Pic o' the Day #36

Today, I wandered into a workshop at the school given by a psychologist visiting from Estonia. I was hoping to meet the former Peace Corps Medical Officer at the event. She had invited him to China and brought him to our school. I just wanted to say hello and catch up a bit.

Well, after a banquet lunch, I found that we were on our way to 江油(Jiangyou) to visit the birthplace of China's favorite poet, 李白 (Li Bai). You might remember a picture from Jiangyou on December 8th.

We stopped to take a picture in front of the big tower, and a few other people visiting the park wanted to take pictures with us. That happens all the time here.


After the picture, these folks shared with us a song and dance from their culture. It was completely unexpected and quite interesting.

They were Qiang people, one of the 55 ethnic groups recognized in China. About 90% of the people are Han Chinese and they pretty much run things. China has endured so long, not because one group controls everything, but because whoever runs the place ultimately becomes Chinese.

I recently learned that the current government is only the second Han-led government in China's history. From 1279-1368 C.E. the Mongols ruled the Yuan Dynasty. Then the other Han-led government, the Ming Dynasty ran things from 1368 to 1644 C.E.. And if you remember Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, you saw the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 CE), run by the Manchus, people from northeastern China.


These are the parents of the workshop host. They are artists and spent the day with the art department working with the faculty and students. It turns out he had a show in Louisville several years ago.

See their work. He is a painter, she works in fabrics.

MNU Art Department Watercolors / Oils / Calligraphy