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Published: July 15th 2010
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My Ricesack
I just think it's cute for some reason. 6/21/10
We began learning Chinese massage with Dr. Yang Yuncai, whom we quickly noticed during the lecture had a habit of saying “how to say” when we would normally say “um.” During the lecture he gave us an introduction to Chinese massage can treat and then taught us a few massage manipulations. Chinese massage has been around since ancient times and became an advanced clinical practice by the Sui and Tang dynasties. Different techniques are applied to people of different ages. For example, the hands and arms are massaged for babies, while the whole body can be massaged for adults. This is because adults have different meridians and channels in their bodies than babies. Chinese massage can be used to treat uncomfortable menstruation, insomnia, kidney problems, high fever, and many other conditions.
The doctor used some of my friends as “patients” to show us the massage manipulations and then invited some of the others to practice on these “patients.” We also received these small rice sacks on which we can practice our massage on. I really wanted markers to draw a cute face on my rice sack. After we practiced massage techniques, the doctor taught us a
simple qi gong exercise. Apparently masseuses practice qi gong regularly as ways of relaxing themselves. To be a good masseuse, one has to be able to relax, especially while giving massages or else one’s shoulders and hands will become tired much more quickly.
The program staff brought lunch to us in the lecture room because we had a packed schedule that day. While we ate lunch, they showed us a video on China during Mao’s rule. I had already learned most of the material in my 20th century history class in senior year of high school, but the video served as good review. Ananthi apparently had very little idea as to who Mao was, and after seeing the video realized that he was everywhere, even on all of the Chinese money. She had a very negative view of him and could not understand why Chinese people revered him so much when his actions caused the deaths of millions of Chinese citizens. I had to explain to her that the official view on Mao was 70% good and 30% bad and that without Mao, China could have very well remained a backwater farming country for a very long time
Dr. Desiree
Practicing shaking. because of all the troubles it was experiencing. He did many horrible things, but the official Chinese view is that the good outweighed the bad. It was still hard for her to accept and I could not blame her.
After the video we headed to another floor of the hospital to practice Chinese massage. We were split into small groups of five and practiced rolling and one digit meditations on our rice sacks under the instructions of massage doctors. We were also used as patients while other members of our group practiced their techniques on us. Feedback is very important in Chinese massage, just like it is in acupuncture, so we were asked about our comfort repeatedly while being practiced on. I enjoyed acting as a patient since I had been feeling some stress in my lower back and they ended up massaging my back.
When manipulation practice was over, we headed back up to the 12th floor and received a lecture from Professor Huang Cheng. The professor was 92 years old and gave us a lecture on Chinese history since he lived it. Since we were learning about Mao, he went into particular detail about
the time China was ruled by Mao. He said that the Cultural Revolution was cultural destruction. At the time, Yunnan was French territory. The professor was a Russian language teacher since at the time China was building a relationship with the Soviet Union and there were very few Russian language teachers in China.
Around this time, Chairman Mao asked Chinese intellectuals to do everything they could to help. The professor quoted Mao as saying, “Say what you know, if you talk then say everything. Those who speak will not be punished, those who are criticized have to consider it carefully.” Of course, this time period that the professor was talking about was the Hundred Flowers Campaign. After everyone expressed their ideas just as Mao asked them to, they were punished. Millions were labeled rightists and jailed. The professor himself, at the command of the great Chairman Mao, spoke up and said that if the Communist Party wants to rule the people, it ought to pay attention to technology and science, not only propaganda. The professor was labeled a rightist as well. It was only because the Chairman asked him to criticize the Communist party that he obeyed and
criticized it.
The party gave the professor a chance to debate and rebuttal the charge. The professor argued that what he said was only for the party’s good, but they still called him a rightist. On top of that, because he rebuttled, he was called anti-revolutionary, which was much worse than being a rightist. The professor was jailed for 19 years. The professor said that the policy was like luring a snake out to beat it to death. Back then, the police did not have to say what crime you committed to put you in jail, so many people were jailed without being told what the reason was.
During the Cultural Revolution, the party destroyed antiques, calligraphy, and anything related with Confucianism. They only kept anything related to Chairman Mao intact. Tibetan temples were burned and monks were taken as war prisoners for resisting Mao’s claim on Tibet. War prisoners were treated worse than rightists.
When Deng Xiaoping came into power, he said that the anti-rightist movement was wrong and released all the rightist prisoners from jail. He compensated them as best he could, but since there were so many and China had to
Drawing
He's showing us what surface of our hand should touch the patient when using the rolling massage manipulation. focus on rebuilding itself, the newly released prisoners were only given a few months’ worth of salary as compensation for their decades in jail. This was also when the professor was released from jail. Afterward he had to become an English teacher to make money. He obviously holds a good opinion of Deng Xiaoping and gives his full approval of Hu Jintao and the Chinese government today.
It was interesting to listen to Professor Huang’s lecture and it was obvious that he was very knowledgeable. He liked to laugh and make jokes whenever he could, and often criticized his own English when in fact he was very fluent. After the lecture ended, he asked all of us for the honor of taking a picture with us. We all argued that it was our honor to take a picture with him.
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