Some thoughts on yesterday... from Shawn

Yesterday, to get outside on a nice warm day, we walked over to the White Swan hotel. Deb had purchased Sophie a beautiful  red silk so we thought we would take some pictures of her in it at the Swan. 

I’ll let Deb post pictures. I had two moments at the Swan I wanted to put document.

The first moment happened as we were snapping pictures of Sophie. I noticed that an older Chinese gentleman had been watching us intently as soon as we came in and he followed us up to the level we were taking pictures. He finally began to speak to me. I understood few words, but as he spoke I began to understand what he was communicating. I walked away with the idea that he was proud of his Country and of being Chinese, but that he was happy that we were willing to take care of one of China’s daughters. I wished I could respond to him and tell him what a privilege it was. I wish I could have captured some of his expressions.

The second moment was standing at a great wall of windows at the Swan that overlook the Pearl River. Barges, sight-seeing boats, and a lone rowboat were all traveling slowly along the river. The slow movement of the boats on the river reminded me of how China has changed.  Jake and I visited the Sun Yat Memorial Hall today and viewed amazing wood and bone carvings, embroidery, and paintings at this museum. They were reminders of a slower time in China when time was taken to create these intricate pieces of artwork. The bone carvings alone had to have taken perhaps years. Our guide told us that as China has moved at a faster pace the younger generation isn’t willing to take the time to create this type of art. It saddened me not only for the people of China, but for us as a planet, for as the pace quickens for everyone will anyone be willing to stop and create beauty?

Carving on ivory is banned now, but this ivory carving is
beautifully intricate and detailed
Bone carving is now done.

This is embroidery, wow!