Minutes: The One with Chinese Culture (01/02/2013)

David Velarde, with the help of Sister Christine Bowman, called the meeting to order.
Invocation: Sister Christine Bowman
Pledge: Bill Boyd
Raffle: Mark Reinhardt brought a $100 gift certificate to Bouchon

Visiting Rotarians: Sister Christine Bowman, Savannah Cooley

Guests: Catherine Cooley, Claire Cooley, Richard Delgado — a guest of David Velarde, Beatrice Meier, Dr. Wen Chen

Club announcements:

• Don Bennett announced the club totals for Salvation Army bell ringing in 2012. The total for the year was $2,474.
• Susan Klein-Rothschild announced there will be a community service committee meeting on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 5:30 PM at Susan’s office.
• Sister Christine Bowman presented a Rotary banner from the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, AKA LA 5.
• Tim Durnin asked if anyone knows where the main banner is.
• Dana Goba distributed new fine cards. Pay and tell.
• Hurricane Sandy relief. Make donations to the RC of Santa Barbara Sunrise Foundation.
• There is also a way to donate to the Newton Rotary Club Foundation for the Sandy Hook survivors. Check David Velarde’s email.
• This Friday is the charter celebration for a new ECO club in the Five Cities area.
• January 25 is the District Foundation Gala at the Holiday Inn in Goleta. You can register online.
• January 26 is the Symposium to End Poverty Sustainably at UC Santa Barbara.
• RIconvention.org will be in Lisbon in June.
• Lily Carey’s father passed away last week. There will be a Memorial service on January 14. There’s a nice article about her dad in the LA Times.
• Tomorrow’s rendezvous will be at Dargan’s at 5:30 PM. It is also First Thursday, so go and enjoy downtown.
• Happy birthdays and anniversaries, including our president.
• Savannah Cooley shared what she’s been up to since her year in Brazil. She finished high school at Midland and now attends Clark in Massachusetts.

Program: Darren Doi introduced Dr. Wen Chen from Cal Tech and her presentation, “The Renaissance of Chinese Culture.”

• Throughout Chinese history, there has been a strong belief in reincarnation and the idea that people came from immortals.
• Three major spiritual teachings–Confucius, Taoism and Buddhism –shaped culture.
• Chinese martial arts are strongly tied to Taoism and Buddhism.
• Chinese medicine looks at the human body as a small universe, and this belief derives from Taoism.
• China was a destination for foreigners to visit and study.
• Many invaders of China adopted Chinese culture because they wanted to benefit from the morals and discipline of Chinese culture.
• Chinese culture was destroyed by communism starting in 1949, because it was the first government without spirituality. Temples were destroyed. Schools were shut down. The written symbols/characters were simplified.
• Government leaders began to bring back cultural elements, but mostly the shell, not the substance. The spiritual element is still missing.
• Persecution of religious practices is still going on today.
• Now, traditional morality is undercut, and you see it in how some businesses operate unethically.
• Shen Yun Performing Arts (meaning divine grace) from New York wants to restore Chinese culture. It features many dynasties and ethnic groups with unique fashion, music, art and dances. China had more than 20 dynasties and more than 50 ethnic groups.
• Sign up at laspectacular.com use code rotary and they’ll make a 10% donation to Rotary.
• 15 dictionaries will be donated to 3rd graders on behalf of the speaker.