shilou, Friday, End of 2nd week of Teaching

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Today it has been really hot, just like yesterday. You could hardly stay outside in the sun...no breeze and no clouds, just pounding rays. We have finally gotten a fan in our room so there was at least some air this morning as the teachers worked on their lesson plans and presentations for Monday....they will each do a 15-minute presentation on part of a unit from the textbook they use. They also have to present their lesson plan for the entire unit. I am hoping to videotape their presentations...

After a couple of days of diarrhea, I have begun to feel better and I went back to have lunch at the hotel dining room this afternoon. We had poached fish...I'm assuming it was the same fish from the Yellow River that we had in a sauce before, string beans with garlic (again), noodles with a tomatoe sauce w/ tofu and egg and onion and garlic, and a soup of beans and tofu....all fairly safe...not as salty as many of the dishes. The first week I was beginning to retain a lot of water because of the salt and had to drink more ... I stopped some of the saltier dishes. I have been drinking at least 2 Coke Zeros every day...I'm not sure what is in them but ok that's my vice....

this afternoon we all watched part of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That was the first time that I had seen the beginning of the film...I've only seen bits and pieces of each of the films...I really do love Harry...he's adorable...and of course I love the fantasy. There were Chinese subtitles so I think that the students who attended were able to follow. We'll see the rest next week.

Judy and I just went shopping -- and I think I found the only pair of pants my size in this town. But now I've got a pair of shorts to wear tomorrow. We are going to Ping Yiao, an ancient city in Shanxi. This is not the city where Raise the Red Lantern was filmed but it is similar to that city. My student Zhang Ye wrote up something about it for me:

Ping Yao is situated in the middle part of ShanXi province. It is tot he south of the captial city Tai Yuan. As a birthplace fo ShanXi merchants, Ding Yao is rich in many cultural relics. The old city has a complete style of Ming and Qing Dynasty (about 200 years ago). Today, Ping Yao is one of the most beautiful ancient cities int eh world. In 1986, it was regarded as the famous historical city in China. In 1997, it was listed in the list of the World Cultural heritage. Its planar pattern looks like a turtle, so it is called the Turtle City, too.

There are several old temples in teh city. The Zhen Guo Temple, located in the Northeast has a wooden structure built 1100 years ago. The Shuan Lin Temple, located inthe Southwest has more than 2000 painted clay sculptures. They are really the sculpture gems in Oriental area. The Great Palace in Wen Temple was rebult in Jin Dynasty (about 800 years ago). All of them above, together with RiShenChang exchange shop, have a very high historical value.

As for Ri Shen Change exchange shop, you h ave to know that it is the embryonic form of the modern bank in China. It is the most famous now in Ping Yao City. The shop was a pgiment shop at first. It used to have a branch in Beijing. The manager of the branch was a kind and clever man, named Lei. At that time, there were many Shan Xi merchants doing business there. When they earned enough money, they had to send the money back to their hometow, Shan Xi. But the money was heavy to be transported. For the money was silver coins. Besudes, it was not safe to take the money in a long trip. So they stored it in Lei's shop. And Lei would write a testimonial. They could get the money from Lei's shop in Ping Yao by using the ticket. It was a safe and convenient way to the businessman. Thus, more and more rich men went to Lei. Lei only asked for a little fee for keeping the money. At the end of the year, Lei found that the total of the fee was much more than the profit from the pigment business. The wise man suggested his boss stop and close the pigment shops and change them to be exchange shops, named Ri Shen Chang that means the business get bigger and bigger every day. It was the first exchange shop in china. That year was 1823. From then on, the shop became more and more professional. The workers in it have devleoped lots of good ways to avoid many mistakes. The shop also had an advanced management. it always had a reputation for its honesty. More than 40 branches were set up all over teh country. What's more, it expanded its business to abroad, like Japan, Singapore, Russia and so on.

Many rich persons followed Ri Shen Chang. At that time, there were 22 exchange shops in Ping Yao City. Suddenly Ping Yao became a financial center of China. These shopowers became the most important taxpayers of the Quing government. -- Zhang Ye.

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