Things arise and she lets them come

Three weeks from our full assault on China (Zhongguo for those in the know (the Central Kingdom if you are even further in the know)) and the pressure is heating up. Besides the ever-increasing pace of emails from many of the participants, I am beginning to feel the pressure to the extent that I made a list of things I need. Like many of my lists, it looks great - full, rich items; a comprehensiveness that is breath-taking; and yet, a certain sense that it is more of an aspiration than an actual list of things to get done. With three weeks to go, am I really going to make dentist, eye doctor, and primary care physician appointments? I haven't made them in the last six months when I didn't have the pressure of a trip; now seems a bit unlikely as well. Perhaps there is someone who does all three who makes house calls between my catnaps? Here's hoping.

The list for China poses its own sort of quandaries. For example, in Costa Rica or Europe I pretty much knew the ratio of internet cafes to hotel pools and other important equations. Forgot sunscreen? Buy it there! But in China, I am a bit perplexed. Since virtually every product I own is made in China, shouldn't I just leave my suitcase here at home and then shop on the way from Beijing International Airport? Surely I shouldn't tote t-shirts to the land of the t-shirt; cameras and laptops and hats and shoes and socks and belts - if I don't take anything with me, I will save on my $25 luggage fee and buy everything for less than that after all. I imagine I could just drive up to some dark factory full of hard-working Beijingers and order what I want at the counter. I mean, Chinese food comes to the counter in about 2 minutes, imagine what they could do if I just wanted a shirt? But coals to Newcastle it is!

Part of planning is to figure out really what will be needed, and the weather is about the only deciding factor I support. I have been warned that the temperature in Beijing will be incredibly hot, or polluted, or stifling, or some other unpleasant status. Then I realize that we are not going to the surface of Mercury; most of us live in DC or New Orleans or somewhere in between. We know what hot and muggy feels like - like right now! Maybe I will pack as though I am going to work? Someone mentioned that China is like one big casual Friday, but everyone works outside. My plan for t-shirts and shorts seems pretty solid.

I can't end with such a note of cynicism. There is something exotic about this little excursion. I mean, 1.2 billion people have already been to China and decided to stay there, not to mention that half the teachers at my school will be bumping into each other in China this summer. And yet, China tantalizes. Is it the combination of the overwhelming nature of the population? The tricky way that socialism is balanced with capitalism (wink wink nudge nudge)? The idea that we will be "handled" by the government? Maybe all this is just some cold war fantasy and China will be a lot like other places - full of hard-working people who appreciate where they live and who don't talk about their government - like people everywhere.  I harbor this strange belief that you can't really say you know a place until you have smelled it. I still remember 33 years ago getting off the plane in Jakarta and being assaulted by the wet jungleness of the air, a smell that never left me in my three years there. I can't smell China yet (I tried drawing breaths in my clothes drawer but it smelled like detergent, not Shanghai). I look forward to stepping off the plane after 14 hours, taking a deep breath, and then knowing all I need to know about China.

And now, part 2 of the Tao Te Ching. I have always liked this section, but perhaps it is because of the doing without doing anything part. The quote at the front of this post is a request for travelers on this trip to let the place come to us, rather than foist ourselves upon it.


When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good, other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master acts without doing anything and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.