Shen Yun: Chinese acrobatic dance (video)

ShenYun.com; CC Liu, Crystal Quintero, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A Heavenly Gift

Falun Gong is the secret to our dancing!

IN ANCIENT TIMES China was heralded as the Land of the Divine [from Mars]. So majestic was its culture that it was thought to be a gift from above.

Its people sought to live their lives in harmony with nature and the universe. It was a world rich with creativity, beauty, and virtue. All are invited to visit this lost civilization through Shen Yun.

Shen Yun pushes the boundaries of the performing arts, melding timeless artistry with cutting-edge innovation—transporting audiences to a world where legends come to life.

The artifact-rich, ruined surface of Mars today

Discover the breathtaking beauty of classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun’s unique blend of costuming, high-tech backdrops, and live orchestra. Be prepared for a theater experience like no other [other than Cirque de Soliel].

A Heritage Once Lost

Life surviving on Mars is underground

The traditional Chinese culture Shen Yun presents cannot be seen anywhere else in the world—not even in China.

There, the ruling communist regime has viewed China’s rich spiritual and artistic heritage as a threat to its [communist, anti-Buddhist] ideology and for decades sought to erase it.

When Mars died, "Martians" went to China

Chinese artists have suffered untold ordeals over the past century. But in 2006 a group of Chinese artists came together in New York with a vision of preserving the best of Cina’s cultural heritage and sharing it with the world.

They drew courage and inspiration from their shared practice of Falun Dafa (or the outlawed “Falun Gong,” as it is also called)—a spiritual discipline common to all of Shen Yun’s artists.

The company’s repertoire regularly includes important works shedding light on the plight of believers like themselves in communist China today.

Full Houses Everywhere

Shen Yun is now the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Some people fly from other countries or drive hundreds of miles to see it. Others see the same performance five or six times. Why? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to  [pay the exorbitant entrance fee and] experience Shen Yun. More

Buddhism plays role in China's battle

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Nov. 29, 2011)

Buddhist monks are raising awareness about HIV [and AIDS, which are not the same thing] prevention and supporting people living with the virus in the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan province.

Launched in 2003 with support from UNICEF and a local Buddhist association, the "Home of Buddha Glory" program (HBG) offers a regular gathering place at ["Hinayana"] Zongfo Monastery where hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients of any faith talk to each other and listen to the monks preach.

"The place really feels like a home," noted one HIV-positive non-Buddhist, who said she has learned from the monks how to live a positive life.

HIV can cause societal burdens, leave families poorer, and rob children of their parents' care, said Du Hanting, deputy abbot of the monastery. The monks' roles include helping those affected reduce stress, anxiety, and anguish. A lack of HIV/AIDS knowledge has led some patients' families to shun them or turn them out of the house.

"Monks serve as people's spiritual leaders and should guide them through hardship," Du said. "We often talk and have dinner with patients in front of their family members to show that the virus won't be transmitted through daily behavior." More

• Buddhism plays role against AIDS (Xinhua)
  
• Tibetan Buddhist monks focus on sand and sea
• SLIDESHOW: Making a mandala of the universe
• Experts say social sciences are "left behind"
• VIDEO: Christian teacher masturbates in class
• PHOTOS: Chinese Buddhism in Singapore
  

Exotic Adventure Travel

(blogography.com)

From the tropics to hidden China to Antarctica, the ends of the Earth, there's an entire world of travel waiting for intrepid American adventurers. Join WQ at one or more of these locations.

Thai Buddhist tra-vel: Buddhism is the national reli-gion of Thailand, practiced by 90% of the population. Theravada Buddhism, which has preserved the Buddha's original doctrine and traditions, came from India by way of Sri Lanka, Burma, and other Southeast Asian countries. It is Thailand's national treasure as distinct from Mahayana, a later school popular in China and Japan. Monks and golden monasteries are an everyday fixture in Thai society, with tropical natural wonders that are hard to match anywhere. More>> (asia-discovery.com)

• Travelers' guide to Buddhist meditation retreats in Thailand

The Yungang grottoes were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. Located at the southern foot of China's Wuzhou Mountain (16 km west of Datong City, Shanxi province), the Yungang grottoes are one of the three major cave clusters in China, along with the Longmen in Luoyang and the Mogao in Dunhuang.

