> -----Original Message-----
> From: George Murphy [mailto:gmurphy@raex.com]
> Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 8:42 PM
> To: Glenn Morton; 'asa'
> Subject: Re: Mu (Was Re: CT article: Darwinists, not
> Christians, stonewalling the facts)
> Hope you have a good trip to China. I've been away at the Ecumenical
> Roundtable on Science & Technology in Santa Fe & just got
> back early this
> (Mon) a.m.
> Since I mentioned the imminent birth of a grandson, I'll note
> that Duncan
> Richard Bryk arrived Saturday with a mass of 4.63 kg.
> (Weight 10lb 3oz for
> the anglophiles.)
Congrats on the grandchild. There is nothing better than being a grandfather. It is a shame one must go through parenthood to get there.
I thought I would tell a bit of urban cultural anthropology. But first a personal note. My Chinese ability is exploding. I just had about an hour conversation with my driver in Mandarin. He doesn't speak really good English so it forces me to use Mandarin. I now have a saying that the Chinese love. One of my granddaughters is half Chinese. Thus I am a ye ye in Chinese lingo. The saying that the Chinese find so funny is that when I say in Mandarin that I am the grandfather of a half chinese person, it also has another interpretation--that I am grandfather to half the Chinese nation.
Wo shi ban ge Zhongguo ren ye ye! For Mandarin afficianados. They always laugh.
Now for some urban cultural anthropology. I had my first haircut today. Since it is my policy to never set foot in a store or place of business where they speak English, this was indeed an experience. I told them in Mandarin that I wanted jian(2) tou fa (hair cut). For 30 renminbi (about $3.75 US or 1.25 GBP) I got a pretty young thing to shampoo my hair, give me a head massage, an arm massage, and a hand massage, following which, my back was massaged. This took about 30 minutes. Then I had another shampoo, a haircut, then another shampoo, then they blowdried my hair. (yeah, this was a place where the men went as well as the women.) I bought the cheapest service. I really wonder what the most expensive service is. I looked pretty ridiculous at times given that they gave me a robe and 3 times wrapped my hair with a towel. I laughed to myself and wondered what my friends would think of me with my hair wrapped in a towel.
This says something interesting about the Chinese nation. First it says that personal service and comfort is important. (it also is a sign that the labor costs are low). It is a sign of a more relaxed populace than we have in the US. It took an hour to get the whole thing done. I wouldn't have spent an hour doing this in the States, or in Scotland. There everything is utilitarian. In the UK and in Scotland, the emphasis was on getting the job at hand done and getting the next customer in. Here there is a bit more attention to the personal well being and a bit less attention paid to maximizing income. I suspect that this will change in the next few years as labor costs rise.
I went to Tanggu, a city on the coast of the Bohai bay for two meetings, one on Thursday one on Friday. Thursday was a dinner. It was a meeting with another company's employees. The Chinese palatte is much broader than the US or Scottish palatte. We ate many delicacies. The dinners are served by young women who announce each dish as they place it on a lazy susan in the center of the table. There is much drinking and toasting with mao tai. Anyone who wishes to impact Chinese culture will be eventually engaged in these types of dinners. By the end of the evening, everyone is rather friendly but it is tough on the liver. I remember this cultural tradition from 11 years ago.
The comparison with the US is stark. In the US, with the Carrie Nation legacy, such events are rather rare. Indeed, in my travels throughout the world, much of it has a much different attitude towards drinking than does the US. And the unfortunate thing is that US Christians have often tied the lack of drinking to a Christian life. This has caused problems for Christians around the world because they have had to explain why they didn't drink rather than explaining the purpose of their lives.
Speaking of that, I met two young people who are here for such reasons. They have been here for 2 years. Yet they have never tried to learn Mandarin. That is a waste of time, money and effort in my opinion. I have little respect for such people, especially as they are in their 20's and I in my fifties, yet I am learning this difficult language for the sake of my secular business. IMO, those youngsters are very lazy.
It seems that not only is lack of drinking tied to faith, so is English.
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