banyandreams Posted August 27, 2009 Posted August 27, 2009 Yunan is a southwestern province of China. It is known as the kingdom of plants, for more than 60% of the plant species in China can be found there. Moreover, half of the 56 ethnic groups of China made their home there for generations. In its north stand the snow-topped mountains of Xianggelila, while in its south spread the tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna. I had always longed to visit Yunnan, last year I happened to get a chance to go to Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan. I went there to visit a missionary school in Kunming. But things happened so that I neither saw the snowy mountains nor visit the rainforest. For I was trapped in Kunming for two months, starving every day from the spicy foods they served in the school canteen and kept sleepless every night by the terrible noise from a rice-noodle factory behind the school, so that I lost desire for anything but to have a good night's sleep and a proper meal without peppers. By the end of the two months, I decided to go home. But before I left I was invited to visit some Miao churches in the mountain country on the outskirt of Kunming. It turned out to be a great compenstation for all my sleeplessness and starving in Kunming, and all the money I had spent. The first church I visited was in the village of Ganlongtan(meaning a dry dragon pool). It took us about two hours to drive to the town where the village belong, from where we were taken by a tractor to the village. Due to the work of early western missionaries, Christianity was accepted by many minority groups. Adventist church has the largest number of converts among Miao people. Ganlongtan is a large village and the headquarter of the Miao adventist church in Yunnan. Until today, one can still see the fruits of western missionaries' work. For one thing, Miao people originally did not have their own written language, the written lanuage they use today was invented by those early missionaries. Miao people love music and are very gifted in music. Almost everyone has a good voice. Half of their Sabbath worship time is spent on singing, as choirs of different age groups take turns to perform. To my surprise, I found the hymn books many old people held were printed in staves of SATB format. When they sang, they just chose a part that suit their voice to sing, which made the singing of the congregation sounded like a choir. I guess this is also an heritage passed down by the early missionaries. I stayed for a week in Ganlongtan. There is an Adventist missionary school in Ganlongtan, with no more than 40 students from 6 to 20 years old. Music is an important part of the school curriculum. Besides Chinese, math or arithmatics, Miao language, Bible and Ellen White's works, the students are also taught music theory, singing, and musical instruments. Every student must learn to read staves, and to play at least one kind of musical instrument. In fact, many older students can play several kinds of instrument. Accordions are their favorite instrument, which can be heard even in the remotest country church. Guitar has become quite popular in recent years as a result of some Korean missionaries' work. Some students and teachers even attempt to learn to play Saxophone, flute, trumpet, and violin by themselves. Miao people are very hospital people. They would invite every guest to give a speech or sing a song on their Sabbath worship, regardless of their background or past history. The first Sabbath morning I spent there, I was asked to teach the children's sabbath school. I told the children a story first, then taught them a song, which they quickly learned to sing. However I didn't know how to get them sing in round. When their teacher came back, I asked him for help, for he was the older students' choir director. He soon got the children sing in round. As the children sang along merrily, an older student strolled in with a guitar in his hands. He soon picked up the tune and was strumming along! We had such a good time together that we all agreed to keep this as a secret program for the worship. But to my surprise, I was the first one to be asked to sing in the worship. I felt so lucky to have prepared that secret program, so I asked the children to come forth to sing with me, and the guitarist to accompany us. Besides music Miao people are good at crafts too. They adorn their shoes, their clothes, their bags and even shoe cushions with elaborate embroideries. Women weave colorful wools into long girdles to wear around their waist. In old times, women wove their own cloth, some of which they wax-dyed into blue and white patterns and made into pleated skirts. They are also good basket weavers. In every household there are all sizes of baskets, which they use for carrying goods on back. Unfortunately, the tranditonal handcrafts are fast disappearing as cheap machine-made products prevail the market. It's a pity the school does not teach traditional handcrafts. Every ethnic group has some unique customs. The most peculiar custom of the Miao people in my eyes is their two-meal diet. Even before they became adventists, they ate only two