To get well under the airline weight limits (in anticipation of some productive shopping activity) we had to remove some of the clothes and items but made up for it by adding more preconceptions. Preconceptions are great - you can add as many as you like and it does not affect the weight.
The downside of the preconceptions didn't become evident until we reach our destination, China. The first task was to unload those preconceptions that had us expecting drabness, sadness and poverty.
China is bright and colorful, hectic and peaceful, elegant and practical, dynamic and simple. We loved it. China touched our hearts. Several encounters with the Chinese people left an indelible mark on us.
One such time was when we visited the Children's Palace in Shanghai. This place hums on a Saturday with the children hard at their lessons in ballet, singing, music, calligraphy and art. We were captivated by the ballet class.
As we entered the room there was much excitement amongst the children culminating in spontaneous applause that we were going to be their audience for a while. Thirty young girls looking gorgeous in their pink ballet outfits dragged their attention back to their teacher as she gently regained control. Whatever she said obviously delighted them, sending the giggling flurry of pink into an organized profusion of small circles. Their contagious smiles lit up the room as the music invaded the atmosphere. Gracefully they bowed to each other and entered gaily into the dance. Alternating hand clapping and running steps with various dance steps they moved around their circle in what must be a folk dance.
They danced with a joy that radiated out from their eyes and their smiles, testimony that they loved to dance. As the music faded out and the dance had come to an end all eyes rested on their teacher. We, the audience, clapped with all the appreciation that grandparents are so well known for. These young girls had danced their way into our hearts.
Then, as the teacher nodded her head, just a single nod with a slight incline to the right, the children burst into life again. Each reaching out to us, wide smiles, eyes imploring, to invite us to join them in the dance. No one could have denied them, so sixteen adults ranging in ages from thirty to eighty found themselves participating in a ballet lesson. For many it was their first, and probably only, ballet lesson.
It felt like we were leaving our best friends as we farewelled these beautiful carefree genuine little people. They gave us a wonderful present - a memory to treasure.
Another standout encounter was with three elderly citizens in a rural area near Yangshuo. They had dignity and grace and extended friendship to this group of foreigners.
They were people of standing in their local community, a community that was largely unaffected by technology and stress. From their home that had stood for many generations, they lived a life of simplicity, dignity and peacefulness that sharply contrasts with the world many of us live in. There were what we would identify as hardships, the water had to be hand pumped - no hot running water or dishwashers here.
What they did have was enormous and so often lacking in the western world. They had peace. They had dignity. They had confidence in themselves. They were fit and healthy. They loved people and had such a gentle and caring way about them. They too gave us a wonderful present - a sense of balance in an out of balance world.
Go to China, see the sights but make sure you get to interact with the people. They make it so worth while.
