WHEN I GROW UP............

I want to be a Lion Dancer! WOW, what a party they bring. Saturday night we had a reunion for the China adventurers and although it's not even been two months, one would think we hadn't seen each other for a year. It was marvelous, what a harmonious group and what a flow of love and good will.

Suffice it to say there was enough food to feed the Olympic team......(Chinese of course) ....perhaps we over estimated a wee bit but that's a good thing. Ellie and John Lynn provided tons of the very best Chinese beer (of course) and we were all happy as can be. I was a bit concerned that everyone be finished by 7:30 as that was when the SURPRISE was planned to arrive Right on the dot, there was a bumbulating on the driveway, with Sifu Thompson Chen, Chinese Martial Arts Master announcing the arrival of his Lion dance team on his gigantic copper drum. Wife Christene accompanied on the cymbals! Well, all I can say is that it was fantabulous and all 3o viewers were enchanted. After their enchanting performance on the driveway (good thing it's large) the troup went into the house and we had a photo op for all. If you want the show of all shows to delight one and all, contact Thompson at LoHanLion@yahoo.com (626.399.4764). You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Better and Better

Well, the second Wednesday of the month Calligraphy class met for the first time and as with the Saturday class, everyone was enthralled and did wonderfully. This is opening up a whole new world and we are all thrilled. If you've never watched a Calligraphy master do his thing you are in for an amazing experience. Be prepared to have your breath taken away!

The Amazing World of Chinese Calligraphy

There is no doubt, judging by their Calligraphy, that the Chinese are brilliant! The images are so complex and really are word pictures. The simplest way to describe it is to say that the written language is created by mental pictures rather than definitions of words.

For example, the 'word' for landscape is made by combining the images for mountain and water. If you wish to write 'love' you would combine/connect the words for mother and child. The writing, even the very expressive running or grass style, all stem from ancient pictogram's or ideograms where a graphic 'symbol' would represent an object or idea. Through the years the symbols became more and more abstracted.


On Saturday, we had our first class with Master Calligrapher Shantien 'Tom' Chow and we were all enthralled. It was pure joy just to watch him as each class member would call out a word for him to write so they could practice copying it. This Wednesday a second group of students will have the privilege of learning this ancient skill.