Visits To China To Meet Chinese Friends And Write Letter to Family and Friends For New Year.

Click the small photos below for larger copies which will open in new windows. All new windows should be closed to return to this page.

It is that time of the year again when I must be sure to say '''''Thank You ! ''''' to all my family and friends who have remembered me during the past year; for all the cards and presents I received at Christmas and for my birthday, and for all the help given to me in different ways, whenever it was needed. Another year has gone and on the 7th February the Chinese New Year brings in the year of the ''Rat''. I must be sure to put plenty of food out for the rats and mice to eat to celebrate the event, as the rat is the first animal of the Chinese calendar *****! The photo on the left shows a field mouse eating crushed peanuts. The clever rat was the first to cross a river when all the animals were called to be chosen for the 12 months of the Almanac. When the animals reached the side of the river, the rat realised it had a big problem, but then the rat had a clever idea, it jumped onto the back of an ox that quickly left all the other swimmers behind. Just as the ox drew close to the opposite bank of the river, the rat flexed its muscles and leapt off the head of the ox, to be the first to land on the riverbank. The Gods named the first year as the ''Year of the Rat''. Whatever you believe, I hope that for you, the coming year will bring many days of happiness for you to share with your family and friends, and only a few days when everything seems to go wrong. These bad days happen to everyone, but they do not last for ever !

2007 was a busy year for me with two visits to China; two weeks in March and four weeks in November. In March I went with Be Wen and his family to visit his mother and other members of his family and friends in Lian Jiang, Fujian, whom he had not seen since he left China in 1998. It was my first visit to the province of Fujian in the Southeast of China. Be Wen had often told me about his life in Mei Yang and about the three hours walk the people had to make over the mountains to shop in the city of Lian Jiang, and he was looking forward to seeing his family and friends who were still living in his home town. We went to see the old house, the center one shown in the picture of the terrace on the right, but by car on a new zigzag road that had been built up the mountain. In the old village and the town of Lian Jiang, Be Wen was greeted by family and old school friends and it was undoubtedly a very happy occasion for them all. On every night of the seven nights I was with them, Be Wen gave a banquet for different members of his family and friends. On the second week I left Be Wen and family and travelled further south to Quanzhou [Chen-jo] so that I could visit another family whose son was working in the UK.