“POSTCARDS FROM CHINA”

Rev. Peg Boyle Morgan
West Seattle UU Fellowship
March 30, 2003

POSTCARD ONE:  “Chinese Religions and Readings on War”

There is a Taoist saying that “A thousand mile journey begins with one step.”  My journey in China began just a short three weeks ago in Shanghai, where we stayed for a few days, then a flight north to Qufu (home of Confucius) and Tai Ann (site of the holiest of Chinese mountains, Tai San, a flight to Beijing to see the great wall, a flight to the ancient capital of Xian to see the terra cotta warriors, and then back to Shanghai.

Because of the amazing transformation China is undergoing, and because of the good travel companions I had, my husband and my eldest son Chris, this was a journey of a lifetime. 

One focus of our trip was to visit religious temples.  Buddhism is quite prominent in China, and while only a small percentage of people actually go to the temples, most Chinese are influenced by its basic principles.  I saw many Buddhist shrines and temples, but by far the most moving was the Lama Temple in Beijing, the largest Tibetan temple outside of Tibet.  There was a 55 meter tall Buddha carved from one sandalwood tree.  In Shanghai, the Jade Buddhist Temple was also special.  You will find a picture of the beautiful reclining Jade Buddha downstairs.

One of the highlights of Xian, an ancient Chinese capital, was walking through the Moslem quarter and shopping and bargaining at their outdoor market.  There are 70,000  Moslems in Xian. 

For today’s readings, however, I will draw from the two indigenous “religions” or philosophies of China: Taoism and Confucianism.  Taoism’s main belief is in a basic unity behind the universe, a mysterious and indefinable force called Tao.  Other related beliefs are that life is the greatest of all possessions, life is to be lived simply, and that pomp and glory are to be despised.  Less government was better government.  Taoists are concerned about the quality of life as it is lived on a day-to-day basis. They emphasize morality and virtuous deeds.

Our first reading is therefore from the bible of Taoism, the Tao Te Ching or in English: The Way.  I have chosen passages that speak to our current world crisis—answering the question, what would Taoism say about war?

Tao Te Ching, chapters 30 and 31:
The advisers to a ruler in accordance with the way, must oppose the use of arms for conquest.
For weapons are turned against those who wield them.
Thorns grow where armies camp.
A great war is followed by meager harvests.
The good general wins his campaign and halts.
He does not seek further conquest by force.
He does what must be done, but he is not boastful, or proud, or arrogant.         
He is resolute only when he cannot avoid it, but not violent.
Whatever ripens falls to decay.
This is going against the way.
Whatever violates the way soon perishes.

Even beautiful weapons are tools of evil, to be detested by all.
Those who follow the way do not rely on them.
When the wise stay at home, they follow the good.
When they go off to war, they follow the evil.
Weapons are instruments of evil.
The thoughtful use them only when there is no way to avoid them.
They esteem peace and tranquility.
They have no satisfaction in triumph.
Whoever delights in triumph enjoys the slaughter of people.
Whoever delights in the slaughter of people will never hold sway over the world.
The killing of a multitude is a time for tears.

Confucianism is somewhat at odds with the Taoists.  Confucius promoted feudal government, perhaps because his family had benefited from it.  He spent his whole life teaching adults his beliefs, and trying to repair feudalism from its corruption and wars.  He developed a system of ethics, a theory of government and a set of personal and social goals.  His guiding principles were:  honor your parents and ancestors, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and be loyal to your rulers, the dukes and the emperor, husbands be kind to your wives and wives obey your husbands.   

Confucius’ mother once gave him advice about his study of the ancients, which she might give to us about our study of him.  She said, “you may study the ancients, but do not take all they say as true; rather, use your own experience as a guide as to what of their beliefs to take as your own.”  So while he did say the obey word to women, we can still find wisdom in much of his words.  A highlight of my trip was to visit the home and tomb of Confucius in Qufu, north of Shanghai.  I included a picture of his tomb, a huge mound of earth with a stele or stone marker in front. 

Now here are his words about war. 

