A look back to the gate
Though the content of this city (with its modern 'goods' (if they can be called so...)) has changed its layout, and I imagine much of the layout of the people's minds has changed little. I return to the cauldron of insincere "hallos!" and giggling laughs by adults who behave as 3 year olds. Who, having no root in themselves, speak and then look to others for approval, approval of this playful jesting with the 'different' foreigner. Few of these people can see the sameness of myself and theirself, they can not even see their own self. They are trained to identify with a mythical collective identity and to see themselves as separate and very different from foreigners. I have difficulty accepting this reality, the reality of this situation, as I walk down this street with Jane.
For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A... ... read more 
