I have had some interesting cultural experiences so far in China. The most challenging one was a shopping trip yesterday to a big market area. The market is a building the size of a big department store with 4-5 floors. Each floor is divided up into about 100 small stalls, each with 2-3 sales persons to sell their merchandise. As you walk down the narrow aisles, the clerks call out things such as “Jeans! you need jeans?” and “Mister! Buy scarf for your wife!”
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I forgot to mention it before we left, but we are acutally on vacation in China this week and next. So if there aren’t very many posts, you will know why. We managed to use our Chinese to find an internet bar near the hotel, so now I can let you know what we are doing.

This is called an “internet bar,” but they don’t serve any drinks. It is a room with about 70-80 computers in which we can pay for time on the computers for a very reasonable rate. Most of the people here are fairly young, and most of the guys are playing games. The guys sitting next to us are playing Starcraft. The computers are a bit old, but functional, except for a very bad keyboard. I guess it has been pounded too many times during intense gaming.

Beijing is a mixture of the new and the old. The hotel in which we are staying and some of the stores on the main streets are very modern. There is construction around us everywhere. But once you get off the main streets into the back alley ways called hutong you will find people living in small, crowded houses that have been here for a very long time.

We are going to join a tour group in a few days, but we wanted to come a few days early so that we could explore on our own and visit some friends. Yesterday we had a wonderful vist with friends and went out on a lake here in an electric boat. We gave their five year old son a chance to steer the boat, and he enjoyed going in circles. While he was driving we bumped into a few other boats, but since the boats don’t go very fast it was fine.

I’ll try to write a few more times during our trip, but it depends on our schedule and internet access.

Lorelle VanFossen has a helpful article on how to choose a good password, along with a few tips about how to remember all those passwords.

Today Paris Hilton was sent back to jail. Earlier this week she had been sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her parole from an earlier reckless driving conviction, but yesterday the sheriff allowed her to move to home detention wearing an electronic ankle bracelet due to an “undisclosed medical condition.” Now today the judge overruled the sherriff and sent her back to jail.

I was so happy when I heard that she had been sent back to jail, and then I wondered why I felt that way. Should I be happy about someone being sent to jail? I think that it has to do with a sense of justice, and my strong dislike of people who think that they can ignore the rules that apply to ordinary people. There was a strong feeling yesterday that Paris Hilton was getting special treatment because she was rich and famous, and that is not right. She is really a spoiled brat, who hasn’t done anything to earn her fame other than being born into a rich family and behaving badly at parties.

The news article states

Assistant City Attorney Dan F. Jeffries argued that Hilton should be returned to jail, and said that was purely the judge’s decision to make. “Her release after only three days erodes confidence in the judicial system,” Jeffries said.

Exactly right. No one respects a justice system that allows certain people to live above the rules. I hope that the judge in this case has a long career, because we need more judges like that.

The news report said that she was lead away from the courthouse today crying and screaming “It’s not fair!” But actually it is very fair. She is being treated just as anyone else would have been treated in this situation. As she was leaving, she turned toward her mother and cryed out “Mom!” Sorry Paris, your mommy can’t get you out of this one. You are going to have to learn that you are not above the law. I hope that the lesson sinks in.

This will be the last post in the series “30 Days on the Chinese Church,” but it won’t be the last time I have something to say about this topic. Today I want to pause and reflect on what it has been like to do this series.
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Steve Pavlina has a thought provoking discussion of Copyright and Intellectual Property.

It’s already June, but since I took a break for a few days for Memorial Day Weekend I want to finish up this series with two more posts. Last time I wrote about advice to a young ABC pastor. Today I want to address the other side of the equation and address OBC pastors and church leaders.
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