The ancients who wished for the people of the world to live in the way of virtue, first set in order their own states, and first established order in their families.
Wishing to establish order in their families, they first cultivated their own persons.
Wishing to cultivate their own persons, they would first amend their hearts.
Wishing to amend their hearts, they sought complete sincereity.
Wishing complete sincerity, they first increased their learning.
The increase of learning depended on the investigation of things.
When things are investigated, learning is increased.
When learning is increased, complete sincerity is attained.
When complete sincerity is attained, hearts are amended.
When hearts are amended, persons are cultivated.
When persons are cultivated, families are established in order.
When families are established in order, states are set in order.
When states are set in order, the world is at peace.
From rulers to people, the cultivation of persons is the root.
If the roots are in disorder, nothing that grows from them will be well ordered.
If the roots are starved, the branches cannot be abundant.
This is called knowing the root and foundation of things.

POSTCARD TWO:  “The Country of China: A Land of Contrasts”

China is changing rapidly and intently.  It is proudly getting ready to host the Olympics in 2008.  It is not insignificant that it has just had its first peaceful and planned leadership change in over a century.  The new Premier, Wen Jiabao, is an economist who will guide China as it becomes a great market economy.  For the second time in the history of the People’s Republic, China has a female vice premier, Wu Yi.  The Chinese people seemed positive about the leadership, though the outgoing Premier is holding onto the military reigns. 

A time of change means a time of contrasts.  I saw those contrasts as I walked across its cities and road through its countryside.

I saw some of the 80 million farmers who have been displaced by large, modern farms.  These displaced farmers have moved into the cities; they are finding work by selling greens on the sidewalk, peddling rickshaws, sweeping the streets by hand, and peddling tricycles that carry garbage and recycling.  Two million of their children have flooded city schools—new charity schools that are bright, clean and full of technology are being set up to feed and educate these children whose parents cannot afford the regular schools. 

Some farmers we saw in the fields were working by hand and pulling plows with the force of their own bodies.  One man had a powered roto tiller, with many observers standing in the field watching his innovation.  The People’s Congress that just adjourned while we were in Beijing, addressed the need for a concerted effort to modernize and improve the farming, to address the needs of education, and to make more flexible the rules about getting permission to move to different parts of the country to find work. 

I walked through old neighborhoods, where charcoal heaters in the middle of their homes kill people every year with carbon monoxide, while the government’s urging the people to use electricity is ignored because electricity would cost 1/3 of an average annual salary.  

I walked through open-air markets selling un-refrigerated, un-covered meat, including heads, hooves and tails.  There were live pigeons, chickens, ducks, frogs, snakes and insects—and other things I wasn’t eager to identify.  The people in the market were so friendly and delighted to greet us. 

I saw restaurants washing chopsticks in tap water on the sidewalk, tap water that I was not supposed to drink.  The streets were full of a variety of vehicles, many many bicycles—we could learn from the Chinese!  And tricycle cabs, and regular cars whose General Motors horns had to be redesigned because they were wearing out in a year!  The Chinese use their horns out of safety and courtesy—as warnings, not in anger and frustration as is usually the case here in the states.  There is much to warn about in China as the streets are packed.  Let the pedestrian beware.

In contrast to the old, 1 out of 11 Chinese now have cell phones.  Sections of Shanghai had kilometer long shopping streets, free of cars, teeming with well dressed people,!  I couldn’t help but reflect on our silly little Seattle controversy about whether we could have one little portion of a street downtown closed to traffic. 

The new financial district of Shanghai, the Pudong, across the Huangpu River, is reached by going through an underground automated train and light show.  All financial institutions are told they will locate in Pudong, the area is totally redeveloped, which is easy to do when the government owns all the land.  Pudong is as modern as any city in the world.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has been a successful enterprise in China for quite a while, followed by the recent success of the myriad of McDonald’s and Starbucks.  I didn’t mind this much, except for the Starbucks at the Forbidden City in Beijing—the ancient emperors’ formal walled palace and acreage.  The Forbidden City was named so because common folk were originally forbidden to enter.  Now we are welcome, in exchange for the payment of 40 yuan or $5.00. 

The people of China have broadened the rules of Confucius.  Yes, you should still honor your parents, treat others well, and be loyal to the government—but, as one Chinese man said to me, more is available to the Chinese people--you can now promote yourself through education and choosing a profession of your own to develop your own capital and life style. 

