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China's Buddhist Explorers, Part One

Ernie — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:59:11 -0600

Faxian's 15,000 km route

Imagine Columbus were a humble pilgrim, rather than an intrepid explorer. Forsaking conquest for respect, he would have truly given Europe a New World. But then aboriginal Americans never had the foresight to send their priests to strange lands. The real Indians did; King Ashoka's emissaries brought the jeweled lotus of Buddhism to China in the 3^rd century BCE, inspiring Chinese Buddhists to return to the land of its origin centuries later. One of these pilgrims, Faxian, left records of his travels, and dedicated his life to uniting the world through faith by example, not compulsion.

Running from the Chinese Police

Ernie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:49:06 -0700

from Alone on the Great Wall, by William Lindesay, who spent 1986 & 1987 jogging its entire length.

Late last night there were murmurings about the Gong An Ju, so I was up and away at dawn. Getting off the bed, my shins ached so much I almost wished the worst would happen, but once on the road approaching a high ridge of mountains and spotting the Wall, I felt my spirits lift.

China's Snack Streets

Ernie — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:13:04 -0700

There's so much to see, and eat, in China that it's a shame to waste too much time in big, fancy restaurants. The fawning wait-staff and death-sentenced fish in their tanks will take the edge off the keenest appetite. Instead, make yours a movable feast, on the snack streets running through any Chinese city that merits a large dot on the map.

Lhoka: A Kinder, Gentler Tibet

Ernie — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:36:56 -0700

Once you've seen the Potala and bought a thangka, Lhasa may soon grow tiresome. There is no capital today, however exotic-sounding to Westerners, that can resist the pressure to be another bland outpost of the WTO. No Starbucks or McDonald's in Lhasa, yet, but there are clones. Advanced tourists take warning, and roll downhill a few hours to Lhoka: milder, more lush, less developed, and more authentically Tibetan than what Lhasa has become.

Lhoka, where Lokesvara, Lord of the World, became a monkey, slept with a demon, and sired the original Tibetan (Don't worry; they're proud of it.) Lhoka, where the Tubo kings lie entombed, by three of Tibet's four sacred mountains. "Lhoka", to which the travel agent will stare at you quizzically until you ask her to do a Google search for "Yarlung River Scenic Area".

The Year of the Tiger and You

Ernie — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:57:37 -0700

We're a little past the due date for a New Year's horoscope, but the fireworks have finally died down long enough to concentrate.The year of the tiger is upon us, the metal tiger. Expect drama, change, and intensity. The last metal tiger, 1950, brought the Korean War, McCarthyism, and the eruption of both Mauna Loa and Mt. Etna. It was also the year Great Britain and Israel recognized the PRC, and Robert Schumann presented his proposal for a pan-European organization, today known as the EU. You must be both active and on guard to tame this tiger, no tail-holding when things can turn so quickly. Of course, your own Chinese zodiac sign determines whether you should be setting traps for the tiger, or scrambling for the high branches.

Chinese Medicine: A Change of Heart

Ernie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:05:58 -0700

We don't just need health care reform. We need a whole new way of looking at health. The medical industry gives lip-service to the idea that positive emotions help healing and negativity slows it. But we're still too arrogantly materialistic to accept the larger truth: spirit determines matter. The thought creates the word creates the feeling creates the physical result.

A Ripple of Protest

Ernie — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:34:28 -0700

From Socialism Is Great, A Worker's Memoir of the New China, by Zhang Lijia

"The students have taken to the streets!" Life lit up Big Zhang's sleepy eyes as he walked into our workshop one morning in mid-December. Blazing with excitement, Zhang described the demonstrations that had spread to our city from nearby Hefei in Anhui province.

An Ant's Tale

Ernie — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:17:32 -0700

From the "At least we're not China" files: an LA Times article about China's Ant Tribe, a massive new demographic of college-educated but marginally employed youth, living cramped and hand-to-mouth in China's rich cities. It's a fairly harmless piece of journalism, except for the inevitable hint that said Ants may soon provide objective western journalists with their long-awaited Chinese revolution. The article tells but one young man's story; we'll tell another's.

West Lake - The Center Holds

Ernie — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:07:15 -0700

Autumn Moon on the Calm Lake

Hidden villages and ancient ruins abound in China, and if you have the time and patience to actually visit some of them, more power to you. But if there's one place that embodies everything distinctly Chinese - ancient refinement, ethereal harmony between man and nature - it's Hangzhou's West Lake. Accept no substitute. Has it lost something to globalization? Sure. You'll never be more than 100 meters from someone looking to separate you from your tourist dollars, but then again you won't have to walk much farther than that to relieve yourself. Times change, but at West Lake, the center holds.

A Forgotten Anniversary

Ernie — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:01:31 -0700

If you've done your touristic duty and milled about Tiananmen Square, do you remember your first impressions? We'll lay good money you weren't contemplating China's grand dynastic tradition. You remember Mao's eight-meter portrait gazing placidly at his mausoleum, the Monument to the People's Heroes thrusting up defiantly, and PLA soldiers at every turn. "This is it, the heart of communist power," you mused, right before a man with a flimsy yellow cap and a camera backed into you.

It's hard to imagine there was a time when China's Communist Party despaired of making it through another winter, and taking the ancient northern capital was a pipe dream. But once you make it to the shady hutongs surrounding the Forbidden City, you'll inevitably see a good deal of folk in their eighth and ninth decades, far more than you see out and about in a western country. They'll be sitting on tiny collapsible stools, chuckling with their neighbors, or expressionlessly eyeballing the streams of visitors. And odds are a few of them remember, and marked yesterday's date, the 61^st anniversary of the PLA's taking Beijing.