Prisoner of Shangri-la

Recently I’ve been figuratively banging my head against the edifice of “Classical Chinese” 古代汉语 resulting in headaches and frequent naps. Specifically we’ve been reading the “Spring Autumn” 春秋 by Zuo Qiu Ming 左丘明 (I’m told that this is a very famous history book). Paradoxically, it’s extremely facinating on the one hand, and utterly boring on the other. I suppose its the content that is putting me to sleep: Emperor of such and such place marries princess of such and such place. They have sons of such and such name, one of which was born backwards and thus everyone hated him (yeah, I don’t quite get that either). Then the sons squabble over the throne from which one successfully defeats the other, etc, etc. The facinating part is how each character is so rich with meaning, culture, and history not just in the way it is used, but the strokes that are used to write it.

之 曰 为 以

These are just some important characters that can have many different meanings based on context. (Left to Right: “zhi1″ “yue1″ “wei4″ “yi3″). I suppose my purpose in studying classical Chinese is to strengthen my foundation in the language by building from the bottom, not just adding more vocab, grammer, etc. from the top. The world of Chinese characters is such a vast edifice!

I must have been a farmer in a past life. Or maybe its just the Chinese in me but give me a couple mountains, a little stream, and a vegetable patch and somehow the world is just fine. But it wasn’t just the natural environment. First a little back story.

Ricky’s adopted parents own a house in a small village (population <1000) about 70km north of Beijing. So, to celebrate the holiday (dubbed “wu yi” or “five one” or May 1st ) we headed out there to relax and enjoy the scenery. At times I felt like “this is how it should be,” 10 people (friends and extended family) all living together under one roof, cooking together, eating together (which was most of the day) and generally enjoying an easy, quiet life.

me and someone’s mom

painting in a field.

And finally a day trip the great wall!

At what point do we become so driven by our goals (no matter how noble they may be), that we forget our basic humanity; that we cease to see that humanity as anything worth cherishing. Instead of always laughing at  something, can we laugh just because there is something delightful about life? Instead of always picturing a brighter future, can we just be stand still without feeling the world is passing us by? Instead of merely focusing on the result, can we understand that how we get there means everything?

I suppose I’ve been examining my values in the face of the many seductions of Beijing life - the nightlife, the interesting people and places, the exchange rate. And while I may not be able to say this in the future, I can say it now: only the outer conditions have changed.

Rash healed up nicely a few days after it started. Still don’t know what it was though.

Headed out to the Beijing suburbs with Ricky and his (adopted) parents for a couple days. It’ll be nice to get out of the city for a bit. Will try to take some pictures.