Gloria-China: January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Our project-give the order

Rev. Chen (the left), the principal of HBI (Hunan Bible Institute) wants to give the order.

Doc.Lam (the right), the president of LTS helped him.

This was mostly what the project we just did in Hong Kong.

Rev. Chen wants to give the order to the 12 three-year programm theological seminaries in China for he has received this task from SARA (State Administration for Religious Affairs). This time he led a team target at the cirriculum.

Doc. Lam, leading a team consisting of LTS (Lutherian Theological Seminary) professors supported this project.

Hong Kong Impression-3

Like this transformed glass which I took at our table in Hong Kong while we were eating at a restaruant, Hong Kong's tranditional Chinese culture has already transformed by western culture. You can't take a Hong Kong person as he or she still a Chinese. I mean, Hong Kong people they are not Chinese any more. From the outside, they still look like a "glass", but they have very different taste and thoughts inside. This is my third impression of Hong Kong, of its people.

Hong Kong Impression-2

Although the project gave us little time to relax, we still find some time to go shopping in Hong Kong. We visited a shopping center not far from our living place.

Hong Kong, so called "Shopping Heaven" is really to its name: pleasant shopping environment, exciting shopping atmosphere-with so many people, all kinds of goods--a delightful surprise is somewhere waiting for you, friendly service, etc. In a word, in Hong Kong, you may feel the money in your pocket is dancing every minute, and saying "Go!Go!Go!" This is my second impression of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Impression-1

They are my son and nanny in Hong Kong during our project group staying there from January18th to January 23rd, 2009.
Hong Kong is immersed in the atmosphere of Chinese New Year.
Hong Kong, sometimes is more chinese than China. People have kept something traditional and anciant Chinese taste, while in China you may hardly find. This is my first impression on Hong Kong.

Monday, January 12, 2009

We have a dream

The pictures show the dream land of Hunan Bible Institute. In 2009, we are going to make this dream become partly true---we plan to locate the land by every effort. Who can live among "monsters" forever? Who can bear the school's tiny yard forever? For HBI students and teachers, the answer is NO ONE DOES! We want a change. We will move to our dream land one day in the near future.

30 years ago, when my father was teaching in a medical training school, I was his little assistant helping him check the answers of the students on their paper. Now my father retired as the dean of a university, that former medical training school is just a part of the university.

10 years ago, I was teaching English in Beijing in a private school. Today that private school teaches students playing golf, tennis, etc. in their classes. Many students from that school have gone to famous American universities. The school has graduated many "noble" persons.

For 19 years, HBI has been reopened, but it is still like a homunculus among schools and universities. It is so tiny that even the kindergaten I took more than 30 years ago was bigger and more beautiful. You can't find any pride in its size, in its building, in its environments. I usually feel embarrassed when my university classmates come to visit my home which is on the fifth floor of the school building. For them, it is a strange thing to find me working in such a school. I have no word when I tried to explain to them. We are not ashamed for who we are and what we have. But we are very embarrassed as we are so back of the society. Some people say, this is because of the Culture Revolution. The church closed for 20 years! But the whole Chinese society also stopped development during that time.

We are working for a better future of HBI, a big campus with green trees, many dependent buildings for teaching, library, canteen, students department and teachers department, and a standard sport playground. This dream is not something luxury.

Monsters around us

People who visited Hunan Bible Institute (HBI) may recognize the tiny cement yard in the picture at the bottom----it is HBI's school yard---- the only sport and activity area for all 88 HBI students and 26 staff and teachers, smaller than a standard volleyball court. (One five-floor building and this tiny yard is all our school.)And now, our school was surrounded by three big construction sites, which are standing up and strentching along like monsters around. We are like a meat at the mouth of these monsters, day and night, huge digging machine's working sound is like the crying of the monsters.

High Building Monster: in front of us, this dark red and white high building has been under construction for over one year. Noises and dust are its daily production.

Muddy Road Monster: Now the road right out of our school gate is under construction. A digging machine works on this road even the whole night after a whole day! Yesterday the machine was damaged, I guess it was because over-use.

Totally-torn-down Factory Monster: behind us, is a factory recently was totally torn down. Who knows which kind of building will be set up on it. Big machine also works on the site to tear things down and more things out.

Our nerves are shaked if not by this Monster, then by that Monster. We are surrounded by Monsters.

It is said that China is like a huge construction site. This is very true from the perspective of HBI.