Lesson 3 THE NAXI PEOPLE AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE

The Han people make up the majority of the people living in China. Apart from the Han people, there live 55 minorities in this vast country. The Naxi people are one of them.
A lot of Naxi people can be found in Lijiang, a remote area in Yunnan Province. They are about 310,000 in number, and they make up about 40 percent of the population of Lijiang.
Lijiang is about 600 kilometers northwest of Kunming, the capital of Yunnnan. Lijiang is a mysterious, untraveled land. It is surrounded by very high mountains, and its climate is mild all year round. It seems that the Naxis living there have been able to keep up their own traditions for over 800 years.

It is said that the Naxis’ ancestors were Tibetan nomads. Today, most Naxis are engaged in agriculture. They grow rice, corn, wheat, potatoes, beans, and cotton.
You would be surprised to see that the lifestyle of the Naxis is very similar to that of the Japanese people. They eat natto, udon, soba, wasabi, and konnyaku. On happy occasions, they eat red rice like sekihan, and for ceremonies, they make rice cakes like mochi.
The Naxis seem to live in the same way as they lived 400 years ago. They make use of melting snow from the mountains for their water – line system. Without using a water pump, they bring the water right to the door of each house in town. They don’t destroy nature but make the best use of it. You would be impressed to see how they live in harmony with nature.

Another fascinating thing about the Naxis is their writing system. It uses symbols in the form of pictures. Created about 1,000 years ago, the system is called the Tompa hieroglyphs. It is the only system of hieroglyphs in the world that is still in use.
The Naxis believe in the Tompa religion. Its scriptures are written in the Tompa hieroglyphs.
The scriptures were a series of more than 20,000 books. But now only 5,000 of them remain in the Lijiang Library. In them are tales, poems, proverbs, fortunetelling, and so on. They show how the Naxis lived in old times. The scriptures serve as an encyclopedia for the Naxis, and, even today, they can read them.
Thanks to the Tompa hieroglyphs, the Naxis have been able to keep up their traditions. However, the number of Tompa priests who can write the hieroglyphs is decreasing.

The Tompa hieroglyphs have been influenced over the centuries by different people’s writing systems, but they never lost their originality. On the contrary, the Tompa priests have made some letters of other peoples into their own.
Modernization is coming even to such a remote place as Lijiang. It seems that fewer and fewer young people are willing to take over the Naxi traditions. Now these 1,000 year-old hieroglyphs are facing a crisis. In 1997, Lijiang was selected to be a World Heritage cultural site. Hopefully, more young people will now take an interest in the hieroglyphs.
It is said that our handwriting shows our character. You’ll find the Tompa hieroglyphs to be very gentle, warm, and quite humorous. The Naxis will remain warm and gentle in their lifestyle as long as they stick to the Tompa hieroglyphs.

Lesson 2 THE FATHER OF THE CENTURY (2)

Lesson 2 THE FATHER OF THE CENTURY (1)

Dick Hoyt is not the average father. He has pushed his son, Rick, in a wheelchair in 85 marathons. Eight times he has pushed Rick 42.2 kilometers, swum 3.85 kilometers pulling Rick in a small boat, and pedaled 180.2 kilometers with Rick seated in a chair at the front of the bike – all in the same day! Not only that, Dick has gone mountain climbing with Rick on his back, and he has pulled him in a cross-country race.

This story of love began in Massachusetts in 1962. It was the year when Rick was born with his brain damaged. He was unable to speak.
“He’ll never think of or move for the rest of his life,” doctors told Dick and his wife when Rick was just 9 months old. “Put him in an institution.” But Hoyt refused to do so.

“There’s nothing going on in his brain,” researchers at a university told Rick’s parents when he was 11. But the truth was that a lot was going on. With a computer that he could control by touching a switch, Rick was finally able to communicate. His first words were “Go Bruins!”
One day, a high school classmate was seriously injured in an accident, and the school organized a charity run for him. “Dad,” Rick typed with the side of his head knocking on the switch. “I want to do that.” Dick had never run more than 2 kilometers at a time. Still, he tried. “After the run, it was me who was disabled,” Dick says. “I was sore for two weeks.”

The charity run changed Rick’s life. “Dad,” he typed, “when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore!”

That sentence changed his father’s life. From that time on, Dick tried to give Rick that “feeling” as often as he could.

In 1979, Dick and Rick thought they were ready to enter the Boston Marathon. But race officials said no. In 1983, they ran another marathon so fast that they were allowed to join the Boston Marathon the following year.
Then somebody said, “Hey, Dick, why not try a triathlon?” Dick had not ridden a bike since he was 6, but he still he tried. For what? Dick’s answer is that he does it to see Rick’s smile. “It gives me an awesome feeling,” Dick says.

Dick and Rick were at their best in 1992. At ages 52 and 30, they finished a marathon with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was only 35 minutes off the world record achieved by a runner who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair.
“No question about it,” Rick types. “My dad is the Father of the Century.”
In 2003, Dick had a mild heart attack during a race. He survived only because he was amazingly strong. It was the result of running with Rick. So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.

On Father’s Day in 2005, Rick bought his father dinner. However, the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. “My dream is that my dad sits in the chair and I push him once, “Rick types.