A Chinese-American Story of Love (Part V - section 7)

By Douglas Wagganer

On this day in China, I gained insight and a small amount of understanding into issues I am only now beginning to fully understand. These are matters I hope to help address in the future with my daughter. Perhaps some of our Chinese Friends back in St. Louis will be able to help with the answers. The images and sights of this day are the types that stay in a person's soul. The day ended with an old fashioned Hamburger and French Fries meal in the Hotel' s Restaurant, followed by hot showers and early bed times for all three of the Wagganers.

The next day was Thursday, November 22, 2001. It was Thanksgiving Day for all American's. A day of giving thanks to God for all his blessings. We had a lot to be thankful for that Thanksgiving Day. We had our new daughter to share the day with. Yes; we thought about our families back in St. Louis all that day, and Yes, I did have several thoughts concerning all the wonderful Turkey Dinners that were being cooked back in the United States. But for me that Thanksgiving will always be my favorite, it was the first one I had with only true Chinese cuisine and it was the first one I got to share with my new daughter. Our adoption group met in the Hotel's Hunan Restaurant and ate provincial food dishes of the Hunan Province. The meal was pre-ordered by Julie our Changsha Guide, and was best described as a fest. I ate well and was among the last to leave the dinner table.

On the final full day we were in Changsha, our group visited the Hunan Embroidery Research Institute. The tour was in a building where women still hand stitch embroidery on silk. The Museum was informative and interesting. I video taped and took lots of pictures. It was amazing to watch the artistry being displayed by the women doing the tedious detailed work. The time and craftsmanship of that art was a marvelous thing to witness firsthand. To think that those ladies could do such fine detailed work, hour after hour in on open room, with no magnification or eyeglass use is mind boggling. To top it off, all the things they were working on was all two sided prints on a single piece of thin silk. 

Jane and I purchased several silk embroidery pieces and framed artwork patterns before we left. We were later sorry we did not choose several more items that caught our eyes. We had already had to purchase an additional piece of luggage at a department store for the things we had been buying, so we were worried about room at the time. We later found out that Hunan is the Embroidery capitol of China and the world, so we regret not picking up those extra items we liked so much. I guess that will be something for my list on our next trip to China and Changsha.