China—a country moving to a market economy, a country of great contrasts and great energy. 

POSTCARD THREE:  “The People of China and Responses to the War”

LI JING
One day Wayne was talking to a young woman, Lee Jing.  She asked where we were from.  Wayne, of course said Seattle. She said, is Se-attle by the sea?  And Wayne said yes!  She paused a moment and then said, “I never did see the sea!  And then she laughed!  realizing her humorous use of a homonym.  It’s not easy making humor in a foreign language. 

MR. CHEN
One of the most memorable conversations we had was with a man named Shen Shen Chen.  He was a pearl storeowner in the Yuan Gardens/Old Town market of Shanghai.  We were eating in a restaurant of the market, choosing to stay in the Chinese area of the restaurant and ordering by pointing.  Chris and Wayne were eating snails; I tried not to watch them.  I was eating fried rice.  That’s when Mr. Chen sat down at our large round table.  The first thing he said was:  “You shouldn’t eat the whole snail, just bite off the top part.”  Well, he should have come earlier.  Many whole snails had been eaten.  Chris and Wayne had felt very brave.  I asked, “why not eat the whole snail?”  “Dirty” he said.  I looked at Wayne.  He gave me that look when he means, stop worrying. 

Mr. Chen interrupted our domestic interchange by asking us about our travel, and talking about the great changes taking place in China, how he learned English by teaching himself, and how he could not get the US to give him a visa so that he could visit his two siblings in the states.  This visa problem was told to us by many people, particularly the younger people we met who would love to come to the states.  It seems the United States worries that the Chinese people will try to stay in the States.  The only way you can get visas is by coming with a group, with peer pressure to return to China, or by having a wife and child stay in China. 

Mr. Chen then told us about struggles with his own country.  At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 he was 18 years old.  He was sent up north to work in the rice fields.  The memories are vivid.  He had two small meals each day.  He was always hungry.  Families he said made deals with each other.  This is shocking, so you might want to cover your ears.  They said to each other, “You can eat our babies, we’ll eat yours.”   Wayne said to him, “those memories must always be with you.”  He replied, “How can I forget?” 

MR. WU
On our flight to Beijing I sat next to a professor of English and of literature, whose name is Mr. Wu.  This was to be one of the most significant encounters of my trip.  Since he taught literature, I wanted to know how influential Confucius was today.  Mr. Wu was the one who said that Confucius still influences today, children still learn about him in school, but that the Chinese people have broader options. 

I asked him how reliable the postal system was and whether there was any censorship.  Reliable, yes he said.  Censorship, yes, particularly with things critical of the Chinese government.  He was aware of Amazon.com and could order through it, but the books would be checked by postal inspectors. 

He said that 17 years ago he would not have been able to talk openly to me.  If he had, he would have been in trouble.  As he said this, he looked behind us, it seemed to me to survey whether, even today, there were any censors who could overhear our conversation. 

We talked about democracy, and how he sees China on the way towards it, but not yet there.  But he went on to say that the United States is not there yet either, in the full sense.  He was well aware of the election irregularities in our last Presidential election, and I told him how scary that was for me, for in the past I could hear of election fraud in other countries and feel safe, but I no longer feel my vote is safe. 

In regards to the war, Mr. Wu believes, like all the Chinese I talked to, that Saddam Hussein needs to be gone, but the question is how.  The Chinese, I suspect, could identify with the Iraqi people suffering from hunger, lack of clean water, and totalitarian regulations.  As we spoke, the war had not yet started.  Mr. Wu said that Confucius’ wisdom in time of war was his call for harmony between people of different kingdoms. 

Mr. Wu would talk of his sadness that his son, 12 years old, lives in California with his ex-wife.  He could not get a visa to see him. 

Mr. Wu gave me his e-mail address.  He told me that he valued our conversation.  I replied, “So do I.”

