CHINA ARTICLES by Brian Hennessy
Pride before fall in Xi’an
Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. April, 2006. Xi’an: the new name for the old walled city of Chang’an. The first capital of a united China, home to the Terracotta Warriors, and the seat of government for the Tang Dynasty (618-917 AD) – a time of social progress and cultural achievement. A high point in Chinese […]
The Russians and the Chinese: Shotgun marriage.
I had been asked to join staff of a hospital in Chongqing, for a meeting with some visiting Russian doctors. This hospital houses the old Russian embassy, a reminder of the once close ties between these nations. The meeting is a formal occasion, to cement a deal. It is one outcome of renewed political cooperation […]
Woman (Nuxing)
Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. 2005 Life in another culture can be a wild ride. Sometimes you are up, and sometimes you are down. But it is your spirit rather than your mood that is elevated when you live as an expatriate somewhere. Your senses are sharper, you notice things, and it is easier to connect the […]
Hospital.
Brian Hennessy. China Australia Consult. 2006 Professor Liu of the First Affiliated Hospital in Chongqing, is the matron of a family of senior nurses. She is both mother hen to this mature group, and the beating-heart of her department. She guides her brood with the wisdom of her years and her hands-on experience of nursing in […]
Earning her Phd.
We bumped into each other on the street. I was going for an evening walk…through the university gardens toward the hospital grounds to see the new swimming pool there, before heading back to my apartment. My friend Xiao Wang. We had met two years ago when she was a Phd student of mine (my job […]
Dazu: Cliff-face carvings. Chongqing.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. 2009 Dazu, a township near Chongqing’s western border with Sichuan province. The scene: a giant stone Buddha reclining, a smile of enlightenment on his enigmatic face as he enters nirvana. Next door, Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, is busy with her 1007 arms looking after the daily concerns of the faithful. […]
Lugu Hu (Lake).
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. 2007 Lugu Hu is a remote lake straddling the Sichuan-Yunnan border in southwest China. Perched at 2685m above sea-level, the area around this wonder of nature is home for 36,000 Mosuo people, whose culture emerged long ago from Tibetan and Naxi influences. Lugu Hu (lake) ______________________________________________________________ This ancient […]
Lijiang. Yunnan.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. 2007, 2008, 2009 “Where in all the world can you find scenery comparable to that which awaits the explorer and photographer in north-western Yunnan province?” Joseph Rock, explorer and botanist, 1928. “The region from Lijiang to the Tibetan border is surely one of the most wonderful in China.” Lonely Planet, 2002. […]
North Korea: the Edge.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. 2008 The Yalu River Bridge. A famous bridge which was bombed by the USA during the Korean War. A Chinese army crossed it to attack UN ground troops in 1950. On the Chinese side there is a monument to General Peng De Huai who lead that campaign. A principled, independent-thinking […]
Sky burial.
Brian Hennessy. An Australian in China. 2007 In the Tibetan township of Litang, which is 4,200 metres above sea-level on the Tibet-Qinghai Plateau in West Sichuan, sky burials occur every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Sky burial ______________________________________________________________ I had the chance to attend a sky-burial, but declined the invitation. It shouldn’t be an event for voyeurs. […]