The Chinese National Anthem howled over the intercom system and as their
flag was hoisted slowly into the sky, I suddenly I found myself in the middle of a paradigm shift.
I was shuffling across a breezeway headed towards Class 6, which is my 9:00 class of fifty-five high school kids, when blaring music stopped me dead in my tracks. I grinned to myself and looked out over the oval running track into a bright, crisp morning. With my back pack over one shoulder, a glass of hot tea in one hand and and my pointing stick (a small shaft of bamboo used to point out words on the board) in the other, I looked like any other teacher here on campus.
Except I'm white, speak English, and come from the
worst of the West; the USA.
My breathing slowed and as I squinted into the sun I saw almost 1,000 students lined up as straight and tight as a military parade. I stood up straight and still and paid my respects.
When in Rome, er, China...
Back in 387AD, St. Augustine was in Milan and he noticed that the church didn't fast on Saturday like they did in Rome. He asked the bishop of Milan about it and he said, "When I am at Rome, I fast on Saturday and when I am at Milan, I do not." This custom became "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." and me and Jenny take this to heart here in the Middle Kingdom too.
I was remembering that morning I got caught by the National Anthem, and all of the ramifications of Doing as the Chinese Do, as I walked with Jenny into my school auditorium last Saturday night. We were there to enjoy an evening watching my students perform drama plays based on the theme of Chinese History. True to Chinese form, we knew nothing about the plays that the student's had been working on for weeks, until the day before and then it was only from an email from a student asking if we were attending the Student's Party tomorrow night?
I figured I could show up at their dorm building (it's right next to our teacher's apartment building) with a six pack of Coca-Cola and an English version of Kung Fu Panda and maybe learn a little about student life here in DanYang.
Turns out the
student party is not one evening but two! evenings of drama routines put on by all 16 classes of my student's (with no teacher help of any kind) and the theme is Chinese History.
We said our one thousand hello's (we are the most popular teachers on campus, much to the chagrin of our Chinese counterparts) to the students and were happily escorted to our seats in the front row.
The school treats us like we are visiting dignitaries and we were surprised, but grateful, that they did not go so far as to ask us to judge the competition!
It did not take long to figure out a few things about my Chinese students; 1) organizing eight plays in one evening is time consuming and leads to mass chaos, 2) my kids have no rhythm at all, but they sure love to sing and dance, and 3) the only thing that matters when it comes to Chinese History is the
Chinese Revolution of 1949 in all it's glory.
Play after play showed the dismal and repressed lives of everyday Chinese
before the revolution and then the jubilation when Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC (People's Republic of China) and Chiang Kai-shek and his forces were forced out and fled to Taiwan. Communism prevailed in China!
Yes, here in the Middle Kingdom the Communists are the good guys.
So in a dramatic switch of perspective, for more than twenty years after the Chinese Revolution of 1949, there was almost no contact, limited trade, and no diplomatic ties between China and the USA at all. It was not until the 1970's that the US stopped recognizing the Republic of China, located on Taiwan, as China's true government and supported that government's holding the Chinese seat in the United Nations.
So we sat among a sea of friendly faces and watched history from another perspective - the Good Guy (Communism) wins and life here became happier and more fulfilling with more opportunities and a bright future, especially for the 800 million farmers and the students at our schools. It's ironic that Jenny and I would not be here at all if it wasn't for the last twenty of so years and this beautiful and complex country had not opened her doors, and her heart, to us.
So we clapped and yelled and were truly glad to be there.
I was asked to give a little speech after the shows were over and I walked up to the stage to a roaring applause. I joked that my students should be in the movies in Hollywood. I thanked them for their passion. I thanked them for letting us attend this wonderful event this evening. I even threw in a little Thank You Very Much in Chinese for a good laugh. They roared louder.
As I walked off the stage, in the back of my mind I was watching them line up on the field again, listening to their National Anthem playing lightly in the background and I felt more rumblings. More moving, more shifting.
I realize now after all my traveling and exploring other cultures that the rumbling and shifting is actually my mind opening, slowly, and letting in more light and joy. Not like tectonic plates shifting and throwing up mountains, more like water flowing around a rock. Quite. Warm. Friendly.
Being around kids, wherever you happen to be, can do that.
Zie Jian
