Sometimes Talk to Strangers
This week started out with a trip to the past, to the Ming Dynasty, roughly 1368-1644. The trip was around two hours one-way with having to take two metros and a train. The train took me to the north of Beijing to Badaling. The train seemed to take you to the past since you started out looking at skyscrapers and gradually saw more traditional homes and then the rugged mountains. On the way to Badaling, I saw parts of my final destination in various states of ruin. After all, the Great Wall of China is 21,196 km so it was natural to see some of it before I got to the part that I would attempt to climb.
Climbing is the right word to describe what it is like to walk on the Great Wall. It was constructed of steep walkways and even steeper stairs. You had the feeling that you were walking up the mountain when you were trekking up the Wall. It is hard to imagine soldiers during the Ming Dynasty doing patrols on the Wall. The steps were difficult without any armor with the stairs being almost as tall as my knees. I cannot imagine what it was like to walk on the Wall at night in armor with torches being the only source of light. Walking in the daytime with modern handrails was difficult enough. Still, looking at the Great Wall you can get an idea of what the Empire of China was like to be able to build and patrol such a architectural feat.
The rest of my week tended to stay in 2018 with me continuing research on the various meetings and decisions of the United Nations Human Rights Council. I also did research on the Committee of the Rights of the Child looking at the Day of General Discussion which is about the empowerment of children human rights defenders. These are persons who are under the age of 18 who do work to help improve human rights of either themselves or others. The more research I did the more I realized how difficult it was to be a child human rights defender. Many people would dismiss them thinking that they did not know what they were discussing. Many believed that children were unable to take part in human rights, but, wouldn't these children know what human rights violations are being done against children like themselves better than anyone else? That is what the Day of Discussion is all about. It is about raising awareness and finding ways to empower and support these human rights defenders.
I was also able to meet several lawyers from around China this week as Zhicheng was hosting a training on migrant workers. There were attorneys from about 20 different provinces who came to the training. It was very interesting to hear their opinions on various different subjects. The main thing I learned this week was that talking to strangers was a good practice because they tended to be very helpful.
