Virtual China '98

Authors: Matt Hammer and Patrick Woo

Location: Taishan CTS Hotel

Date: April 30^th 98'

Itinerary:

6:30- Wake up call to the rooms.

7:30-9:00- We ate breakfast. Had some announcements, made lunch. One of our group members named Ya-Chin had her birthday today. She is 13.

9:00-10:30- Went to a free market and looked at Western style ethnocentric meat. Also toured more of the market, and saw what the vendors had to sell. Some of the people were selling endangered species of animals, one of our group named Nathaniel interviewed a man in the market place. Some other vendors were selling strange types of merchandise; (i.e. Bear traps, chains, razor-sharp butcher blades, wicker knifes.) nobody seemed to really care. Not surprising considering how most of the citizens in China need to make livings.

10:30-11:15- Boarded the bus for the reservoir. Noticed that rain was coming.

11:15-4:30- Biked for the reservoir. Visited the place and were about to leave, but it started to rain. Some of us boarded a truck and rode to the rendezvous point. The others had begun to bike earlier to get out of the rain. Walked to where the bus was half stuck in mud.

5:30-6:00- Got back to the hotel on the bus.

6:30- Had a work period lasting for about an hour.

7:30- Ate dinner at a far out restaurant.

8:15- Went out for a night on the town. Took a small walk throughout the streets.

9:30- Got back to the hotel by foot.

10:00- Lights out.

Virtual China

Mrs. Lewis Group

Ya-Chin Chang and Yoon-Shik Park
April 30th 1998
Taishan Free Market
Perspective of a dead dog

Feeling numb and freezing, I lay dead on the wooden table. I can feel my stomach being open for the public to see. My heart tries to pump the blood through the rest of my body. Slowly my heart stops, my lungs empty without air. My life was short, a wild dog looking for food and a place to rest. Ohhhh... the pain.
I'll tell you what happened, as I woke up one dark morning I saw a young man walking toward me. He fed me well... Suddenly he killed me, everything went black.
Now I lie... dead. The same man flips me over and skins me. The cold breeze tickles my senses, turning my warmth into pain. Beside me, I wearily see my liver chopped, and selling for 15 yuan. I see in my mind what will become of the rest of me. Stir-fry or boiled, who knows, I'll be dead. To my left an old woman with a butcher knife slices a bunny into bits. I cry in agony, nothing is heard. Screaming at the top of what is left of my lungs, but nobody hears, not even I. Is it me or am I already dead?

Virtual China 98'

Mrs. Lewis Group

Authors: Lauren Page (Typist: Matt Hammer) Lauren was too lazy...

Date: April 30^th, 98'

Location: Taishan Christian church

Interview with Sister John

Forward from the Author of the nun's interview: Sister John was a Christian during the Cultural Revolution of China. During this period of time, the Communist party was trying to convince the people that they could live without god and religion. So to make their point clear and obvious, they took and burned everything religious. This was a very hard time for Christians and people of other religions. This is the story of one of them.

What is your name?

Sister John. Authors note: Yes I know it sounds funny but her Chinese name has something to do with saint John so her English name has just been translated

How old are you? And when is your birthday?

73 and October, 10, 1925

What is your daily schedule?

I take care of the church and work in my garden. Sometimes I will just sit, if there is nothing else to do.

Were you always a Christian?

Yes. My mother was a Christian and in our old town of Tai Ping, she took me to pray.

What was it like during the Cultural Revolution?

Difficult. I became a farmer during this time and my family and I were often discriminated. In the town I was working in the church was destroyed and all religion was outlawed, especially Christianity because it came from the western "capitalists" world. While I was working as a farmer I was regularly hit and beaten why? I do not know I think they wanted land to build new things and did not want to buy the land. They would also beat people and even kick them out of their own house if they didn't do their work or if anything religious was found. Because of all this I prayed daily alone in my heart.

When did you become a nun?

1985, that was when the party made churches and religion legal. By this time I had made my decision I would spend the rest of my life with god. In 1987 I came to Taishan because of this church, I now run the church and the day care center next door.

Do you have any living relatives?

Yes. My bother (who is dead) has three sons who are not Christian.

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