Øystein and we two finally got round to visiting TCG Nordica in Kunming this month. TCG Nordica is a project that Areopagos has supported over a longer period and which is now experiencing problems, due, in part, to the landlord doubling the rent and their having to move. We were fortunate in that Ingrid’s brother and sister-in-law have known a missionary in Kunming for a long time and we had met her previously. Bjørg kindly invited us to stay at her flat. She showed us around and we accompanied her to a three self church, Trinity Church, where a pastor friend of hers had started a programme for handicapped. When we arrive the pastor was leading a group of all ages and with a variety of handicaps. A blind lady managed to cite by heart the first seven Psalms. One boy who had never been to school, when he heard the church was starting a Saturday school for the handicapped, was so excited he woke up at five the first Saturday it was to start so as not to be late. Later, Bjørg had a lesson with a 20 year-old boy who had taught himself English by watching Walt Disney films and cartoons on TV. He had CP and was in a wheel chair but could hold his own in a conversation and was cheerful. After that it was back to the main group that Bjørg was teaching English. This consisted of her teaching them short sentences, which they repeated after her parrot fashion. She explained in Mandarin what the sentences meant. Bjørg asked me to join in teaching them. I thought OK after a couple of sentences it would get to be too much. But, no, there I was mistaken. They went on and on as I gave them one sentence after the other, while Bjørg went round correcting their pronunciation. Such enthusiasm and pleasure in learning! I thought with shame on my own laziness and difficulty in learning Cantonese and mandarin.
Bjørg was leaving on Monday to teach at a university an hour and a half’s commute from where she lives. Also, we were to start out early on Sunday to visit a minority village up in the mountains. So we decided to move into the hotel where Øystein was staying, just round the corner from Nordica. Harry, the husband of Helen, the manager of Nordica, picked us up Sunday morning in his car and drove us out. This gave us a chance to see the countryside, the paddy fields and the mountains. Kunming is the capital of the province of Yunnan, which borders on Tibet and Sichuan in the north, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam in the south.
A VISIT TO THE MIAO-PEOPLE
Among the many minorities are the Miao. The church we visited was at 2300 metres above sea level. It was strange to think that here we were almost on the same altitude as Galdhøpiggen. Previously visitors had to walk the last couple of kilometers, but we were lucky since the government had financed a concrete road for this last stretch. It had just been completed. We had to change vehicles though, since the stone block barrier had not yet been removed. There was a primary school but no secondary. Some of the newer houses were built out of breeze blocks, whereas the older ones were made of mud bricks. And the view was magnificent.
We enjoyed an excellent meal cooked by the men before attending church. There the women were in the very colourful local costumes and wore their hair in a whirl up front on the top of their heads with a hair pin stuck through to hold it in place. There were three choirs, the Church Choir, a mixed older group and a children’s, from the Sunday school. The singing was remarkable. The women’s voices in particular were fine. About two thirds of the congregation were women and women led the service although the pastor was a man. Maybe because this Sunday was Mother’s Day here. Øystein who is an excellent singer, sang “Med Jesus vil eg fara” and “Eg veit i himmerik ei borg” with melodies from Norwegian folk tunes and greeted the congregation on our behalf. We left before the sermon as it was all in the local language.
BACK TO KUNMING
Kunming is a huge city of over 7 million and spread over a wide area as the landscape is flat by Hong Kong standards. The city lies in a shallow basin surrounded by mountains. There is no one centre. We visited Old Kunming, which is being restored and is well worth the visit. There are more cars than in Taiwan but like Taiwan there are many who drive scooters or small motorbikes. In Taiwan they wore helmets, here they did not. The only exception we saw was an infant sitting in front of the driver, his or her father. However, whereas the Taiwanese scooters had petrol engines and were both noisy and smelly, the Kunming ones were electric and silent. As in Taiwan they seemed to tally disregard any traffic rules and, when you tried to cross the road, they could come at you from all directions, and if from behind, you would not hear them until they tooted their horns. We were told there were many accidents but the driving did not seem aggressive.
Long a rather sleepy backwater, Kunming, like many other Chinese cities has experienced dramatic growth, though later than those on the coast and in the east. Large areas are being demolished and redeveloped at a speed we can hardly imagine with new wide roads being constructed. I admired the efficiency, but wondered about the people and businesses that had to be relocated to permit all this.
