great pics rk. thanks for sharing.

Ladies and gentlemen - All pictures that I am allowed to show you have been posted. 10 days, 12 galleries, about 1,100 photos.

New additions include lots of ladies in traditional Yi dresses on Day 7 in Butuo , and costumed students dancing on Day 9.

The main page containing all galleries is here:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/f1048124216/

Feel free to email me for anything about the trip or about Sowers Action.

Thanks again for reading and checking out the pictures.

very nice photos! rrkwan!

make me want to go visit the area, too.

Wanted to say I loved your mom's pix too, especially the last 19 by Qionghai Lake, does resemble the West Lake.

I commented on my page that Qionghai is like West Lake without the crowds. But honestly, it's also without the historical sites and Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong's writings.

On the other hand, I imagine that perhaps 400 years ago, before Kangxi visited Hangzhou, the West Lake may be similar... :)

Hi RK,
Early this year, I read with great interest of your trip. You brought a personal perspective to this region for us. Do you know the situation of the people/children in this area? How badly are they affected by the earthquake and are the Sowers' Group Volunteers fine?

Sophia - Most of the schools that received help from Sowers Action are in the SW part of Sichuan, NE and SW Yunnan, as well as NW part of Guizhou. Their regional office is in Zhaotong, Yunnan, which is in the middle of that area.

Most of those schools are several hundred km away from the epicenter, and I have not read of any major problem. However, Sowers recently started to help some schools in the Southern Gansu, which borders Sichuan. There has been significant deaths in that area, but I do not know how much the Sowers schools are affected. The worker who accompanied us on this trip to Sichuan, Fang Ming, is supposed to go to Gansu next week; but her trip is now postponed.

Thanks for the update. China is one of the richest countries now and I cant understand why the government is not building schools in the regions where your group donated money and built the schools, especially when the Chinese value education in a big way.

Sophia - The Chinese who value education are the "elites" of the society. They are the one who could and can write, they are the one who have the opportunity to come live in the West.

But of the 1.some billion people, many of them are farmers and live in rural parts of the country. A generation or two ago, many of them are illiterate. Like people who practice subsistence living around the world, "education" means learning how to farm and take over the parents fields and that's about it.

And the places I went to in 2006 and 2007 are populated with non-Hans. They have their own languages, and many older people can't even understand Chinese. You can move up the society when you cannot even speak or write the language of the country.

As for money from the government, don't forget just over 30 years ago during Cultural Revolution, teachers were one group that fared WORST, along with land owners. One of my cousin was a teacher in China at that time, and it's almost a miracle that she survived.

China has come a long way since the 70's, but money is still coming very slowly for basic education. I 100% agree with your criticism. Why aren't more money being spent <b>right now</b> to these poor region? I don't know the answer, but I see organizations like Sowers Action there to <b>jump start</b> the process. Not to take over it, but at least get the local educators involve so they can fight to get more resources from higher up.

So well put in a few paragraphs, I truly enjoy your viewpoint!