Christmas 2013 at Guiyang North Catholic Church 贵阳北天主教堂 and at a middle school

Christmas 2013 at Guiyang North Catholic Church 贵阳北天主教堂
Christmas 2013 at Guiyang American-Canadian International School – ‘Meijia’ 贵阳美加国际学校

The Bakerman Location

Ray has posted about the man who imports foreign food and cooking equipment at reasonable prices.  He is on the 25th floor of a residential building. It is unit 2507 to be specific. You can go there by taking the #61 bus and exiting on Wan Jiang Xiao Qu bus stop.  I have photos of the relevant bus stop. From the bus stop you walk down the hill two or three hundred meters to the arch entryway of a development.  Go through the arch, go past the basement parking entrance,  turn left and walk up the stairs. The first building on the left has two towers.  Take the tower on the right and go to the 25th floor.  You may have to wait for somebody to unlock the foyer door to get to the elevators.  Turn right off the elevator and go to the end of the hall.  Bakerman is open until 6 pm most days.

Tomb of Guy Courtney

Forest Park is one of the more beautiful parks in Guiyang.  The central feature of this park is the tomb of Dr. Guy Courtney.

November 7, 2013 was the Sports Day across China, with regular classes dismissed and a chance for a day off for foreign teachers.  Teachers have weird days off here in China, even more than in the USA, but that is another subject. I took the opportunity to visit Forest Park, southeast of Guiyang.  It is a park-like atmosphere in a forest setting. 🙂  The real reason for my visit, rather than just getting fresh air on a beautiful day, was to visit the memorial tomb of Doctor Guy Courtney.

The history of China is rich.  The contacts with our western democracies haven’t always been positive. In the 1800s China fought and lost two “Opium Wars” with the British Empire, the result of which was that the British East India Company got the right to sell opium freely in China, a very profitable business indeed.

Chinese courts had no jurisdiction over foreigners committing crimes in China, who had to be tried in a European appointed court. The Taiping Rebellion, with millions of Chinese killed, was also inspired by the western missionaries seeking to get a more Christian style Chinese government. Westerners eventually were supportive of the Manchu government due to treaty concessions to Europe following the Second Opium War. After that, Europe and the west really had nothing to gain by a regime change. American and British citizen forces eventually defended the Manchu Dynasty in Shanghai, defeating the Taiping Rebellion. (See: http://taipingrebellion.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion, and http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/taiping-rebellion.html) .

Then the US became more active in Asia by winning the Philippines from Spain in 1899  and winning the war with  Japan in WWII. The peace treaty ending WWII was challenged by Maoist China in Korea. After China’s massive losses in Korea on top of the other historical irritants, one might think that westerners would not be particularly welcomed in China. That is why I was so surprised when I saw the tomb of Dr. Courtney (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/91/a3510091.shtml).

The Japanese waged biological warfare against the Chinese by trying to induce a pandemic in the population (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731#Canton).  This apparently took place in Guiyang as well. The tombstone of Dr. Guy Courtney was established in September 1985 by the Guiyang government and reads as follows:

This memorial is in memory of Dr. Guy Courtney, a British woman doctor who came in support of the Chinese war of resistance against Japan in 1941.  Dr. Courtney died at her post in 1942 while working to prevent and cure the diseases caused by the germ warfare waged by the Japanese.

Erected by the Guiyang People’s Municipal Government September, 1985. This memorial day of the international 40th anniversary of victory over fascism.

 

The Trouble with Rats, Update #4

I thought that the last update was the final, definitive epistle on rats, but no.  I haven’t seen or heard from the rats in my neighborhood for almost three months now.  You can search the www.tourguizhou.net site for “Trouble with Rats” for the whole story. The response from readers has been very interesting.  It seems that rats are a universal issue.  Most women especially don’t like rats, seeing rats, hearing about rats, reading about rats or anything else about rats. Even changing out the picture with a picture of Mickey Mouse didn’t help.

Mickey

Yet I am continuously tweaked by this subject.  Bobdisqus on the Traverse City Record Eagle Blog (http://blogs.record-eagle.com/?p=10760)  gave some great links that deserve more publicity:

Cuddly Kitty
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html?_r=1&
and
Rat Hunting Dogs . . .
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rat-hunting-dogs-bite-new-york-city-vermin-problem-article-1.1331191

Both of these links provide lifesaving information that is really worth knowing. The upshot of the articles is that you need to keep your pet’s shots up to date and keep them clean. If you take your dog out in the neighborhood to hunt rats, you shouldn’t let him lick your face: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fflfJP9Q3EM).

Thank you Bob !

As for me, I haven’t seen or heard of rats in my house for a long time, but the subject is never far away.  I was experimenting with a banana bread recipe, breaking walnuts in my spare time.  I had a half cup just sitting on the kitchen counter a few days ago. I got up one morning with the idea that I would make some banana bread, but the walnuts were gone!  I live alone (I hope) and I don’t remember getting up in the middle of the night and eating those walnuts. At age 62, I may be losing my memory. Alternately, I may have unwanted houseguests. I’m not sure which idea I prefer . . .

getting imported cheese and canned soups in Guiyang: Youyou Baking 优优烘焙 (Youyou Hongbei), in 25th fl apt/store in Dayingpo, northern part of Guiyang

store in Guiyang with foreign brand food products–cheese, soups, imported butter, etc – from a 25th fl  apt/store

store name: Youyou Baking 优优烘焙 (Youyou Hongbei), tel: 86-189 8511 3035, email: 32634666@qq.com,  http://q.weibo.com/1150041, website: http://youyouhongbei.taobao.com/shop/view_shop.htm?user_number_id=651370963&ssid=r11, youyouhp.taobao.com, address: 贵阳市大营坡营通花园E座2单元2507号, Room 2507, Unit 2, Bldg E, Yingtong Garden, Dayingpo, Guiyang

Nov 2013 photo is of store owner with expats in Guiyang hungry for a taste of home. From right: Yaacov Ben-David (a Canadian/Israeli/Iranian biologist researching cancer drugs at the Guizhou Medical Plants Botanical Garden / Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products of Guizhou Province under Chinese Academy of Sciences, from Toronto),  Jack Porter (Guizhou Normal University, from Michigan), Hal Wolowitz (Guizhou Finance and Economics University, from New York City), Ray Mahoney (Guiyang American-Canadian International School, from Kentucky).