Wednesday in Chengdu - The Day After

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The first class - last night - went well. There were more than thirty students both from the big university and the Minzu. Nobody left at the one hour break and that is always a good sign. Everybody seemed to think it went very well but I kept seeing the flaws in the presentation and the need for clearer terminology, more handouts with references or links for follow-up information and links to the online images. I will adjust for the Thursday night class. The iconography outline section on Buddha Appearance in Tibetan art is now quite well developed especially with the pages on the HAR website such as the Buddha Glossary, Buddha Outline Pages and the detailed listing of how Shakyamuni Buddha appears in painting compositions of all types. This Buddha section is now ready to be written out fully and prepared as a chapter in the envisioned handbook.

Now all I have to do is prepare the detailed outline for tomorrow night and select 50 or more images as examples.

The Gene Smith Tibetan Library is opening today at the new Minzu University campus somewhere out towards the airport. The campus is new and I have never been there before. For the past 15 to 20 years Gene had always intended that his Tibetan language library of publications printed in India from the 1960s through to the 1980s would eventually be given to a university or institute in China. Gene's books will live in the Minzu University in a special library and the official opening is today.

It is just past 9:00 in the morning and the sun is up and bright. If it stays sunny then it will be a very warm day indeed - maybe into the 30s. Yesterday was exceptionally nice with partial cloud and sun throughout accompanied by a gentle breeze which kept things cool. The university has a lot of trees and open areas with grass which absorbs the heat and keeps things cool. The Tibetan studies building and university museum are also situated along one of Chengdu's many rivers (canals) which helps with the heat of summer. The Shangri-la Hotel is also close by which means if I really need a get away I can go there and enjoy the air conditioning and free wi-fi in the their very comfortable ground floor cafe.

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