The Ramblings of an Old Chinese Woman

The other day I ran for two hours, and this is what I saw:

I saw twelve weddings and twelve cream cheese dresses and twelve happy grooms. I saw a man in a car taking my picture. I saw a protest of Chinese students with signs and shouts. I saw the police yelling and forcing them back, back from the streets. I saw my first golden retriever in Asia. I saw Nanjing Road flooded by tourists during Golden Week, and I thought of osmosis as I ran toward the areas with more space. I saw a building within a building, shaped like an upside-down kidney bean and suspended in the air.

There are many things you may see if you run for two hours in China.

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Once I passed through People’s Park and into a confluence of older men and women, each holding an umbrella and a sign and apparently in the midst of some great happening. I discovered soon after that these were mothers and fathers of single sons and daughters, gathering together in the Chinese version of matchmaking. The umbrellas provided shade, the signs provided the name, age, and career of thousands of children – all of whom, apparently, were busy working and had no time to come on their own accord. “Only in China,” my Chinese friend explained, beaming. Just then, a woman handed me a card for a dating service web site. I pocketed it, knowing I would check it later, especially since the title simply read “date me” (so much more direct than “eharmony”). This China grows more mysterious and interesting every moment.

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The ancient Chinese word for beautiful, mei li, depicted a quiet,                gentle, submissive woman with tiny feet. Now, however, a new word is emerging in Mandarin vernacular: piao liang, which literally translates as “flow bright.” Piao liang is a vibrant and active beauty, alive and colorful and used for the modern Chinese woman. It is, in essence, a way of being. A verb. I want to be piao liang, and so I flow bright.

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Today is my birthday. I am twenty years old.

Last night, my friends and I watched Ip Man II, and dearest Craig made me a goopy and beautiful pink velvet cake, swathed in chocolate bar and Oreo gobs, and then we gussied up in little black dresses (well, not Craig) and experienced an underground club in the shape of an airplane. The servers were stewardesses. Some of my friends ordered vodka and orange juice with the intention of mixing the two, but I managed to snag the orange juice before it was contaminated and drink in my new age with several glasses.

I left early, just after midnight, and slept well and deeply so I could enjoy today without any sort of sleep deprivation. I woke and ran, and talked to God, and ate peanut buttered toast and granola, and went to a children’s story reading in Mandarin, and went to brunch on a patio surrounded by trees and filled my stomach with mozzarella and basil omelet and bruschetta, and then I studied and went to Shanghai Community Fellowship Church, where I worshiped God and made a new friend, then returned home and strummed a few songs on my guitar. My girl friends and I went to house church at 8:08 p.m., and then I had a long and lovely conversation with Maria, my housemother. I received perfume that smells like rain from Craig, with a commission to be fragrant for Christ, Shel Silverstein children’s books in mandarin from Jason, Christine, and Nadine, mascara from Molly, dark chocolate cookies and Heinz ketchup from Melissa, and a blissful autumn day from my Daddy in Heaven.

Mmmm, mmm.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!