The death of traditions

It is so hot and humid in Chengdu right now that my brain is bathing in its own liquid, humming strange tunes to itself and sending me images of massive artillery guns firing into the distance.

Spengler is a columnist for Asia Times who has derided the Europeans for lacking the courage to face the modern world, upholds the Christian belief in salvation through God's grace as the answer to the world's crisis of faith and who is certain that traditional societies must change in the face of today, or perish.

And many other themes, some of which he touches on in this latest column about America's special place in the world and what he believes is Obama's deepest desire: to rid the US of that which grants us this special place, modernity.

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I lament the demise of funk streets the world over. I have been actively seeking out the jabbering markets where chickens are held up for inspection, approved, beheaded and plucked before your very eyes; the courtyards of stone and their rickety wooden enclosure, with door gods and drying tobacco leaf; the delicate dance of a family-supported courtship and marriage; the one stringed wailing and the gourd flutes; family charts, bamboo weaves and dog-hair sandbags.

But they are dying the world over. In some places quicker than others and a few places not at all, but their fate is sealed by the progress of the modern world.

In my own neighborhood, the old Hakka traditions are resting in the cataracts of an 80 year old as he sips tea and fingers his mahjiong pieces.

Every time I meet my man Zhuang Jian for tea, we trade bitter reports of this and that place lost forever to the modern hordes and whisper of the few that still survive. These conversations always end in silence, whereupon we turn to money issues and quote Candide:

"... one's own garden ..."

My heart aches when i read of this prognosis for the world: Modernity and the lonely quest of the individual for solace on earth and grace from heaven. Is it said any differently in Eccliastes or the Dao De Jing? I think tribalism is immortal in us and community is our last gasp to ward off death, but in the end i am my only keeper -- I suppose i lament what is gone until i am a part of what will endure.

Dammit, Spengler is right. Wherever I have gone in the world, people are choosing, being forced to choose and just plain drifting into the real world. The only way to reconcile the two worlds is to create things which cause others to dream. Make wishes and see them come true ... Aha! i finally know what the Auryn means!

And so the lamenting pray and hope for God's retribution before his grace. Only the ghosts of the dream world actually spout Mayan prophecies of 2012 to each other, discuss the civilizations that existed 10,000 years ago and that we are doomed to meet their fate.

2012 allows us to be there for it and have the last laugh on guys like Spengler when God's grace falls on those who longed for what's lost, instead of those who embraced what is. It is the Great Dream of all dreamers.

The Min River

The Min flows down from the Tibetan Plateau, through Dujiangyan where a 2000 year old irrigation project splits the river into two parts: one headed south to Chengdu and the other, which rushes along the mountains -- and the fault line -- all the way down to the Leshan Grand Buddha, where it swirls at the Buddha's feet with two other rivers, before draining into the Yangtze.

It is an amazing river. I always loved to stare at it as it rushes through Dujiangyan. I stood at the Southern Bridge and watched the eddies and waves slap into each other as the river runs white and silver through the town. The Min is always fast and powerful. The locks at the irrigation project control the flow, but in summer the locks open a bit to keep the "inside river" -- which irrigates the Chengdu basin -- from flooding.

Right now extra water released fro the Zipingdu Dam and from the quake lakes farther north has made the river a raging torrent, splashing high against the walls and battering the pillars of the Southern Bridge.

I am off to Mianyang. Again.

what does it take

Today i rolled through Dujiangyan and took a look at the field hospital set up by the German and Sichuan Red Cross. The field hospital is there to take over from the seven local hospitals that are no closed due to damage from the quake. They take on all of the patients that are not in danger of dying ... the regular people who suffer from regular stuff. Many patients have quake-related stuff.

One man fell from a roof cleaning up debris and hurt his back. One old woman was dehydrated and delirious after hiking for six days to get out of Beichuan. She also fractured her foot early on in the hike, but it semi-healed, so now she lies there mumbling to herself. Two young girls had outbreaks of Lupus due to stress and shock and exposure to the sun.

The Germans are there to set up the operation and then turn it over to the Chinese. Across the board, hte Germans were impressed with the organization and determination of the Chinese. Dozens of volunteers showed up to translate. Doctors from Shanghai showed up to help. Volunteers from as far away as Liaoning and Shandong came to be helping hands. The Germans said that in no other Mission had they seen such quick response, concerted efforts and solidarity.

"This is definitely not an underdeveloped country," said one.

For the Chinese, this is a chance to learn the quick-response procedures that the Germans have perfected. The doctors from Shanghai will return to their hospital and set up an emergency response team with ability to throw up a field hospital anywhere in the world within 24 hours, just like the Germans.

This got me thinking.

Today, it would seem preposterous to think of Chinese emergency teams showing up in Western countries and doing work. They will most likely head to Africa and South Asia like all the rest of the response teams.

And further, it seems so easy for Germans to roll into Dujiangyan and set up a hospital and help them purify water for the semi-permanent settlements being built for the refugees. It seems easy for rich people in the West to throw money at Myanmar, China and Indonesia ...

Perhaps because as a disinterested party, helping out the poor and suffering of some far off nation is much easier then helping the poor and suffering down the block. Those down the block are disgusting. They're lazy. They can help themselves. And they're probably on drugs anyway.

I can't wait till China goes abroad and helps the needy around the world. Maybe they'll step into the US and clean up our ghettos for us.