Bob and Ann in Elder Hostel China Odyssey 2004

Skipped Tai ji and walked around the blocks. Ann’s sick! Good buffet breakfast on top floor with all the other tours. Went to Xi’an Foreign Languages University and had lecture on Chinese cultural history by Professor Yao Bao Ren. She was a good and earnest lecturer who came across as very honest about failings of Chinese culture from Imperial to modern China. Quoting from Confuscius : “Those who labor with their mind, (govern others), are influential. Those who don’t are ruled.” Which led up to a major problem current Chinese labor force: in Tang Dynasty the % of government employees to the total population was 1 to 4000; the Nationalist government had 1 to 600 and the current- 1996 government the % was 1 to 28! Current reforms were bent on cutting government employees by 50%. Redirection seems to be the process. Dr. Yao’s students attending the lecture took each of us on a campus tour. We had a delightful young woman, Emily, who was training to be a tour leader. We ate in the faculty dining hall.

Museum Artifact

Toured the Shaanxi Museum of History, a fairly new and handsome building with gift shops on each floor trying to get us to buy their over priced stuff. We went back to the hotel early. Ann took a nap and Bob took a walk. He went into a bike shop which had very few good bikes. Cheap Shimano with down tube shifting- no SDI. There were local markets with bulk oils, etc. We had a dumpling banquet for dinner marred by smokers close to us. Some US 10 year olds from C/A school near DC were seated across the room. Ann could not eat.