Temples, Museums, and Cornflakes

I just had a bowl of Cornflakes. Yeah...probably not the kind of opening statement that sucks you in to the rest of my blog entry. But...they were good. There is a bigger story. My host family has left to visit the "countryside". Which means that the tasty meals that I have grown accustomed to and like very much are no longer simply waiting for me on the kitchen table. So I actually had to go grocery shopping for the first time this evening. I went to Wal-Mart. Now before you decry my gravitation towards western shopping centers in the midst of my exotic surroundings, just know that the Wal-Mart is the closest grocery store to my home AND this is not YOUR neighborhood Wal-Mart. In all honesty I did not recognize at least half the foods in the store. It took me quite some time to navigate the strange sights and labels. About a half-hour in I found a lonely box of Cornflakes towards the back of the store. I also bought a piece of pizza since I was quite hungry after what became an hour long shopping binge that netted about five identifiable items. However, it wasn't until I was on my way back from the store that I noticed the pizza was bizarrely adorned with peas, corn, and some meat item that I wrongly thought to be sausage...not exactly what I was expecting. Anyway, back to the reason for my shopping--my host family has taken a week long trip back to the "countryside". They only moved out to Xiamen about five years ago following their father's business leads. The "countryside" is the "village" this family lived in prior to making the very common move to Xiamen. The population of Xiamen is booming--with many big businessmen moving their families to the business friendly metropolis. There are also, as I believed I mentioned in an earlier blog, literally hundreds of new, beautiful apartment buildings sprouting up around the island. My various hosts have said that most of these apartments are being purchased as "second homes" by people who live elsewhere or as investments. Many people who have lived in Xiamen for years are finding themselves priced out of their neighborhoods as real estate prices soar. I visited with a few young teachers from Xiamen Public School #6 the other day and they told me that buying an apartment around the school is becoming simply impossible. Most young teachers live on the school campus, at least for a few years, because the prices of actual homes are way too high.

Incense Offerings at Nanputuo

I enjoyed more amazing Chinese hospitality this weekend. My first trip was to the Nanputuo, which is a temple nestled amongst some beautiful green hills adjacent to the University of Xiamen. This place is hundreds of years old and is both a tourist destination and a functioning Buddhist temple with many monks and faithful praying and worshiping. It was amazing to stand outside the main temple structure and listen to dozens of Buddhist monks as they sang/chanted the sacred texts. Many in Xiamen have told me that they themselves are Buddhists, which means something quite different than someone in America saying they are an evangelical Christian. My host family says that they attend the festivals and make occasional prayers, but the role of the religion in their daily lives is much different from the way our religion plays itself out...anyway, complicated subject. I'd be happy to share more of my limited insights to you if are interested at later time. After visiting the temple, we walked around the campus of the University of Xiamen, which is by many accounts, one of the best universities in Southern China. It really looked like any American campus--beautiful green grass, towering buildings, etc...very nice.

The Beach at the Jimei Educational Complex

The next day, a different group of Xiamen Public School #6 individuals took me to the Jimei Educational Comlex/Village. This is a sprawling network of schools and houses that include the local junior school, middle school, university, navigational school, etc. The campus also contains the tomb of the founder of the Jimei Educational Complex, Tan Kah Kee along with a stunningly large museum dedicated to this man and his educational mission. Now you may be picturing a nice mid-sized building with a few rooms of personal mementos. But the museum itself is only slightly smaller than the convention center in Portland. As I stood gazing at the structure and then as I toured the museum, I was struck by the amount of reverence paid to a man who dedicated his life to education. His story is long and complex, but to put it briefly, he was instrumental in pushing China to modernize its economy and educational system in the face of "colonial domination" by European powers and later the Japanese.

A Garden Just Outside of Xiamen University

He played a significant role in the early years of the People's Republic of China and had, from what I could tell, the first official state funeral of the PRC in 1961. The visit certainly helped me to understand just how central education is to the Chinese belief in progress and advancement. China has spent over 100 years emerging from the shadow of "humiliation" by outside powers, and education is seen as the key to this national emergence. Again, there exists not only the family and community pressure on Chinese students to succeed, but the unspoken knowledge that educational success is expected from one's country.

Well, I start my last week of teaching here in Xiamen. My hosts are convinced that they are working me to death with the full three hours of daily teaching that I do. So, Friday will be my last teaching day. That next week appears to be reserved for seeing the sights of China. Should be fun.

written by

mflamoe on July 19, 2009 from Xiamen, China

from the travel blog: Xiamen

Send a Compliment

Hi Mr. Flamoe, Amanda Ruesch here. I just found your blog today (well, tonight I guess) and read through it...sounds like a great experience!! I laughed when I read about your Mandarin experiences...my cousins also tell me that my Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taiwanese are hopeless. Oh well!

See you when school starts again!

Amanda

written by Amanda Ruesch on July 19, 2009

Mark,

Wow, you really are having a technicolor experience: cornflakes, pea pizza, religion, education, and terrycloth school uniforms all in one swell foop...

Still enjoying the vicarious view of you living la vida loca. Thanks for representing JHS so well in Xiamen.

Looking at your 9-yr-old students picture, however, we may have to talk about remedial classroom management methods. I think it's time to introduce them to predicate complements, or perhaps the subjunctive: I have always found that an excellent way to infuse somnabulance in students.

Enjoy your last fortnight in the Middle Kingdom.

Paul

written by Paul Hogan on July 20, 2009

comment on this...