner cities team with street gangs and grafitti, people in China are friendly and courteous. Come back and visit often as I show a bit more about what I have learned about China and this ancient culture based on Confucianism and Taoism.  

I'm sure that what I have learned in the last ten years is what caused Robert Hart, the main character in my novel, My Splendid Concubine, to fall in love with the Chinese culture and people.

What I find amazing about Robert Hart is that he did all this while staying connected to his family in Ireland and to his Christian, Irish, British heritage. After all, Queen Victoria made him a Baron late in his life. In addition, more than a dozen countries honored him with awards including the Pope in Rome. 

You may reach the menu for the photo pages here: http://www.mysplendidconcubine.com/2008ChinaTrip.htm