Ni Hao from JingDeZhen=2C China=2C The Porcelain Capital. The University'=
s Spring term has ended and we are now in the summer holiday break from cla=
sses. Most students have returned to their hometowns for a vacation or summ=
er job. Some students are still on campus=2C but not many. The dorms are mo=
stly closed and students must find alternate housing if they stay to do sum=
mer school course work or stay just to read and study on their own. Now whe=
n I want to eat=2C I must walk to the nearby restaurants or small shops to =
find a meal. This week I travelled with some colleagues to LongHuShan (Dra=
gon-Tiger Mountain) the birthplace of Daoism (Taoism). The temple there is =
very old and the setting is spectacular. It is near YingTan on the map....a=
bout 4 hours drive from Jingdezhen over some pretty poor roads. We drove th=
ere Tuesday night and stayed all day Wednesday. It is a recognized WORLD GE=
O-PARK The sheer mountains are the result of ancient lava flows from volcan=
ic activity and have weathered and eroded to display fascinating shapes and=
forms. Dragon Tiger Mountain is the biggest=2C but there is also Monkey He=
ad=2C Dogs Head and the Mountain of 108 Faces. The tallest is called "Spect=
acular Penis Peak"=3B you might guess it's shape. We took 61 middle school=
students from YingTan on a field trip there and I gave Oral English lesson=
s along the way -riding alternately in each of the two buses. The weather w=
as cool in the morning and the boat trip up the river was very pleasant. We=
reached the upper reaches of the river passing a small fishing village tha=
t=2C I understand has been there more than a thousand years in it's present=
layout. We passed many volcanic mountains=2C then walked farther up into t=
he canyons. The small caves and hollows of the mountains are where many fam=
ous ancient scholars=2C poets and Daoist leaders were buried. You might hav=
e seen a recent TV documentary about the sites. When we reached the end o=
f the walkway=2C we walked across a stone bridge and boarded bamboo rafts f=
or the trip back down the river. Two people with long bamboo poles guided t=
he trip which included a few mild white-water rapids. There are no power bo=
ats allowed on the river so we watched the boatmen and boatwomen polling th=
e rafts back up the river to pick up more passengers. Lots of work for=2C I=
suspect=2C little pay. The food of the area is quite good. Lots of river =
fish and eels=2C wild grass-like vegetables=2C fungi and melon soup. I'm do=
ing a lot of tutoring this summer. The middle and high school students don'=
t have much of a chance to speak oral English so they are eager to have a c=
hance to talk with a foreigner. Also still working with the managers of the=
hellicotper factory=2C so that they can communicate with the Italian and B=
ritish and other foreign workers and customers. A new helicopter arrived la=
st week from Italy. That Augusta-Westland helicopter will be used by CCTV t=
o cover the Olympic Summer games which start in about three weeks. It will =
be re-assembled at the plant here and flown to Beijing next week. Yesterda=
y I took a bus to E' Hu=2C a small village about 32 KM from JDZ...up in the=
mountains... about 10 KM from GaoLing Village. I gave a pep talk about ora=
l English to approximately 150 middle and high school students there and ha=
d lunch with the 10 JingDeZhen Ceramic Institute students who are living th=
ere and running a summer camp for the students. They study English together=
for the most part. The Student Council at JCI organized the study camp for=
the village students. I was happy to see that they had volunteered to spen=
d their summer helping others. There was a tremendous lightning storm the =
other night. One of the most spectacular I have ever seen. Little wind and =
some rain and a LOT of Thunder and Lightning. Usually the power will go off=
(or be turned off) during such storms=2C but this time the power stayed on=
. I unplugged my computer=3B just in case. Weather is hot. 35 C during the =
afternoons now. Thank goodness for the A.C. I found a good reference book =
the other day: AN ENGLISH-CHINESE HANDBOOK OF CERAMIC GLOSSARY (ISBN 978-7-=
80740-157-5) It's handy to have when discussing ceramics with the Chinese p=
otters who do not have much knowledge of English. I think it's helping me l=
earn more Chinese too. It lists 140 types of kilns! The cost of the book wa=
s 23 RMB ($4.USD.) Hope you're all having a good summer. Best Regards=2C R=
ic
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