Getting a Taste of Traditional Culture

This is the entrance to the old people’s home. It’s quite a big place.

Here’s a picture of the some of the women dancing a traditional Chinese dance.

Another group photo because why not.

I had a nightmare last night. There weren't any monsters or scary faces or sharp weapons. For some reason or another, the NSLI-Yians had to leave Chengdu. We had to leave before going to see the panda bears, before really integrating into local life, before spending quality time with our host families. When I woke up to the sun peaking out of the apartment window and into my eyes, I felt relieved and, at the same time, determined. Happy to still be here, but also understanding that I must make the most of my experience because of the few weeks left.

Today we went to an old people’s home in China. We were again supposedly “volunteering,” but once again, I felt that what we were doing didn’t quite fit the description of volunteering. We arrived at this large building, tall, like most, and fairly welcoming. The large hall we went into was filled with rows of chairs and tables and covered with Chinese calligraphic art. After a brief introduction, we headed to a small room that I believe was an infirmary. There were two rows of beds with metal stands beside each, interesting looking medicines and small medical gadgets, a row of chairs, a desk with many papers on top, and short men and women in white. In the infirmary, we got to experience Chinese remedies for physical ailments. Pretty much it just involved massaging different parts of the body. They were also going to show us acupuncture, but they did not, which made me particularly happy. After trying the Chinese massaging remedy for ourselves, we went back to the large hall for calligraphy practice. There was an older lady and man who taught us how to do some simple characters, and facing them, were a few rows of tables with calligraphic materials on them. I got to try twice: the first time I tried my best to draw out a few simple characters, and the second time I tried drawing flowers. The old lady calligraphic master even gave me a calligraphic piece she had made. After trying calligraphy, we had a little performance where some students performed simple dances and songs. In addition, some of the older people performed dances and songs too. First, a group of students performed "Footloose" again, and then a group of older people performed a Chinese dance with these towel-looking objects with shiny little pieces on them. Then Nurie sang a song from Mulan, and Chandler did an interpretive dance. An older man sang a Chinese song, then some students in my class danced to "Pineapple Apple Pen," and lastly a group of older women performed another Chinese dance. Before we left, we made cards for the residents. I wrote "Wishing you good health!" and "Thank you!" on my card and gave it to an older man. It was certainly an interesting experience. Respect for the old is something ingrained in Chinese culture, but in this modern day and age, instead of having the children take care of their parents, other care facilities are available, such as the one we visited. Finding ways to care for the elderly is an issue in America and many other countries around the world due to an increasing elderly population.