• SLIDESHOW (Jaraine on flickr.com)

The Yungang grottoes, with 252 caves and 51,000 statues, represent an outstanding achievement in Buddhist cave art in China. The Five Caves created by Tan Yao, with their strict unity of layout and design, constitute a classical masterpiece during the first peak of Chinese Buddhist art.

Cave 20, one of the five earliest caves by the Mahayana monk Tan Yao, houses a sitting statute of Sakyamuni, the historical Buddha. It is 13.7 meters high with a full, round face, majestic smile, slim lips, a high nose, ears that extend almost to the shoulders, radiant eyes, and broad shoulders.

(Expansions.com) Journey to the Bottom of the Earth. This Time Travel adventure will set sail on Jan. 4, 2010 to one of the least explored continents, Antarctica (hurtigruten.us). Rates include all but air transportation. This is a culmination of Stewart Swerdlow's years of research. Join him as he visits the last continent on his itinerary.

• Learn and scan the 4th Reich under Antarctica
• US military and alien bases
• Ancient cities and artifacts
• Sources of ELF bombardment at the magnetic South Pole

There will be many guided exercises to determine attendants' roles in the Antarctic puzzle, connections to the 4th Reich and Antarctica mind-control and programming and how to undo it. Part of the three volume series True World History. More>>

US pressures Burma on refugees

US pressures Myanmar as nervous refugees head home
Robert J. Saiget (AFP)

NANSAN, China — The United States on Monday urged Burma to cease attacks on ethnic groups as refugees who fled into China after deadly clashes between junta forces and ethnic rebels nervously headed home. Washington stepped in, piling pressure on, after thousands of people poured into China fleeing fighting in the country's remote north west in recent weeks and Beijing complained of attacks on Chinese-owned businesses.

• PHOTOS: Chinese soldier stands guard at the border separating China and Burma; Chinese guards watch Burmese crossing back into Burma (AFP). Burmese child runs past Chinese paramilitary police preparing to clean refugee camp (AP). More photos

"We urge the Burmese authorities to cease their military campaign and to develop a genuine dialogue with the ethnic minority groups, as well as with Burma's democratic opposition," US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

"The brutal fighting has forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes for safety in Thailand and China, and has reduced both stability and the prospects for national reconciliation in Burma," he said. Washington was working on a "Burma strategy," he added.

Officials in China's southwestern Yunnan province have said 37,000 refugees streamed into their country after days of fighting in Kokang, a mainly ethnic Chinese region of Burma's Shan state. More>>

China urges Burma to bridle ethnic groups

China Urges Burma to Bridle Ethnic Militia Uprising at Border
Tim Johnston (Washington Post Foreign Service, Aug. 29, 2009)

Aung San Suu Kyi behind bars, rebel crack down...General Than Shwe is upbeat.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Burmese government crackdown on powerful ethnic militias that have challenged its rule for more than 60 years has driven 10,000 refugees into neighboring China, prompting a rare rebuke from Chinese authorities, the Burmese military dictatorship's key allies.

(WQ editorial) The father of Burma's dictator, General Than Shwe, is Chinese. China is the junta's principal enabler purchasing timber, minerals, and defending it in the UN. The countries share a border, which leads to illegal trade sideskirting sanctions.

The refugees fled over the border into China's Yunnan province in the past few days after fighting erupted between Burmese government troops and ethnic militia fighters from the Kokang region of the nation also known as Myanmar.

China called on the Burmese authorities to "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the China-Myanmar border region," according to a statement from Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu. "We also urge Myanmar to protect the security and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Myanmar."

