自5月20至26日被愛希會ICC(International China Concern) 邀請踏上這中国体驗之旅, 涵 蓋三地(衡陽、長沙、北京)、四主家堂會友、五人組成員(加領隊Nikki) 的六天之行程；亦是我和弥則繼「兩地書」通信往來經年後，在異地重聚同遊的賞心經歷，沿途每日用英文寄錄之見聞感受，分三次登貼，只因其間有太多時事要聞發生，以至第三集遲遲未能刊登。惟今年驛馬星動，我又快將要在9日4日再赴長沙為愛希會的保姆員工，舉辦情緒調理的心理健康課程，以致她/他們能有更穩妥的身心靈狀態去看顧殘障孤兒的全人需要！故趕忙在出發前，完成在逍遙博登貼此第三次的分享！
Day 5 24/5/2012 Changsha to Beijing Day 1
The team took the morning flight to Beijing and spent the afternoon for a guided tour in the Forbidden City 故宮learning a lot of the history of the royal families of the Ming and Ching Dynasties. It will be shared in a separated post. But I will just make up a list of very commonly known Chinese phrasal expression or legendary stories for you to guess its real meanings. Answers will be disclosed in said post.
1. 午门斩首
2. 九五之尊
3. 無事不登三宝殿
4. 水龍頭
5. 「乾清宮」的內裏乾坤
6. 獅子的典故,後宮前面半閉目宮半掩耳的睡獅的喻意
7. 袁世凱登基大典的迷信及忌諱
8. 前三大宝殿牌扁只有中文、後宮範圍卻保抒漢滿文字的典故！
9. 乾清宮本為皇后居所，但長久丟空，無人入住之原因.
After the forbidden City visit, I sneaked away to Tiananmen Square with Mize for a personal time to pay my tribute and respect to the victims of the June 4th movement as well as my mother who passed away on 6/6/2011. It was recorded in my other post entitled 在天之寧. Mize and I had to rush back to the hotel to meet and catch up with my Christian friends in Beijing for future ministry connection. We just have a simple dinner in the local restaurant across the road. We ended up with sharing and prayers at the hotel room after dinner.
Day 6 25/5/2012 Beijing Day 2
We were given another guided tour to Mu Tian Yu 慕田峪section of the Great Wall. A relatively easier sections for me and Rev Mark Loi. It was easier as we could take two seaters cable car to go up to the Wall and return to the cable car station for the return trip after finished walking a targeted distance.
We first had to plan how far we would walk. It was measured by counting the number of wall towers we traversed. We set our target to 10. Each Wall Tower is about 200-300 metres apart. So 10 towers are about a distance of 2500 meters or 2.5KM. We had to return to the starting point where the cable car is. So the return distance is about 5km. It was just right for Rev Mark Loi and myself the two 60+ oldies.
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Then the whole team except Rev Mark opted for riding the sliding sleigh 雪橇 down hill on a metal runway. It looks dangerous but actually is very safe. You can slow down your speed by pulling up the brake lever.
After the walk on the Great Wall, we detoured to the Summer Garden頣和園 for a quick look. It is actually much bigger than we thought. The road from the entrance to the lake side where the stone boat 石舫is situated is very hilly. We actually had to climb uphill first before descending on to the lake level. Its attraction is because of the historical value of this garden where the Empress Chi He 慈禧太后stole money for building the war ship to build this garden. Eventually it was burned down by the joint invasion of the Eight Country Blocs八国聯軍 Personally, I did not feel that impressed and enjoyable simply because of the sore legs after the walk on the Great Wall.
Then we came back for the Duck meal farewell dinner which again was not that enjoyable because of lost of appetite with a very tired body.
A Wrap up meeting was conducted at the end of the trip after we finished the Walk on the Great Wall ritual. It was more than just a sightseeing activity but symbolizing the concerted efforts of people world wide contributing towards this invaluable cause of helping disabled orphans, giving them love, hope and opportunity. It would also transform social values on life of born disabled kids to prevent any more abandonments and empowering the disabled kids’ parents to be able to care for their own kids at home with all sort of professional helps from the COP of ICC.
Nikki has been a very competent and outstanding team coordinator. Her wrap up guided us to integrate what we saw, heard and felt through interactions with the ICC folks encompassing the kids, the carers and the overseas volunteers of varieties of profession instrumental for the welfare of the disabled kids. Each of us was asked for feedback of a highlight moment in this trip that may have life impact to us. Rev Mark talked about the widening of his eyes on the scope and effect of ICC ministry in general. Leanne was touched by the experience in the Butterfly house. Mize shared her initial reluctance to deal with kids in her life but now become a changed person passionate about the needs of the most marginalized and helpless people in the planets. I personally was touched by the struggle of the mother attending the COP project showing how life should be treasured and valued above anything else.
Nikki encouraged us to pray and have our trip experience sunken in first for a couple of days after getting back home before jumping into any hasty decision of respond. It must be from the bottom of your heart in response to a special calling from God, like what David Gotts had got after his first trip to a Nan Ling Orphanage in1993. We are also encouraged to remain connected with each other and the ICC people including Nikki herself, so that our passion will not cooled off and died down completely. We need mutual encouragement to keep our fire burning for advocating and promoting the needs for help towards the disabled kids and the nanny of ICC.
Thank you Nikki, thank you ICC and thank you God to give us these opportunities to witness His glory amidst the helplessness of this neglected human people group.
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