Pink Slippers in Lijiang
Pink Slippers in Lijiang
Sunday, 18 November 2007
It was one of those serendipitous moments. (Many of my students would have called it a ‘random’ moment, but my first sentence is a brave, hopefully fruitful attempt to provide them with a more philosophical and less over-used substitute word!).
I was walking through the streets of Lijiang in China on the final day of our China Week trip when I looked up and saw the slippers on the old tiled roof. One becomes used to seeing symbols of modernity in old parts of China these days - it is probably the inevitable consequence of rapid economic change. And yet the slippers did surprise me. Even in this land of surprises and ‘innovative fashion statements’ (to use a somewhat euphemistic expression), the slippers seemed out of place.
When I returned from China Week, I was actually quite sick (like about half the students in the group). We were caught unawares by the severity of some of the cold weather we encountered (3 degrees below zero and 15 centimetres of snow on the ground) and the steady rain through which we hiked during the early part of our trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge. For the first time in more years than I can remember, I took a sick day on Tuesday (although it would perhaps have been more effective if I had rested rather than trying to catch up on e-mails all day).
This is why I failed to achieve the target I had set for myself of posting a mid-week blog this week containing my photographs from China Week. Actually, even with good health, this would have been an ambitious target, as I had several important off-campus functions to prepare for and attend - it going to be an unusually busy week, even without the backlog of work that had accumulated while I was away for China Week, and even for a person in robust health. On Friday, I presented a lunch-time address to the Rotary Club of Kowloon North on the establishment of the new United World College in Mostar. That same afternoon, I met with representatives of the Hong Kong UWC Graduates Association to help them plan the restructuring of the UWC Hong Kong Committee. That evening I attended and spoke at the annual fundraising dinner of the Hong Kong Kong UWC Graduates’ Association - a wonderful occasion of goodwill, good humour and great fundraising! And on Saturday morning I delivered the keynote speech to the Annual Conference of the Hong Kong Union of Young Leaders. So, in summary - it was not an easy week for finding time to assemble photo galleries!
The good news is that the photo galleries ARE now uploaded, however, and they are available for you to peruse. Please take the time to look at them, as they do convey something of the great experience that I was privileged to share with 16 of our wonderful 1st Year students in south-west China last week. The links to the galleries are here:
My China Week 2007 Introductory Page
Gallery of 39 images of Lijiang
Gallery of 54 images of Tiger Leaping Gorge
Gallery of 96 images of Waka, including the Tibetan orphanage
Gallery of 33 images of Zhongdian.
I do hope you enjoy them!