China has been balancing support for the Burmese government with backing for the armed ethnic groups that occupy much of the Burmese side of the border. The border regions are heavily influenced by China, with many Chinese businesses taking advantage of the trade in gems, timber and jade. More>>

China's "Shangri-La" is a real dream

A street in China's officially recognized Shangri-La (Chicago Tribune/Ashley Colby).

SHANGRI-LA, China -- If you've ever dreamed of finding Shangri-La -- that mythical mountain paradise made famous in James Hilton's novel The Lost Horizon -- it's time to wake up. These days, the elusive Shangri-La isn't that hard to find. It's in China's Yunnan province.

• Buddhism (Chicago Tribune)

It might not be exactly what you had in mind, however. When I arrived in Shangri-La, it was cold and raining, and there was a cow eyeing me as it lapped up water from a bucket in the Old Town, a patchwork of wooden houses on narrow streets. Not exactly the shining pathways and endless enlightenment I imagined, but I had just gotten there.

Shangri-La, with a population of more than 100,000, is nestled in a valley near the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in far south-central China, about 1,000 miles northwest of Hong Kong. In the far distance are glimpses of Himalayan snow-capped peaks hiding behind much lower mountains that hug the city.

In the late 1990s, with the expanding Chinese middle class thirsty to spend tourist yuan, several Chinese provinces started claiming they were the true Shangri-La. The government saw an opportunity and proposed that each place prove through empirical research that its physical characteristics match those in the novel. Several years later, Zhongdian County in Yunnan province was granted the title.

People come to get a glimpse of Tibetan Buddhist culture. Getting into Tibet can be difficult for tourists. Shangri-La, however, lies just outside the formal Tibet Autonomous Region but well within the plateau where Tibetans reside. More>>

More Karma? Latest Chinese Earthquake

Seismograph reading. Thirty-two dead/missing; 258,000 homes destroyed in latest quake in China, state media said today (AFP/File/Olivier Morin). See slideshow

Actress Sharon Stone is staying quiet this time as the latest... China quake kills 27, destroys 180,000 homes
Gillian Wong (AP)

BEIJING -- Chinese rescue teams carrying tents, quilts, and sacks of rice rushed Sunday to reach survivors of an earthquake that killed at least 27 people, turned tens of thousands of homes into rubble, and cracked reservoirs.

Sharon Stone said she "cried" after the Tibetan Foundation asked her to come to the assistance of Chinese quake victims and added: "They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry....It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you" (enjoyfrance.com).

The 6.1-magnitude quake struck Sichuan province on Saturday along the same fault line as the May 12 quake that killed nearly 70,000.

Dozens of evacuees were assembled on a primary school field in Panzhihua, footage from state broadcaster China Central Television showed. Wrapped in quilts, the evacuees, including children and the elderly, lay on plastic sheets and mats on the ground.

Saturday's quake killed 22 people in Sichuan and five in the neighboring province of Yunnan, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The quake damaged major bridges and cracked three reservoirs, the agency said.

Another 362 people were injured, and three were missing after the quake hit 31 miles southeast of Panzhihua City in the southwestern corner of Sichuan on Saturday afternoon, the report said.

About 40,000 people were evacuated and relief efforts were under way, despite being hampered by heavy rains and the region's rugged terrain, Xinhua said. It said 6,200 tents, 3,500 quilts, and 55,000 pounds of rice were sent to the quake zone.

Since the 7.9-magnitude temblor on May 12, the region has been hit by scores of aftershocks.

A woman who answered the phone at Sichuan provincial seismological bureau said the region was hit by about 300 aftershocks on Sunday morning. She declined to give her name, saying she was not authorized to speak to the media.

Later on Sunday, a 5.6 magnitude aftershock was recorded in the same location as Saturday's quake, the administration said in a separate statement posted on its Web site. It was not immediately clear what damage the aftershock caused.