Dongba Written Language

Li Jiang has many different tribes of minority people. The Dongba tribe has their own language. Our guide told us the three lower pictorial characters represent love, family and discussion. I don't know about you, but the picture of discussion looks more like fighting to me.

Although we may hurt someone's feelings when we are open and honest, it is still better to talk than to ignore the issues or avoid discussion. Do you agree?

Copyright © 2006 Winnis Chiang, Parenting ABC

Minority Show and God's Amazing Grace

In Li Jiang, we watched a minority show. A 90 something Dongba master sang and dance with younger people. There were war, peace, and love stories.

The dance was okay but the air in the theatre was pretty stuffy. I was bothered by the frog god that they worshipped which was displayed as the center piece on stage. I felt sad for these people who worshipped creature instead of the Creator.

"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised." (Romans 1:22-25)

When the show was over, we got out and breathed some fresh air. As we walked past a store, I noticed the words "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16) in prominent display. I felt comforted, grateful and joyous. God is so good. He loves these people too, even though they are different from us. I pray that they will know the truth, in His time.

Copyright © 2006 Winnis Chiang, Parenting ABC

Li Jiang Old Town

Li Jiang was made famous around the world after a big earthquake that did not destroy the old town.

The minority people who live there worship a frog, and some of the stones were from long long time ago.

Our tour guide is a young man of age 22 (shown in one of these pictures). He is the most talkative tour guide we have on this trip and seems to know a lot about history and cultures. Even in college, he started to serve as an interpreter for important people. His English is the best among local tour guides we met on our trip and he is the most friendly and enthusiastic. He claims to know 10 languages. Apparently, he is the 29th generation of Dali kingdom, sort of a prince.

Copyright © 2006 Winnis Chiang, Parenting ABC

Dali - Three Towers & a Picture in the Stone

Lion Dance on Grave Side

When we visited grandpa's hometown, his relatives rented a bus to go to different places to pay respect to their ancestors. Guess what? They even have someone doing lion dance on the grave side.

Black and White Twin Girls

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." (Psalm 139:14)

I am cleaning up my files and come across a report on the Black and white twins. The mom and dad of these two little girls are both of mixed race. Apparently, both have white mothers and black fathers.

The report says that "The odds against of a mixed race couple having twins of dramatically different colour are a million to one." You may read the full report in Daily Mail.

Have you ever wondered about how in the million less one situations, things happen as we are used to?

When our son was born, we were overjoyed. My husband and I counted all his toes and fingers and admired our beautiful healthy baby. I called that a miracle then, even before I became a believer! I still think it is incredible how human beings are designed.

A couple had a miscarriage and they were very sad and could not understand why. Later, their doctors found out that their baby (who passed away in the womb) only had X, not XX nor XY. How comforting to know that God already knew what was going on before physicians could figure things out.

Copyright © 2006 Winnis Chiang, Parenting ABC