Cultural and Spiritual Experience At Funeral

For a lot of the time in Pingyao, I (Matt) was ailing from some mild sickness. It wasn't anything major, but enough to keep me out of commission for a while. I was able to get up and walk around a bit, but spent just as much time resting in our air-conditioned room, especially on the day we were planning to leave. The long and short of this is that this caused us to spend an extra day and night in Pingyao, and we were so glad we did.

Bible Gift

During our last day, I woke up completely fine, and when we walked outside we noticed that the townspeople were gearing up for some big event. As we walked by the town center tower, we found about 100 people inside and out that were singing (and some crying). We saw that one of the men who tirelessly tried to get us to stay at one of his guesthouses upon our initial arrival in the town was standing there as well. He spoke very good english so we asked him what was happening. He went on to say that the people were celebrating and mourning the recent death of one of the prominent underground church leaders. Amy and I had been reading about and hoping to meet the underground church in China, which is bitterly persecuted by the Chinese government, and so far we had been unsuccessful. Then all of a sudden we were thrown right in the middle of it. We explained to our friend and the people surrounding us (foreigners are still somewhat of a novelty in Pingyao) that we were also christians and we were instantly surrounded by glowing faces. It felt like we were instant family. The chinese people were so warm and loving, even amidst their sadness, and they seemed delighted to share this time with two people that though foreign to them, shared a common bond that crosses continents.

Coffin Processional

One of the neatest experiences we had came when Amy went back to the room and came back with one of the Chinese language bibles we had decided to bring into China from Singapore. We gave it to our friend, and as soon as the locals saw the chinese characters on the front, they were somewhere on the spectrum between shocked/amazed and absolutely giddy. They couldn't understand how we had come across this book, and we did our best to explain that we brought it as a gift for them, to which they were extremely thankful. There are only a few ways a chinese person can get a chinese language bible in China. The first way is by registering with one of the government-sanctioned churches (called Three-Self churches), and they are only given one. The Three-Self Church is closely controlled and monitored by the government, who also determines what can and cannot be taught from the bible as well as what actions are tolerated in the church. The other way is either through the underground Chinese Church distributions or through outside missionaries. Our friend gave the bible to a leader in their church who was standing there, and he assured us it would go to a person or family that could use it. We felt it was such a privilege to be there with these brothers and sisters!

Matt Using Phrasebook

Once the procession started, virtually the entire town gathered to take part on the street where our little guest house was located. As funerals are bitter and sweet to a christian, there were just as many people that were smiling as there were those that were crying. It was an amazing experience that we never would have had if it wasn't for a quick and random sickness that went away as soon as this day dawned.

Matt with Elder

Music Processional

Some Elaborate Decorations

Three Brothers

What to do with the Bible?