It all began with jiaozi (Chinese dumplings), a sidewalk table, and an unusually beautiful November day … Continue reading
Travel
Sounds of Chengdu (3): Opera in the Park
While taking a short-cut (sort of) through one of the parks in town recently, I was treated to a nice performance of Sichuan Opera (chuanju 川剧). The park looked rather nice too. Continue reading
Wenshu Temple
Wenshu Temple (Wenshu yuan 文殊院)–named for the bodhisattva of wisdom Mañjuśri–is the premier Buddhist institution in Chengdu. I’ve been a fan ever since my first visit in 1996. The vegetarian restaurant there (more on that later) became a favorite place for celebrations. In those days, the actual Buddhist practice there seemed a little … lax … but there was a vibrant cultural scene of people singing and doing qigong healing and everything else in the park surrounding the temple, not to mention the genial chaos of the teahouse. It was a great place! The temple and its associated monastery have really thrived over the last two decades, and devotion is more evident than ever before. We decided to go for a visit one of the first warm Sundays this spring. Continue reading
Winter Warmth
Among the many types of “common cold” described in Chinese medicine, there is one type–called “winter warmth (dongwen 冬温), that I have often invoked in treating patients. In particular, it is the type of cold my daughter is most prone to catching. Continue reading
February Showers Bring … ?
Today we had our first real rain shower since winter began. In spite of being humid, foggy, and overcast much of the time, it seldom rains in Chengdu during the winter. Continue reading
Sounds of Chengdu (2): Music in the Park
It’s been almost five months since my last post. This one actually takes me back to the beginning of August last year. I’ve been extremely busy and happy, and still am, but I’ve realized that working on this blog causes me to approach my life here in a different, and more productive, way. For that reason if nothing else, I want to try and get this going again. Mind you, I’ve got so much old material to post, it may take a while to get caught up. 🙂 Continue reading
Bicycling Chengdu (3)
I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted anything. I actually have a massive backlog of things to post. Things are just getting busier and busier. A trip to western Sichuan, music in the park, the dogs of Chengdu, the bank account chronicles … they’re all coming, but here’s a quick post to keep things moving till I can get the rest ready. Continue reading
Bicycling Chengdu (2)–or Of Packages and P(h)ones (2)
The third of the original set of packages sent to us from the U.S. has finally arrived. To be more precise it’s been sitting in a postal sorting facility for two and a half weeks while we tried to find someone who could think of a way to find it for us. The peculiar thing is that the address on it was perfectly clear. The only thing missing was–once again–a phone number. I truly don’t understand why the post office here can’t just deliver a notice to our mailbox. I know they used to do that, but they appear to have gone paperless (a strange but progressive way to run a post office). It seems that it was separated from its brethren after a postal worker accidentally burst open one of its edges while using it as a soccer ball. They probably didn’t realize it was mostly full of books, and books make terrible soccer balls. Thankfully, it appears that nothing fell out–how I don’t know–but I’m not going to complain.
At any rate Continue reading
Is this Culture Shock (or is it just the Weather?)
The last week and a half was less than stellar. None of it was Chengdu’s fault, and I knew that. But it just wasn’t much fun–I feel like Eyore saying that :-). When you feel down shortly after arriving in a new country, you naturally suspect culture shock. Continue reading
Chinese Haircuts
Getting a haircut in China has always been a pleasure–and often a cultural experience. Continue reading