Different Drummer


"If a man does not keep pace with his companions,perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." ~Henry David Thoreau


Thursday, February 9, 2017

Letters in the Jade Dragon Box by Gale Sears

The country which develops the finest music, 
the grandest poetry, 
and the noblest moral ideals - 
that is the country with the most exalted culture - 
will always yield the greatest power in the world."
 ~ Confucius, quote in ILetters in the Jade Dragon Box by Gale Sears


We discussed Letters in the Jade Dragon Box this month for book club.  It is a book that everyone enjoyed reading and we found the historical background interesting,

WenShan is a young girl living with her great Uncle in Hong Kong, but she yearns to know about her past and her family.  As a very young child,  she was smuggled out of communist China, taken away from her mother and father but she doesn't know why.  Her Uncle is a solemn, quiet, dignified yet stern man who has difficulty showing her his love. Then they receive an unexpected gift--a box full of letters from Wen-shan's mother and paintings from her grandfather, both of who she does not remember but wishes desperately to know. As Wen Shan and Uncle read each letter, her parents life in China during Mao Tse Tung's reign as dictator slowly come to light and memories begin to surface for Wen Shan and her Uncle also begins to open up his heart to her.  Beautifully written, this book has some beautiful quotes from Confucius as well as some historical insights into the first members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Hong Kong.

Gale Sears has written an interesting article about the LDS church and its beginnings in Hong Kong, called "Letters in the Jade Dragon Box: Finding the Church in China's Past."Letters in the Jade Dragon Box, Exploring the Church in China's past

"He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it." ~ Confucius

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