Final Week in Chengdu

This was our final full week in Chengdu, and it was filled with goodbyes, last classes, and various celebrations. The group will leave on Wednesday morning for a bus trip to Chongqing, then stay overnight in that city before boarding the ferry for Shanghai. We'll take the ferry down the Yangzi through the Three Gorges, through the massive dam project still under construction, and on to Shanghai, arriving on Monday morning, December 2.

While traveling we'll complete our project presentations and final interviews, and we'll reflect on the sites which soon will be flooded by the Yangzi forever, never to be seen again.

Wednesday was our last Mandarin class with Jiang Laoshi (Teacher Jiang), who has been our language instructor since the beginning of the term. On the final day Jiang Laoshi gave an explanation of the development of hanzi (Chinese characters), drawing on her master's work in Chinese linguistics.

Students continue to present their term projects to the rest of the group. Matt played a piece he composed as part of his project on the influence/confluence of Eastern/Western music. He also presented a lengthy analysis of the development of Eastern music, and how it compares and contrasts with Western forms of music. Liz sang several Chinese folk songs for the group. She also explained the several different types of folk songs, and noted that many of the songs are no longer known by younger generations. Nick's presentation on table tennis in China included explanations about "ping pong diplomacy" during the Nixon years as well as a demonstration (left) with his Japanese international student friend Toyo. Nick has been undergoing table tennis training all term with the Sichuan Province table tennis team.

Tuesday night all 17 members of the group participated in a slumber party in Liz and Jessica's room, squeezing a number of mattresses onto the floor. The SSTers luxuriated in a warm night for a change: Dorm rooms here are not heated.

Rachel (left) and colleagues celebrated the end of the term with their English students from the South Ocean Campus at Sichuan Normal University with hot chocolate, popcorn, paper chains (Abby with Anna and Angel), and Christmas carols. At the end of the final English class, Abby hung some homemade mistletoe over the doorway. Matt and Kent were among the SST men and women who participated in a little good-natured smooching (here with Angel).

Students say they will miss many of the streetside food vendors, who have become their friends during the term. At left, Matt, Ruth, and Kate enjoy a steaming meal at what students call "the Middle Place," midway between the back gate and "the Good Place."

Thursday morning the entire group went to the Chengdu Children's Welfare Institute, one of two orphanages in Chengdu. The orphanage houses about 350 children, from tiny babies through children up to about age 12. China's one-child policy, in place for more than two decades now as an essential curb on overpopulation, has contributed to the number of children in orphanages across the country. The children were in good spirits and actively singing, drawing, and cutting while we visited.

Dujiangyan

Saturday about half the group and the Graber Millers went to Dujiangyan Irrigation Scheme, originally set up in 256 B.C. to harness the Min River, which was then a notoriously capricious tributary of the Yangzi. Other members of the group had gone to Dujiangyan earlier in the term with Chinese friends, so they had the weekend free. Here Kate contemplates the irrigation site from the temple entryway.

Mia examined an enormous maple leaf while Ben, Steve, and Matt came down the steps from Erwang Miao, the Two Kings Temple. The temple is dedicated to the Third Century B.C. provincial governor Li Bing and his son, who designed and completed the irrigation scheme. The project is engineered to split the Min River into an inner flow for irrigation and an outer flow for flood control. The 2,200-year-old project, maintained and renovated regularly since it was completed, has been a tremendous asset for Sichuan Province. Elsewhere in the courtyards at the Two Kings Temple at Dujiangyan: Simon smiled a perfect rhinocerous smile while riding on a stone rhino, and Steve, Daron, and Matt enjoyed a fountain.

Daron and Kate took a stab at a folk custom at Dujiangyan -- closing their eyes, spinning in a circle, and then trying to walk forward to touch the white Xin character on the wall. Those who touch the Xin (heart) are said to be kind-hearted. Both Daron and Kate, appropriately, touched the Xin on their first attempt.

After much friendly cajoling from a vendor, Ben finally agreed to an ear-cleaning-and-massage session during our riverside meal after our tour of Dujiangyan. Afterwards, Ben decided that "once is enough" for some experiences.