stepphenwolf

Vuong Chi Sinh is the King of the H'Mong people.  The H'Mong is one of the minority ethnics living around the border of Vietnam and China.  The Vuong’s Palace is located in a valley in Sa Phin Commune, Dong Van District, Ha Giang Province, Vietnam, backed by cliffs and topped by a mass of clouds. The palace was used as a residence and fortress during the Vuong Dynasty -  Vuong Duc Chinh and his son Vuong Chi Sinh. Vuong Duc Chinh was a mandarin under The Nguyen Dynasty. Sa Phin is the middle point of opium from the Golden Triangle region of Myanmar Yunnan China to Indochina. Vuong Chinh Duc became rich from dealing goods, especially opium.  The palace is built from stone, fir wood and terra-cotta tiles in the Chinese architectural style of the Man Qing era.  The palace were built with 4 horizontal and 6 vertical rows, 2 stories and 64 rooms for the king’s wives, children and soldiers and  is divided into many areas such as dining ro...

In most societies, from West to East, then and now, men have had conducted a traditionally dominant role over female one. Social life has been established based on male values. In asserting that dominant role, a man has been expected to be first a pillar of the family. Once getting married, he is in charge of providing his family's needs. Being hard-working and finacially successful are man's norms. His obligations to secure the well-being and protection for his wife and children are considered a matter of course. In oder to affirm his dominant role, a man has to learn form his childhood to be assertive and competitive, the qualities required for going ahead; to conceal feelings of weakness such as emotions; to deny signs of failure such as doubt or compromise. He also is expected to be aggressive in his heterosexual activity. Finally, he needs to be in control of any situation and circumstance. The responsibilities assigned to the male role can be a source of stress and an...

I remember climbing several times to the top of the Great Pyramid. To the West is the vastness of the Sahara Desert. To the East is the Nile Valley, dominated by the huge city of Cairo. All around are the ruins of the Giza Plateau and the Sphinx. Up there on the summit, many blocks bear the carvings of past climbers. There are the names of Napoleon’s soldiers, perhaps written after their victory at the Battle of the Pyramids. Young General Napoleon said to his men, “Soldiers of France, forty centuries look down upon you.” Then, the Mamluks, the Turkish military caste which ruled Egypt at the time, charged on their horses, gorgeous in their brocades, with scimitars flashing. However, snappy fashions didn’t do much good against massed French musketry. The French fleet didn’t do so well against the British, and with his supply line cut Napoleon left his army in Egypt and slipped back to France to become Emperor after a few years. Later on, he repeated this abandoning ...

It was evening and the ordeal of my 12 hours flight from Taipei had ended with a bus ride from the airplane to a very large building that I later came to know as the Tom Bradley International terminal, Los Angeles. Inside the huge building I got line for immigration, and what a long line it was. And there were so many more just like the one I was lost in. After shuffeling for what seemed like forever, with strangers bumping me, being rude with cell phone, coughing germs all over the place and doing other things people do in line, I finally was front and center. It was my turn! The INS officer official in his demeanor and smile, asked me several questions.  I smiled at him and he continued as he smiled back...in his official way, big bright shinning badge, creased uniform and bald hair cut. "Mrs. Ton welcome back to America".   I was a bit stupefied and tongue-tied.  And his official smile....and that shining badge.  A warm feeling and I realized that...

The Earth has beauty everywhere, filled with magic in the air. Just listen to the gentle wind, that helps the weary soul to mend. The Earth has beauty, if you have eyes, just watch the majestic sun to rise. Watch the twinkling stars at night, guide the sleepless dreams in flight. The Earth has beauty, listen well, the babbling brook cast it's spell. The lone wolf howls across the land, and the deserts silence on pebbled sand. The Earth has beauty, feel the call, of the towering mountains tall. In of a field of poppy flowers,in a moment of springtime showers. The Earth has beauty, just look within for that is where it all begins. Just look around and you will see, the beauty is in you and me!