The Dragon Gate

When I first mentioned to people in the States that I would be going to China to teach, some could not believe it. Others patted me on the back and wished me God's speed. Still others started a list of places I must visit during my time in the Far East: Singapore, Beijing, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok, and many more. While I have been to some of these, I am pacing myself, because the truth is many places in and around Kunming still remain sites I have not seen.

Recently I took a Saturday excursion to one of these sites just south and west of Kunming: The Dragon Gate. Hanging on the rock of the Western Hills cliffs, this claw mark of a trail clings precariously to a vertical face overlooking DianChi Lake, a lake the size of Flathead Lake back in Montana. While I admit that I failed to take detailed notes on the construction of this "trail," I do remember that a single monk lived in a cave on the cliff wall for fourteen years, working on this gateway and its winding staircase.
This shot of the Dragon Gate is taken from below, as our small group descended from its height. This shows the near vertical orientation of the rock face. One can also see that the trail itself, in some places, is carved out of the rock face, only coming to its very edge when a natural landing could be found. Just beyond the gate is a shrine to a Buddhist deity. Because it is considered rude to take pictures of these gods, and because there were so many people around, I decided to do the polite thing and put my camera away at that point.
However, I did snap this photo of a large stone basin in which pilgrims can place incense before stepping into the shrine to pray. Beyond the incense and the three men pictured is the god I mention above. In most cases, these carved statues depict a rather frightening visage. This particular deity held a mighty sword that reached from the ground to nearly his chest. He stood over a lion whose face looked to be growling menacingly. I personally enjoy the smell of incense, but in this tight, confined space, the scent became almost over powering. I had to step back out onto the ledge and breathe in the "fresh" Kunming air. (You will see in a minute why I placed fresh in quotation marks.)
Suli, feeling very good with herself for completing the climb to the Dragon Gate, takes a little breather before descending back to the park entrance. At least a thousand vertical feet above the surface of DianChi Lake, the highest point of the Dragon Gate offered relatively stunning views of both Kunming and the lake itself. The gate behind Suli leads to a tunnel staircase you will see below. The entire hike is a circuit and can be traveled in either direction. However, because the entire circuit is very narrow, two-way traffic left very little wiggle room.
Here is a shot of Kunming from one of the ledges hanging onto the side of the cliff. The water is the extreme south end of DianChi Lake. As one can tell from the picture, the city itself is lost in a haze of smog. Low-hanging clouds obscured much of the city on this day and forced the smoke and dust of the city down onto the rooftops. Just across the bridge spanning the water is the Minority Village (the green, forested area). I believe there is another blog entry from my first year in Kunming (06/07) that tells more about this ethnic attraction. From viewing this picture, can you now understand why I said "fresh"?
On this humid day, after many steps up and many more drops of sweat, we finally got to go down some stairs, and in a cool tunnel. I wanted to take more pictures of this, but the height of the tunnel was limited, causing the need for taking care of my head. While Suli's head easily cleared the tunnels height, even she needed to be careful in a few places.

Someday I will make it to all the great cities of the Far East, and some day I will make it to each of the tiny attractions in and around Kunming. For now, I will content myself with getting to the ones I can and keeping a list of the ones to which I have yet seen.

New Center; Same Youth (That's a good thing)

At the end of the 2007/08 school year, our Youth Group learned that it would need to find a new location for the current school year. Our former landlord's daughter graduated from university last May and is now living in the apartment where our group used to meet. So much of last Spring was spent seeking out a new venue for our weekly meetings. As one might guess, location is key, not just so it is near enough (as possible) to all the you who would like to attend, but also so we will not be bothering too many local people.

You see, Youth Group can be a bit raucous. We play music with small scale sound system hooked up to a keyboard and electric guitars. We also have a trap set with a number of different size drums and cymbals. When we sing, it can be rather loud. Plus, these are youth; they can be loud just living from moment to moment. So we needed just the right place, an our Father provided beautifully.
The above photo is taken from the window of our new Youth Center on the twenty-fourth floor of a building about twenty minutes (brisk walk) from where I live. It overlooks the city and reminds us all why praise Him. It also reminds us of the Great Commission. From this perch we can see DianChi, the large lake south of Kunming. This particular view faces downtown (upper left portion of the photo). As one can tell from the photo, Kunming, even though it is small by comparisson with other Chinese cities, its four-million people do cover some area.
However, a youth center is nothing without youth. The above photo was actually taken in the newly painted "Paradise Tent" on KIA's campus, but all of the students attend youth center meetings. From left to right are Marie (Austria/Germany), Daniel (Australia), Daniel (hidden behind the other Daniel, USA), Sinai (Korea), Grace (USA), and Andrew (USA). Andrew is one of the boys who recently lost his mother, a teacher at KIA. This picture was taken during a back-to-school fun night held on the school's campus. The students created flags for their teams. This team--the team I was a part of--was known as "Spirit Pigs."
Here is a shot of the inside of our Youth center. This is the main meeting area. The apartment also has two bathrooms, a kitchen, and three smaller rooms. This picture was taken the night of our Jr. and Sr. High, joint, back-to-school bash. Jr. High youth group normally meets on Thursday evenings, with Sr. High usually meeting on Friday evenings. Up front speaking is Kenny, one of our youth center's head leaders. He is from Memphis, TN, and joined us last year at the start of the second semester. Along with Amber (from New Mexico), who joined us at the beginning of last school year, Kenny helps organize the direction of the youth center.
Youth would not be youth without opportunities to do bizarre things. In this photo, one team (like Spirit Pigs) performs an interpretive dance. Their efforts earned them first place in the team dance event of our Olympic themed welcome-back party. Tony, from Korea, displays his unique "Tummy rub" dance. Honestly, it looked a little like the guitar strumming tribute to Bill and Ted in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure crossed with the Grecian Urn scene from The Music Man.

The goal of teaching and of youth center is to help students find their unique purpose, which often revolves around his or her unique skills. Well, this is one of Daniel's (USA) unique skills. This boy can dance, but his primary physical skills involve flexibility and balance, both of which he displays in navigating the limbo stick. If you are wondering how high that bar really is, it was about the height of my knees, about eighteen to twenty inches off the surface. I do not know about any of you, but that is low in my book.
Well, that is our youth center and our youth. We do teach them the Word, but we also let them be youths. Through this formula we hope to raise the next generation of world leaders