The Road to Shanghai

I've frequently said that you only need 2 rules for a pleasant life: 1) Thou Shalt Not Annoy Others, and 2) Thou Shalt Not Be Too Easily Annoyed, but maybe I should add a third: Precaution Before Salvation.

We went to Suzhou at the end of August for a few days. We stayed at a hotel that was kind of like a Chinese Motel 6 - very basic, but clean and cheap. The location was also terrific - right in the middle of Suzhou and next to the main shopping area. Suzhou is noted for it's silk, so I took advantage of that to buy some gorgeous silk fabric and have a tailor make me a "qi pao" to wear to Paul's wedding. "Qi pao" is another name for a "cheongsam". It's that Chinese dress with the slits up the side. The one I had made is ankle-length and has long sleeves. It's totally gorgeous!

The other things Suzhou is known for are its canals and gardens. In the old days, the canals were the roads of Suzhou. Even today, the houses along the canals all have stairs going down to the water where boats are docked. We spent one day during our trip touring the old part of Suzhou. Our tour guide was a really nice expatriate Pakistani engineer who has lived in China since the early 1980s and has married a Chinese woman. Norty got to know him via email, but we had never actually met him. He was a terrific guide, and Suzhou is really beautiful. There is a saying in Chinese: "Heaven has Paradise; Earth has Suzhou and Hangzhou." (Hangzhou is another garden city not far from Suzhou.)

We spent the High Holidays in Shanghai with the Lubavitchers. We ran into one of those weird hassles with finding a place to stay for Yom Kippur. There was a big Formula 1 automobile race going on that weekend, and there were absolutely no hotel rooms available. A lot of people wound up sleeping on the floor at the synagogue. We were lucky to be able to stay with Norty's Chinese teacher, Chunhua.

I'm still amazed at the number of Jews in China. (There were so many people at the first Rosh Hashanah dinner that they had to have it in a hotel!) Everyone seems to be aware of the positive influence we can have as Jews in China. In fact, the Rabbi's High Holiday sermons mostly focused on our obligation to do just that.

I'm going to leave it to Norty to describe our trip to Zhengzhou, but I'll just say that it was amazing! I have to get back to grading papers and preparing my next lesson. Later, guys.
Terry