images

jinzhou scene

miscellaneous pictures
 of life in Jinzhou

Liao Shen Campaign

Liao Shen

If you are Chinese, you already know this; if you are a westerner, you probably don't.

China had a civil war in 1947-49. In September and October of 1948, the war centered around Jinzhou (known as the Liao Shen Campaign). The "Gettysburg" of that war took place in Jinzhou from October 13 to October 15. It was a turning point of the Chinese Civil War.

Jinzhou has an impressive park and museum commemorating the Liao Shen Campaign and the Battle of Jinzhou

This is the Statue of the Unknown Soldier which rests in the middle of the park. Many old-timers can be found each day visiting the park.

Yankee

One of the old guys hanging out at Liao Shen Museum Park.

He might be a veteran of the Battle of Jinzhou, but he's definitely a Yankee fan these days.

Guanyin Dong

(Guanyin Cave)

Ten minutes outside Jinzhou lies its most picturesque spot - Guanyin Cave. Guanyin is a Buddhist deity. Once a man, she turned into a woman and is known in Buddhist circles as "The Goddess of Mercy". I took this picture on a visit to Guanyin Cave . The sky in Jinzhou is never this blue (lots of pollution) nor do I particularly remember it being so that day. But when I got the pictures back from the photo shop, this one stood out.

Guanyin must have been "in da house" that day.

Jinzhou Normal University
Opening Ceremony (Sept. 2000)

The university rented the Liao Shen Museum Park to hold it's Opening Celebration to the 2000 school year. The students all assembled on a hot September morning to hear some boring speeches from the school leaders and yours truly.

View from the Rostrum

This is what I was looking at (and what was looking at me) as I sat at the front waiting for the ceremony to begin.

(Note: That's the Liao Shen statue, shown above, at the back of the pic)

Ron and John

Sitting to the right of the rostrum were the other foreign teachers. I was able to capture this candid shot of Ron (from Canada) and John (from Iowa), two new teachers to Jinzhou. Actually, some explanation is needed here. For John's sake, at least. So here it is:

The Chinese are deathly afraid of sunshine. That's why you see the streets filled with people under umbrellas on a clear, blue sunny day wherever you go in China.

They assume (wrongly) that foreigners are likewise frightened of the sun and so seeing the foreigners sitting in the hot sun, one kindly soul ran over and gave them her umbrella to shade them from the sun. Though they wouldn't be caught dead using a tacky umbrella on a perfectly sunny day in the west, Ron and John got a kick out of it. And I got a picture out of it, too.

Halloween 2000

My Halloween Party (2000) at Jinzhou Normal U. Guess which one's me!

Jinzhou Sports Meet - 2001

Each year, most universities in China hold a sports meet in the spring. In the spring of 2001, Jinzhou Normal University rented the Jinzhou City Stadium for it's annual sports meet. They tried to make it seem like the Olympic Games complete with an opening procession as each department entered the stadium.

Foreign Language Department

These are the teachers from the Foreign Language Department entering the stadium. Notice the lack of foreign faces. The school insisted that the foreign teachers enter as a separate entity. I was a quite pissed off as I wanted to walk in with my three best friends in the Foreign Language Dept.: Dean Li , Prof. Liu, and Dean Qiao.

FAO Marshmallows

Instead, I was forced to enter the stadium with the "Foreign Affairs Office". In Chinese universities, there is a major difference between the Foreign Language Dept. and the Foreign Affairs Office. The former is academic, the latter is political. I prefer the academic.

To make matters worse, the FAO gave us all big, fluffy, tacky, white sweatsuits to wear. We looked like a bag of marshmallows.

I snapped this picture of the other guys so, luckily, they were one marshmallow short of a full bag.

Nevertheless, the crowd (the assembled students) gave our group the biggest ovation.

Of course.

A group of long-nosed marshmallows strutting around the track. Who wouldn't have cheered?

As "The Games got underway; we foreigners were seated in the VIP section. That's us in the second row seats. In the first row seats are, from left to right, President Qin (the Academic President of the University), President Chen (the "Party" President of the University) and some unknown functionary (probably "Party" related).

(Chinese universities and many companies have "parallel" leadership. A "regular" leader and a "Party" leader. That way, they can keep an eye on each other. BTW, "Party" trumps "regular" if push comes to shove.)