Øystein had to leave on Monday, but Ingrid and I stayed on till Wednesday. We visited the Nationalities Village. Yunnan has quite a number of ethnic minorities and here these were on display. We also took the cable car to the Western Mountains. On Tuesday we went in the opposite direction to Expo Gardens, the site of the World Exposition of 1999. Our guide looked about 14 but turned out to be 25. She told us more than we could have found out on our own; the signs only had a little information in English. In the Tibetan building a Tibetan doctor read our hands and prescribed medicine; however, it was far too expensive for us, and were we really convinced?
On arriving in Shenzhen, we decided to take a taxi instead of the hour long metro journey to the border. This gave us a chance to see what it looked like. Shenzhen will soon, if it is not already, be bigger than Hong Kong and is where Hong Kong industry moved after liberal trade zones were opened up in China.
Bjørg was leaving on Monday to teach at a university an hour and a half’s commute from where she lives. Also, we were to start out early on Sunday to visit a minority village up in the mountains. So we decided to move into the hotel where Øystein was staying, just round the corner from Nordica. Harry, the husband of Helen, the manager of Nordica, picked us up Sunday morning in his car and drove us out. This gave us a chance to see the countryside, the paddy fields and the mountains. Kunming is the capital of the province of Yunnan, which borders on Tibet and Sichuan in the north, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam in the south.
A VISIT TO THE MIAO-PEOPLE
Among the many minorities are the Miao. The church we visited was at 2300 metres above sea level. It was strange to think that here we were almost on the same altitude as Galdhøpiggen. Previously visitors had to walk the last couple of kilometers, but we were lucky since the government had financed a concrete road for this last stretch. It had just been completed. We had to change vehicles though, since the stone block barrier had not yet been removed. There was a primary school but no secondary. Some of the newer houses were built out of breeze blocks, whereas the older ones were made of mud bricks. And the view was magnificent.
We enjoyed an excellent meal cooked by the men before attending church. There the women were in the very colourful local costumes and wore their hair in a whirl up front on the top of their heads with a hair pin stuck through to hold it in place. There were three choirs, the Church Choir, a mixed older group and a children’s, from the Sunday school. The singing was remarkable. The women’s voices in particular were fine. About two thirds of the congregation were women and women led the service although the pastor was a man. Maybe because this Sunday was Mother’s Day here. Øystein who is an excellent singer, sang “Med Jesus vil eg fara” and “Eg veit i himmerik ei borg” with melodies from Norwegian folk tunes and greeted the congregation on our behalf. We left before the sermon as it was all in the local language.
BACK TO KUNMING
Kunming is a huge city of over 7 million and spread over a wide area as the landscape is flat by Hong Kong standards. The city lies in a shallow basin surrounded by mountains. There is no one centre. We visited Old Kunming, which is being restored and is well worth the visit. There are more cars than in Taiwan but like Taiwan there are many who drive scooters or small motorbikes. In Taiwan they wore helmets, here they did not. The only exception we saw was an infant sitting in front of the driver, his or her father. However, whereas the Taiwanese scooters had petrol engines and were both noisy and smelly, the Kunming ones were electric and silent. As in Taiwan they seemed to tally disregard any traffic rules and, when you tried to cross the road, they could come at you from all directions, and if from behind, you would not hear them until they tooted their horns. We were told there were many accidents but the driving did not seem aggressive.
Long a rather sleepy backwater, Kunming, like many other Chinese cities has experienced dramatic growth, though later than those on the coast and in the east. Large areas are being demolished and redeveloped at a speed we can hardly imagine with new wide roads being constructed. I admired the efficiency, but wondered about the people and businesses that had to be relocated to permit all this.
Øystein had to leave on Monday, but Ingrid and I stayed on till Wednesday. We visited the Nationalities Village. Yunnan has quite a number of ethnic minorities and here these were on display. We also took the cable car to the Western Mountains. On Tuesday we went in the opposite direction to Expo Gardens, the site of the World Exposition of 1999. Our guide looked about 14 but turned out to be 25. She told us more than we could have found out on our own; the signs only had a little information in English. In the Tibetan building a Tibetan doctor read our hands and prescribed medicine; however, it was far too expensive for us, and were we really convinced?
On arriving in Shenzhen, we decided to take a taxi instead of the hour long metro journey to the border. This gave us a chance to see what it looked like. Shenzhen will soon, if it is not already, be bigger than Hong Kong and is where Hong Kong industry moved after liberal trade zones were opened up in China.