Friday May, 11th
In Chinese Culture class today we talked about the teachings of several different ancient Chinese philosophers including Confucius, Mencius, LaoZi and others. I particularly like the words of Confucius and feel that many of his words correlate very well with the Gospel.
"The gentleman...does not seek luxury. He is diligent in his work and cautious in his speech.... He may be considered a lover of learning."
Another famous philosopher during the warring states period of China was Zhuang zi. When I heard of his philosophies I thought they were very similar to Rene Descartes. Zhuang Zi had a dream where he was a butterfly and when he woke up he wondered if it was him having a dream of being a butterfly or if it was a butterfly having a dream he was a man. He wanted to know what was real and what was an illusion similar to Descartes. Descartes philosophized that all his senses could possibly be fooled and there was no way to tell if he really existed. He eventually came up with the idea that "I think, therefore I am."
In class we also talked about how it is very different that the Chinese people like the number nine because they feel there is still room to grow and it doesn't make it finished. For example, the pagota in Yangzhou is nine stories tall. Conversely, Americans often like things to be completed and like the numbers 10 and 100 better. I dislike when things are unfinished and just want things to be worked out so I can move on.
Saturday May, 12th
Today we had the opportunity to visit YangZhou and be among the Chinese while walking through a beautiful garden and park along a lake and at a Buddhist temple.
We learned about Buddhism and how people pray to different bodhisattva who've reached Nirvana. We also noticed the wish flags that people put their name on them along with a wish and then hang them on a tree. I thought it was interesting watching parents teach their kids to pray in the temple just like we teach our kids to pray before dinner or at bed time.
The week before coming to China I was in Korea and noticed how close they get to each other. They don't have much personal space like we do in America. The Chinese girls will hold hands and lock arms just like in Korea. The guys seem to be fairly close and touchy to friends as well.
Sunday May 13th
Chinese people are not afraid to stare at you as a foreigner as they are in Japan. I've heard from two people that Japanese people don't really stare at you even though you may be very out of the ordinary. This was confirmed in a book I have begun reading called "Korea Unmasked". This book goes into detail describing how different Japan, Korea and China are from each other and noted that the Japanese emphasize "wa" (Harmony) and go to great lengths to avoid disruption of wa--including avoiding eye contact and staring at weird looking foreigners.
