Monday, June 13, 2011 at 5:03PM Police on patrol, a crowd gathers - what is this? Some kind of demonstration? Yes, but of an academic rather than a political kind. The hopes and dreams of thousands upon thousands of young Chinese people and their families are being put to the test right now.
baotou, daily life, education Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 4:18PM Because even Benedict needs a little...
baotou, daily life Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 2:18PM Heard a lot of firecrackers outside my window this morning and wondered if today were another festival day or something. Nope, it turns out a couple were getting married across from me. Here is a video of the bride being carried out to her car (van) by the groom, no doubt on the way to their wedding celebration somewhere...
(Towards the beginning of the video, you can hear people shouting "Fang pao!", which means "Let the firecrackers rip!")
If you're curious as to what a Chinese wedding is like and what some of the traditional customs are, I recommend Ang Lee's 1993 film The Wedding Banquet.
[UPDATE: 24 hours later, early morning, the wedding party returns from their celebrations. The bride is still in her beautiful white dress and seems to be in pretty good shape, she quickly scurries up to their new apartment. However, the bridegroom is totally wasted, babbling incoherently, and needs the support of two friends to remain upright and make it home. Some of the family and friends accompanying the happy couple don't seem in the best of shape either. Chinese weddings centre around the wedding feast, with lots of eating, toasting, copious amounts of alcohol, and often the playing of practical jokes on the newly-weds. From what I can see, this one was certainly celebrated thoroughly!]
baotou, daily life Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 11:41AM Baotou and its surrounding area has over 100 churches and church meeting points, and these congregations all need people to shepherd them. Baotou Bible School seeks to meet this need, currently training over 100 church workers in various aspects of theology and church work, equipping them for future leadership and teaching roles in the church here.
baotou, bible, church, protestant, theology Sunday, March 20, 2011 at 5:59PM Taxi driver quizzes me about why western countries can't keep their noses out of other people's affairs and insist on bombing other nations...
baotou, daily life, uk