It's all in the ankle. Or maybe it's the hamstring? At any rate, I recently realized that nearly two years in China has not made a competent squatter of me. I'm still wobbly because I squat on the balls of my feet like some silly foreigner. Now that I recognize the problem, I'm making an effort to get my heels down. It isn't easy; try it yourself. Can you do it?

The bottom photo, by the way, is a game of Chinese chess being played on a board chalked on the sidewalk, using playing pieces made of scraps of paper with the symbols handwritten on them.

The only thing as insatiable as the Chinese appetite for ceremony is the Chinese appetite for competition. So the 2007 Sports Meeting, (click here for pictures) the first of its kind a Gansu United University, was widely rumored and long anticipated. Understand that there is no campus calendar of events ... things just happen when they happen, often with little advance notice. My first clue that the Sports Meeting would begin on May 18 came on May 11, when my 4:30 class unilaterally canceled our lesson, so that they could go out and rehearse for the opening parade. The following week I learned that my presence would be required at no fewer than two rehearsals, where I would form ranks with my colleagues and learn to march, military-style, under the blazing summer sun and the tutelage of a good-humored PE teacher. Every academic department had adopted a colorful, distinctive T-shirt. I was instructed to march in my best outfit, and wasn't issued a T-shirt. My disappointment subsided when I learned that the other teachers were expected to return their shirts after the parade. The department's Communist Party Secretary promptly collected all of our little Olympic flags as soon as the parade ended.

I participated in one obstacle race, and received a prize -- a bottle of aloe shampoo -- despite the fact that I had finished last. The prizes for first and second place were more lavish -- bathtowels and bedsheets. The Sports Meeting lasted two full days. A wonderful time was had by all!

May 19: The doorbell rang just as I was preparing to leave for Saturday evening mass at Xiao Gou Tou Jiaotang. It was Han Qiang, a first-year teacher at Gansu United who had been a student of mine in American Literature last year, stopping by for a casual visit. I invited him to go along to mass, and he readily agreed. As I put my Bible and service music in my backpack, Qiang observed that he has a bi-lingual Bible. He has read some of the scripture in Chinese, but recently he has been making an effort to read it regularly in English. He’s interested, he told me, in understanding the "real" Bible. Qiang was amazed when I told him that the "real" Bible was written in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, and that Jesus Christ would not have understood a word of English.

As we headed for the bus stop, I told Qiang that he had just helped me better understand a perplexing incident. Last month, I was invited to lead a Bible study on a Sunday afternoon at the Protestant church in Lanzhou. Two of my friends, one American and one British, are regular worshipers there and lead this class every week. I was reassured that it is legal for us to do this (I think that’s a bit of a stretch, but so be it). The session was well attended; there were about thirty people. I gave a brief lecture on a passage from the Gospel of Matthew; a fluent bi-lingual parishioner interpreted my remarks. We all then joined in small-group discussion in English. I was especially touched by the frustration of a man who had much to say about his faith, but who spoke very little English. I went away wondering why this class is conducted in English. Nearly everyone I met was a newly-minted Christian, baptized within the past five years. I couldn’t understand why this linguistic obstacle is being placed in their way. Why study the Bible in English? They all own Chinese-language Bibles; they should be reading and studying in the language they understand best, I thought. I told the organizers of the session that I was honored to be invited, but would not lead the class again in the future.

I think the leaders of the Protestant church sponsor this Bible study because of a sort of celebrity-endorsement imprint. Foreigners are such rare birds in Lanzhou, local people will go out of their way just to get a look at us. We can draw a crowd simply shopping in a supermarket or trying on shoes. So, it follows that our very presence at the Bible study has evangelical potential. Add to that the fact that teens and young adults crave exposure to authentically-spoken English. And of course, to their credit, church leaders are eager to honor foreign Christians who join their parish, and to take advantage of whatever theological knowledge we may possess. But my gut was telling me that this is all misguided, and I’m grateful to Qiang for helping me understand it more clearly.

We know that the Bible in English is not the "real" Bible. Most of us are even opinionated about which translation is preferable. In the west, we take for granted a general understanding of Judeo-Christian history and tradition, even among the unchurched. It’s easy to forget that most contemporary Chinese people have been systematically deprived of this information. This ignorance, through no fault of theirs, makes them vulnerable to the very colonialism they’re ostensibly trying to resist in their rapidly-growing church. We shouldn’t be teaching them to read the "real" Bible in English. They should be reading and embracing the "real" Bible in Chinese.