China, short attention spans and the freedom of the Gospel.
Whenever I visit a place, my question is always the same – would I willingly return? This summer I spent just under two months in China, and that was a question I often asked myself. The eight weeks spent traveling through various places within China were naturally full of some great and wonderful experiences, and it is here that I would love to share some of them with you. I say some of course, because eight weeks worth of experiences could quite easily fill a book! And I have no intentions of writing one of those, well, not yet anyway. This is a brief recollection about China and some thoughts along the way. My open, honest, possibly misguided and probably biased account of my experiences in the country that has so much to be said of it.
When I think back on the summer in China, the thing that always strikes me most would be the people. The people I lived with, the people I worked with, the people I met along the way and the people I simply passed in the street. The summer was full of people, and amazing people at that. For those who do not know, this summer gone was dedicated to an organisation called ISEC (Intercollegiate Summer English Camps) running summer camps across China. Our motivations were to teach English and to share the love of Jesus Christ in whatever ways possible, both practically and verbally. Within my team we were fortunate enough to work in various places – Beijing, Yangzhou, Xian and Shizuishan to name a few – and simultaneously have a really wide variety of experiences, working with students from both wealthy and poor backgrounds. Places and backgrounds put to one side however, what we were really fortunate and blessed to experience, was the hospitality and welcome from the students we met. Yes I’m western, yes I’m white and yes my hair is blonde enough to make people stare and want endless photos! But putting aside my cynical viewpoints and differences for a minute, I realised that this on the whole was not the reason for the endless photos – the reason, it seemed, was that the students just genuinely loved having us there. Not so much for who we are, but in my opinion and experience, because kids love attention. They love to be loved, and why shouldn’t they. Forgive the cliché for a minute, but the world needs a little love. People want to be loved, people need to be loved and people need to know they are loved! God loves, immeasurably so, and people need to know it. China is constantly in the spotlight, for one reason after another it would seem, and quite often with a complimentary negative tone. I believe however, that like all, the people of China need to be loved. What’s more so, they need to know the love God has for them – and for the brief time I was able to experience contributing towards that, I am thankful.
We traveled a lot during our time in China, moving between each camp every two weeks or so, mainly using a night train with journeys lasting up to twenty hours. Even whilst running the camps, traveling often seemed to play a prominent role, be it visits at the weekends to nearby cities or simply moving around because of the day-to-day running. I must admit – I enjoy traveling. The different sights you see, the fun and anticipation of going to a new place, the breeze from an open window, and if I’m honest, the journey itself. Here’s something I have leant about myself recently – at times (and I emphasise at times) I have quite a short attention span. And this is why I believe beauty can be found in the journey itself. I love how as you pass the world by at speed, it provides just enough time to capture your imagination and leave you filling in the pieces. Enough time to see something and make your own of it, to see in many ways, what your imagination wants there to be. The train journeys provided ample opportunities for this. Amongst the conversations with friendly families, eating noodles and sleeping for those rare occasions on something other than wood, there was a bounty of window staring to be had. And this, in my opinion, was great.
My overly excitable imagination aside however, you will probably notice the title of this post includes the word “freedom”. On reflection, there are two ways in which I wish to use this word, or more specifically, two types of freedom I want to briefly brush past. The first is something that I benefited from greatly whilst in China, and to a huge extent wish I had now. That being, a freedom from distractions. There was often no regular internet access, no Facebook (it was banned anyway!), no TV series that I had to keep up with, no Playstation, no must see films – nothing of what I would call, a distraction. A distraction from what you may ask. Well, truthfully, a distraction from life! Life in all its fullness – one in my opinion lived for God in every thought, word and action. And being free from those distractions was without a doubt amazing, you could even say liberating. It is frustrating therefore to see, as I have returned to the normality of daily life back here in England, how those distractions slowing fit their way back into my living. Of course not always a bad thing to be written off, but this however, is perhaps a discussion for a different day. The second freedom of which I would like to mention, is that found in the title – The freedom of the Gospel. I do not intend to spend too much time on this for now, but ultimately, with the gospel of Jesus Christ comes a freedom from the world, and more specifically, the pressures the world puts on people, or those we put on each other. The world believes that freedom and satisfaction come from the nice house, nice car and respectable job you manage to acquire. I would like to disagree. Satisfaction and joy I believe come from knowing God, and knowing exactly how much He loves us. And it is this that gives me freedom. God does not love me depending on whether I get a semi-detached and a convertible, he loves me just as I am, and in short it is this that gives me the freedom to enjoy life, without being shackled to a pursuit of what end up being only objects. It was in China that I got a real sense of this, and was reminded daily of what I thought I need in life, and what I really need in life.
So being in China was without doubt a great time of being reminded of many things, enjoying great experiences and meeting some amazing people. Amongst the natural touristy desires and opportunities I had, walking on the Great Wall, seeing The Terracotta Warriors, hanging out next to the Olympic Stadium to name a few, I really had the time to consider a few things, and put them into a better perspective. So I feel it only natural to go back to my original question. The one that was so often poised at the front of my mind – would I willingly return to China? Well, with the highs and lows, the beautifully tasting dumplings and awfully looking fermented eggs, the humbling hospitality and irritating photo taking, I would have to say, absolutely – yes.
