Live from Guangzhou

Tuesday, March 27 2007
On Sunday, we traveled via tour bus with our group to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, a jade cutting factory, and the Great Wall before traveling to the airport for a flight to Guangzhou. It was a very full day! Now a little about each.

Tiananmen Square was blocked off to the public because of an organized walk to benefit the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic spirit is alive and well and many of the people, especially the youth, seem genuinely excited about the prospect of having the Olympics in Beijing. Tiananmen Square is a tribute to Chairman Mao but also to the people who supported the cultural revolution. The Great Hall of the People is there. The Monument to the People’s Heroes is there, and a large mausoleum for Mao.
The Square stands on land that was once walled in as part of the Forbidden City. It was the area in which the various bureaus and bureaucrats ruled various aspects of the empire for the emperor. On the south end of the Square is a gate that was part of the original wall. On the north end is a gate for the entrance to the outer courts of the Forbidden City. Chairman Mao’s picture hangs over this entrance.
The National Museum (our Smithsonian, but much smaller) stands just to the east of Tiananmen Square.


The Forbidden City is a huge sprawling complex of buildings, gates, walls, and courtyards. The walls and gates are impressively massive and must have been awe inspiring to those who were fortunate enough to ever approach the emperor in his vast City.
The emperor’s number was 9. This symbolizes his closeness to heaven and eternity. All of the gates have brass knobs on them in a 9x9 matrix. There were 9,999 rooms in the Forbidden City when it was completed in the 1400’s. There were over 1 million people that worked on the FC and it took 14 years to build. There were hundreds of designers working on various aspects of the FC. It is phenomenal in its scale! I enjoyed thinking about the complexity of the project and wishing that I could have been a part of the project management!


We traveled northwest to Badaling where we were able to see a Jade cutting shop. There were many beautiful pieces of jade with terrific craftsmanship. There were also prices like it was fine art. I think that they cater to wealthy tourists. Nonetheless, they works were beautiful.



The Great Wall! Oh, the Great Wall! What a spectacular structure! The section of the wall that we saw was massive as it wound its way over the mountain ridges. Trevor and I climbed up a section of the wall that was probably 1500 feet to the peak. The view from the top was wonderful! Again, we are impressed by the scale of this project. I think that our guide said that the wall is 3800 miles long and took 300 years to construct! Whoa! Words are inadequate to describe the Wall.


On the flight from Beijing to Guangzhou Susan set behind a man who had scalp problems. Very “memorable” for Susan.


Monday - this is the day that we got Julie! We had a low key morning with a late breakfast in our luxurious accommodations.
At about noon we walked around some of the main streets and the back alleys around our hotel. China is definitely a country of contrasts. Less than 100 yards from our 5 star hotel, there are hundreds of people living in back alleys looking like they are just trying survive. We walked by several restaurants where you meet your lunch on the way in. These restaurants look like live animal markets where you could buy fish, crabs, lobster, snails, slugs, frogs, eels, snakes, clams, ducks, etc. However, this is the location where you select your item and then it is prepared for you. Very fresh! You have to experience the smell to fully appreciate this dining experience. There is a septic smell combined with the smell of all of the different animals combined with the exhaust of the crowded streets. Overwhelming at times.


We boarded a bus at 3:30 PM local time for the trip to the adoption registration center. It is safe to say that there are many anxious prospective parents. We went to the 8th floor of a rather old office building, and found a nice, bright, clean lobby area. Very quickly after we arrived, they lined up the families in order and gave us our new daughters (there was one boy).
Susan held Julie first and Erika and I were both crying a good bit. Julie was very quiet and compliant and did not mind as we passed her around to each family member.
We gave gifts to the orphanage, signed a few papers saying that we had taken temporary custody of the child, and then we were off to the hotel and then to dinner.



It was overwhelming to think about how Julie had no family, no heritage, limited resources, limited care, and little attention one minute and then the next she had great wealth relationally speaking. We are mindful of how our Father performed the same deed in adopting us into His eternal family. What wealth, what resources, what a relationship, what family we have in Christ. Thank you, God, for adopting us into your family!