Day 3:
Woke up in Chengdu this morning. Got fairly early start and went off to the Panda research center. It was incredible to see Giant Pandas up so close. This is not the typical tourist season, and it was fairly chilly, it was not very crowded. The animals were active and out and about. We saw Red Pandas and the more familiar Giant Pandas. They had a small museum about the Pandas and the work the research center has done to preserve them. It was neat to see the and the whole facility was well done.

We were really close to this little guy. S/he was putting on quite a show.

Life looks rough doesn't it?

We stood and watched these three navigate this tree for quite a while. It was amazing the branches held!

After our time at the Panda research facility we went to the Buddhist temple. It was a neat place to see. Several people were burning incense and asking for blessing for the new year. Our trip was right before the celebration of the Chinese New Year so there were lots of decorations out. I think this was an especially busy time at the temple. It was a funny combination of a reverent and casual environment. On one hand people were there to ask for blessing, burning incense, and leaving fruit on alters. And on the other there were people casually milling about talking on cell phones as if they were on the city street. There was a strong incense fragrance throughout the place.

Outside the temple there was a beautiful busy street full of shops and restaurants. Because it is the new year there is an extra excitement in the air.

After our time at the temple we went and visited a large protestant church in downtown Chengdu. Going over to China I was really curious about how the church worked with the government. We hear all these stories of persecution and government crackdowns on the church. I wasn't even really sure about how public a person could be about being Christian. Well, the church is not underground--at least in Chengdu. From what we saw the church was open, welcoming, and not living in fear of any government retaliation or interference. In fact what we saw was a church that worked with the government to create healthy communities. Not to say the whole thing is perfect, I believe there are still some interesting issues going on over there but we didn't see any overt conflict. Below are a few pictures of a beautiful and impressively large church facility. This church took up most of a city block.

There were a few buildings that made up this facility. Off to the right of the picture below you can see a roof line from an old building. This building was the original church building that was built as an Episcopal mission in the early 1900s. It followed a more traditional chinese architecture while you can see the new structures are entirely modern looking. All around the facility there are bright red crosses and classic sunday school pictures of a Norwegian looking Jesus.

You can see the worship space is quite large. I forget exactly how many people gather here for worship each Sunday but I believe it's between 1800 and 2000. There is seating in the wings to the right and to the left as well as an upper level.

Here is our travel group at the front of the church. Between me and John is Pastor Wei. He is the chair of the Sichuan Christian Council and a great leader of the church. He was with us through the rest of our trip.

After our church visit we stopped at a section of old town. You can see the beautiful new years decorations going up.

I was easy to spot in a crowd. Several young people stopped me and asked to take a picture with me. You'll also notice another Starbucks. Again I'm not sure how I feel about this but it was nice to have another latte...

We ate dinner in a local hot spot. Because we were traveling with locals we got more of an inside scoop of the town. I'm pretty sure I'd have never found this place on my own. It was packed with a lot of end of the year parties. You sat around the table that had a burner in the center. They put a huge bowl of oil (and other things) on the burner and you sort of fondued an assortment of vegetables and meats. Groups around us were constantly standing and toasting one another. The entire table would stand up and people would all have a shot of something. Lots of toasts equals lots of drinks. Needless to say there were some tables that were quite toasty.

Another great day in China. It was really good to start seeing some church work and learn more about the Chinese Christian Church. The people we have meet and talked to so far are welcoming and friendly and I'm excited to get to know them more. See you tomorrow!