Lost In China-Postcards 2

A loud rumbling chaos permeates everything in China. Too many people in too small of a place, but if you want to know what the world will feel like in 50 years after another doubling of the population then come to China.

A cool and casual indifference to the chaos makes it perfect for them and a living ant farm to me. I remember watching a friend's glass ant farm colony when I was younger. It amazed me how in such a little place the orders and roles were so clear and so defined that not a single ant seemed out of place. And so to with China. It is ordered chaos working in harmony.

For example, I bike to work a few mornings a week and have to pass through the rush hour insanity. Thousands of cars, buses, bikers, scooters, pedestrians flooding the streets like dusty rainwater pouring onto everything. They are everywhere, but they move with synchronicity. Everyone knows the rules. The ones that step out of place for even just a fraction of a second risk getting hit by a bike, car, or worse a bus. It is dangerous work getting to work, but it does wake me up and get my mental processes going in the cool foggy mornings.

Lost In China-Postcards

Chengdu-A cloudy, hazy city; like a smokey car ride with the windows rolled up. Sunlight penetrates the white amorphous blob with little strength, penetrating only the tops of the concrete jungle. The entire beauty of this place rides on the shoulders of its generous people and the sturdy backbone of a 3000 year old culture. Otherwise, people would have abandoned this place in favor of sunnier grounds long ago. I know I would, but I've come to study the ancient ways of the Dao with venerable masters, who've learned, in an unbroken and undiluted chain, for centuries. And, it is this simple yet intangible beauty which keeps me here.