What’s next???

 

        Seperti biasanya, aku bangun pagi dan bersiap-siap untuk berangkat ke kantor. Rasanya hati ini tidak rela bekerja di hari di mana kebanyakan orang memilih cuti atau berlibur ke luar kota. Mengapa aku masih harus bekerja di hari terakhir tahun 2010? Ah….. andai saja bukan karena tanggung jawab, aku pasti sudah akan bolos kerja. Tapi “tidak” kataku, aku harus masuk kerja karena selama ini aku mempunyai prinsip kalau aku bukan bekerja untuk manusia, tapi untuk Tuhan seperti yang Paulus katakan dalam Kolose 3:23 “Apapun juga yang kamu perbuat, perbuatlah dengan segenap hatimu seperti untuk Tuhan dan bukan untuk manusia”.

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Chen Clan Academy 陈家祠– Guangzhou, China

        Not only functioning as a business and industrial center, Guangzhou also plays an important role in the development and preservation of Lingnan culture and folk handicrafts. One of the cultural sites in Guangzhou you must visit is Chen Clan Academy. My friends and I visited this ancient building because we wanted to find another recreation place besides shopping in Beijing Lu.

        Chen Clan Academy or Chen Jia Ci in Chinese is renowned for its typically beautiful Lingnan (Southern China) architecture and is located in Zhongshan Qi Lu that is accessible by taxi, bus or MRT. If you take MRT, stop at Chen Clan Academy (Chen Jia Ci) station and take C exit.

        Covering the area of 2.3 hectares, Chen Clan Academy is named after Chen family since it was built on donation by Chen descendants from 72 counties in Guangdong province during the Emperor Guangxu's reigning period of the Qing Dynasty (1894). Some important Chen offspring who supported the construction were Chen Xianglin, Chen Ruinan and Chen Yaonan, who at that time just returned from abroad. The original idea of the construction came from the pride of the Chen family when one of their family members successfully obtained the third rank in the highest imperial examination in the late of the Qing dynasty and acquired a distinguished title. For this reason, the Chen family decided to build an ancestral hall to encourage their children to study hard like their predecessors. In the ancient time, students who passed the imperial exam with a Jin Shi title  would be bestowed a flag  in front of their ancestral house by the emperor. In front of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, there used to be three flagpoles possibly symbolizing three Chen family members had satisfying academic achievements in three imperial examinations.

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Beijing Lu 北京路 – Guangzhou, China

 

        My first visit to China was in 2006 when it was a summer holiday. I chose the city of Guangzhou as my first destination to this Panda and Bamboo country for I have some far relatives living there. On my first day, they directly took me and my mom to one of the most famous and internationally known shopping centers, called Beijing Lu. The name Beijing Lu itself does not have anything to do with Beijing as the capital city of China. However, the reason why they named that busiest pedestrian shopping street after Beijing is unclear.

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