JOEY
In Beijing, we were walking through the gardens of a Chinese Prince.  It was a fine garden with intense dramatic textures of hills of immense rocks and caressing trees and chirping birds.   We were approaching the teahouse, the Prince’s former palace, when our guide, Joey, who had been talking on his cell phone, turned to me and asked:  “Are you interested in politics?”  Yes, I said, anticipating something about princely powers.  He then looked me in the eyes and said:  “It has begun.”  It took me only a couple seconds or so to understand his meaning.  The war had begun.  We had not avoided this terrible catastrophe.  At first I steeled myself, in the public setting.  I know how to do that.  You stuff your feelings and move on.  But then I observed myself, and realized that I did not want to be so “in control.”  It was important for many reasons that I could let the tears flow.  He needed to know that this war was affecting the American people, with sadness, sorrow, anger, and embarrassment.  Indeed, all throughout China, when someone would ask if I was an American, I would say yes, and quickly also say: “And I do not agree with my President about this war.” 

We continued to walk into the teahouse.  At this point I could not hide my tears even if I wanted to.  Joey glanced back at me, then watched his step, then glanced again.  When we reached the teahouse he put his arm around me and said, “It’s ok, it will be alright. We will hope it will be a short war.”   It was that afternoon that Wayne and I went to the Tibetan temple.  After offering our respect to Buddha, and praying for a miracle, we walked through the temple store, asking “Do you have anything that says ‘PEACE’?”  No, the woman clerk said, but we can make peace for 250 yuan.  I wished it was that easy.  I would have paid the price.  Instead we bargained down to $150 yuan.  Their calligrapher artist began making our PEACE scroll, which is hanging here in front of you.  You can see him in a picture downstairs.

For the rest of our trip, the war would be on televisions in most restaurants we visited.  In our hotel room, we could watch an international CNN channel, as well as a Chinese English station CCTV 9.  It was this channel that had the best coverage and thoughtful, intelligent dialogue with intellectuals from Chinese universities, including one American professor who was well spoken and not defensive.  The unilateral action was the most criticized factor of the war. 

Back in Shanghai at the Shanghai Museum, a woman clerk asked Wayne “How you feel about war?”  Wayne said, “Sad, very sad.”  “We too,” she said; “We too.”

POSTCARD FOUR:  “What to Take Home”

What do I bring home from China?  A few souvenirs of course.  I have always wanted a Guan Yin, the feminine statue of the compassionate one or Bodhisattva—found in many Asian cultures.  She is downstairs.   A 25 cent Chinese flag from the well known sunrise flag raising ceremony in Tiananmen Square.  But more than these souvenirs, I come back changed.  I feel honored to have been in China at such an exciting time, a time when China is reaching out ever so carefully for connection with the wider world, inviting the world in for the Olympics, entering WTO, welcoming tourists.  For China the world is getting smaller.
 
There are 6,650 steps to the top of the holiest of mountains in China, the mountain called Tai San.  As I began the journey up the mountain, I passed under a sign that said “Here Confucius began his first step up Tai San.”  The first 6,000 steps were easy for me.  We took a cable car!  The last 650 steps were steep. At one point we happily paused to strike a huge hanging Taoist bell with the wooden beam—sending the sound throughout the mountain side. When I reached the very top, I was at the place where Confucius said:  “From here the whole world seems small.”  At that very spot Mao stated, “The East is Red.”  At that very spot, I said, “God, …I’m pooped!!” 

The world is smaller.  The world’s countries and people are diverse, but we are all human.  To travel gives a sense of the richness of the diversity and of the struggles of humanity.  Seeing up close and personal the diversity and the commonality brings home the value in each country and its people.  We hold in common our experience of laughter and tears, of loving our children, of offering comfort, of being generous with one another, …and of desiring peace.  

Another Taoist saying is “..to understand something, you have to see it with your own eyes.”   I bring home the experience of having seen China stretch itself, transform itself to better meet the needs of its people.  I bring home having seen and experienced Chinese people being generous of spirit with the three of us Americans.  They admire us, in fact the Chinese characters for USA mean “beautiful country.”  They wish to emulate us in many ways.  May our people and our country learn as much from the Chinese people. 

For we are all each other’s teachers, we are all one.  On his deathbed Confucius said: “When the great harmony is achieved, the whole world will become one.”  I say the journey of harmony begins with the first step of working for harmony, and with reaching out to one another across the continents.   May peace abide.  Amen 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Life of Confucius, by Qu Chunli, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing.
The Way For This Journey, translated by Kenneth L. Patton, Meeting House Press, New Jersey, 1976.