meals a day. Their first meal is around 10 o'clock in the morning, and their second meal around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. On Sabbath day, they have sabbath school before the first meal. The worship does not begin until 12 o'clock, and ends as early as 3pm so that those coming from afar may not get home too late. Traditionally, Miao people love spicy food. In Kunming, I was told that people in Yunnan could not live without peppers. But to my surprise, neither the teachers nor the students in the missionary school eat spices. When asked why, they said, they gave it up after they read Ellen White's writings about health, and now had become quite accustomed to food without spices. I filled my sketch book with the portraints of the students and teachers during the 7 days I stayed among them. Never had I felt so inspired. I guess it was their music and their hospitality and humility that inpired me. Should I say everything of the Miao people was ideal I was lying. I shouldn't miss to report that their hygenic conditions were poor. The houses of the whole village were crowded together, with dung and garbage dumped around. The school's kitchen was teeming with flies in summer, so much that once I even saw a dead fly floating on the soup. The school toilet - the only one in the village, was a scene of filth and odor, especially in rainy weathers. There were only two bedrooms for the students, one for the girls, the other for the boys. Both were crowded and poorly ventilated. The nearest hospital was in the town which was two hours away by tractor. There was no bathroom, not even a bathtub. For the first three days I stayed there, I didn't take a bath, which made me feel like sick. I was afraid to ask, for I had heard that Miao people took only three baths all their life, and that if their guests showed any dislike they would feel offended. However, I noticed every afternoon, a couple of girls would always come out from somewhere shining as if a fresh lotus flower just emerging from water. When asked, they told me there was a creek near the school, where they took bath and wash their clothes. For the rest of the days I stayed there, I went to the creek every day and bathe myself to my heart's content. When I told this to one of the teachers, he laughed and said I should have asked them earlier and they would not feel offended, for they had realized the benefits of taking bath, though they had not yet formed the habit of taking bath every day themselves. The pastor told me they were suffering from isolation due to traffic difficulties and lack of internet access, and their school was struggling with lack of funds and qualified teachers. When talking about Yunan, outside world may know the church and the missionary school in Kunming, but few people know these gifted yet humble minority Christians in the mountains.... However, despite the poor hygene, despite the simple two meals a day, which were cabbages, legumes and potatoes most of the time, despite the absence of internet, I still felt as happy as if in a fairyland. Before I left Yunnan, I spent another month with a young Miao couple living in another village belong to the same town. There is a small church in this village too. The mountain slopes here are covered with a kind of cosmos-like plant that bloom in pink, orange, red and violet, and adorned with morning glories of white, pink, violet, purple and magenta. Even their toilet in the open was surrounded by wild flowers. Here I saw methane stove for the first time. It was connected with a tightly covered methane pool, which opens to the toilet. It supplied sufficent gas for the family. They told me the government built the pool and provided the cooking utensils for only 400 yuan. Here I saw open horse carriages in the streets for the first time. Though the local people prefer motorbike carriage to horse carriage, I really enjoyed riding in a horse carriage! I felt so carefree when I sat in the carriage, listening to the jingling of the bells and the crispy clop of horse hooves, admiring the fields and hills passing leisuredly by. Here I also met a Hani couple from Yuanjiang, a place between Kunming and Xishuangbanna. They told me about their beautifully terraced rice fields from the tops of the mountains to the feet thereof, and invited me to visit their farms and attend their new year celebration. But I had to leave.... I left with many precious memories as well as many regrets in myheart. I missed singing with the children, I missed drawing with the children, and I missed the beautiful wildflowers on the mountain slopes.... I wish God would give me a chance to go back there. [img:center]http://zh.netlog.com/rachelzeng1971/photo/photoid=550950&setid=9013&surr=0#photos Ganlongtan Village [img:center]http://zh.netlog.com/rachelzeng1971/photo/photoid=550943&setid=9013&surr=0#photos Ganlongtan school students [img:center]http://zh.netlog.com/rachelzeng1971/photo/photoid=550931&setid=9013&surr=0#photos young accordionist [img:center]http://zh.netlog.com/rachelzeng1971/photo/photoid=550915&setid=9013&surr=0#photos good friends Quote Seek and ye shall find.
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.