我在卡城的一位西人朋友40年代生在成都，他外祖父百年前去成都协助创办华西协和大学并任医学系主任。下面这篇他姊妹写的重访故地的电邮我看后很感动，特转载于此。
“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” Confucius.
“Reading ten thousand books is not as useful as traveling ten thousand miles”. I came to China to honour my Grandfather Dr. E.N. Meuser. I didn't realize I would make so many friends in the process. My Canadian grandfather sailed for China in October of 1909 and when he found himself many years later as Dean of the College of Pharmacy at West China Union University, his lectures and papers were written in Mandarin. China became his home. He lived and worked and raised a family in China for 41 years, until he left in 1950 and resumed a new life of retirement and old age in Canada.
As a child I would listen to his stories and go with my family to the annual China Club picnics in Toronto. Missionary families would gather regularly in Toronto to keep their friendships from China alive. It meant little to me then but I learned some Chinese songs to impress my classmates. I am older and wiser now. Today I cherish those memories. They bond me to a very special group of people. And now under the cloud of uncertainty from North Korea, and the threat of earthquakes in Sichuan Province, my sisters and I have been given the privilege of journeying half way across the world to find our roots and visit a home we never knew, but a home that lives in our hearts.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius says “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” From the moment we touched down onto Chinese soil in Beijing, we were embraced by the Chinese volunteers from the Old China Photo Project. Lao Zhang, Suzhen and others. We were immediately taken to a wonderful hotel with a banquet of delicious food, an overwhelming gift of calligraphy from Zhang Biao, friendly smiles, and new friends. I had no idea of the wonders to come. I had no idea of the kindness and generosity I was to experience during my time in this wondrous land. I had no idea of my Grandfather's true legacy nor what it meant to the Chinese volunteers who had methodically and joyfully created the Old China Photo Project devoting a decade of their lives to this legacy. But I was in the process of hearing, seeing and doing and I was beginning to understand.
We were taken to The Great Wall, Sichuan Universty, greeted in Xinchang Town by a parade, we viewed the Irrigation project from high above, we were treated to the Huashuiwan Hot Springs Resort, a Buddhist Temple, the Panda Sanctuary, the ski resort via cable car lift, the Canadian Embassy, banquet after banquet, given sun hats to identify us as a group and save us from sunstroke, and then the day before the official opening of the Old China Photo Project in Xinchang Town we were quietly shown the museum holding the precious photo records of Chengdu life in the 1900s. The tribute was moving beyond words and as the importance of my Grandfather's legacy washed over me amidst the records of his Canadian colleagues and friends who settled in Dayi County and built the university, the hospital and the school in Chengdu, I was overwhelmed with humility. How many people will experience this kind of respect in their lives? How many people will be loved and cherished and honoured in this way? I stood there astonished at the care and compassion and love expressed on those walls, of the time and the investment and the commitment from the volunteers, of the deep expression of friendship...and I had done nothing to earn it with the exception of being the granddaughter of Dr. Edwin Nelson Meuser, a twist of fate in my favour. It was humbling to be a recipient of this kind of kindness, of centuries of ritual and generosity and love.
I have often wondered why I have been blessed in this life. I live a simple life. A life with little conflict, a life with an abundance of joy. I believe I have inherited the blessings through the generations. To be invited and gently led to a sacred place of memory, to which my history is linked, is an honour that has reinforced my belief that we must all 'pay it forward', that we must all honour our friendships by living with love, kindness and integrity, as the Canadians who came to China valiantly strived to do, and as the Chinese volunteers lead by Lao Zhang, Suzhen and Zhang Biao recognized and reflected back to us.
It has been a life-changing honour to be a part of this delegation. Words cannot express the depth of gratitude that I feel for this blessing. The mirror of gratitude reflects us all within The Old China Photo Project.
“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” Confucius.
“Reading ten thousand books is not as useful as traveling ten thousand miles”. I came to China to honour my Grandfather Dr. E.N. Meuser. I didn't realize I would make so many friends in the process. My Canadian grandfather sailed for China in October of 1909 and when he found himself many years later as Dean of the College of Pharmacy at West China Union University, his lectures and papers were written in Mandarin. China became his home. He lived and worked and raised a family in China for 41 years, until he left in 1950 and resumed a new life of retirement and old age in Canada.
As a child I would listen to his stories and go with my family to the annual China Club picnics in Toronto. Missionary families would gather regularly in Toronto to keep their friendships from China alive. It meant little to me then but I learned some Chinese songs to impress my classmates. I am older and wiser now. Today I cherish those memories. They bond me to a very special group of people. And now under the cloud of uncertainty from North Korea, and the threat of earthquakes in Sichuan Province, my sisters and I have been given the privilege of journeying half way across the world to find our roots and visit a home we never knew, but a home that lives in our hearts.
The Chinese philosopher Confucius says “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” From the moment we touched down onto Chinese soil in Beijing, we were embraced by the Chinese volunteers from the Old China Photo Project. Lao Zhang, Suzhen and others. We were immediately taken to a wonderful hotel with a banquet of delicious food, an overwhelming gift of calligraphy from Zhang Biao, friendly smiles, and new friends. I had no idea of the wonders to come. I had no idea of the kindness and generosity I was to experience during my time in this wondrous land. I had no idea of my Grandfather's true legacy nor what it meant to the Chinese volunteers who had methodically and joyfully created the Old China Photo Project devoting a decade of their lives to this legacy. But I was in the process of hearing, seeing and doing and I was beginning to understand.
We were taken to The Great Wall, Sichuan Universty, greeted in Xinchang Town by a parade, we viewed the Irrigation project from high above, we were treated to the Huashuiwan Hot Springs Resort, a Buddhist Temple, the Panda Sanctuary, the ski resort via cable car lift, the Canadian Embassy, banquet after banquet, given sun hats to identify us as a group and save us from sunstroke, and then the day before the official opening of the Old China Photo Project in Xinchang Town we were quietly shown the museum holding the precious photo records of Chengdu life in the 1900s. The tribute was moving beyond words and as the importance of my Grandfather's legacy washed over me amidst the records of his Canadian colleagues and friends who settled in Dayi County and built the university, the hospital and the school in Chengdu, I was overwhelmed with humility. How many people will experience this kind of respect in their lives? How many people will be loved and cherished and honoured in this way? I stood there astonished at the care and compassion and love expressed on those walls, of the time and the investment and the commitment from the volunteers, of the deep expression of friendship...and I had done nothing to earn it with the exception of being the granddaughter of Dr. Edwin Nelson Meuser, a twist of fate in my favour. It was humbling to be a recipient of this kind of kindness, of centuries of ritual and generosity and love.
I have often wondered why I have been blessed in this life. I live a simple life. A life with little conflict, a life with an abundance of joy. I believe I have inherited the blessings through the generations. To be invited and gently led to a sacred place of memory, to which my history is linked, is an honour that has reinforced my belief that we must all 'pay it forward', that we must all honour our friendships by living with love, kindness and integrity, as the Canadians who came to China valiantly strived to do, and as the Chinese volunteers lead by Lao Zhang, Suzhen and Zhang Biao recognized and reflected back to us.
It has been a life-changing honour to be a part of this delegation. Words cannot express the depth of gratitude that I feel for this blessing. The mirror of gratitude reflects us all within The Old China Photo Project.
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