TOUR UPDATE FROM CHINA! (posted 6/16/00)

We are continuing to have a perfect tour. Our second

concert was packed with over 1,000 people. Everything

went great and kids played brilliantly.

Since that concert we have done almost everything on

our itinerary. The real hit with the kids was watching

a Kung Fu show presented by young monks. They study

Kung Fu as part of their religion. After the one hour

UNBELIEVABLE demonstration (which we video taped for our

tour DVD), ALL of our kids went to

the parking lot and had a one hour lesson with the monks

teaching them the art of Kung Fu. (Very special

moment.) The kids in the jazz ensemble were all looking 

for the "Loneliest Monk"- that is a jazz joke.

Another great moment for all of us to remember on that

same day was a surprise visit to an elementary school

where a class of 9 year olds were busy working on

their math. They sang for us before we sang "Row Row

Row Your Boat" for them.

We were received last night by the HIGHEST level of

their government of this area.... similar to our

governor and mayor of Chicago. (Considering there are

only nine governor's in China, this was indeed a big deal.

There were many very

important people there (all in the "party") to say

some great words. We have the entire private reception

on film and hope to include it in our tour DVD. Mr.

Baumann was great!

Today we spent several hours at a high school where

their best English speaking students were matched with

our worst Chinese speaking students. Our kids and theirs played basketball

and ping-pong together, we visited their sparse dorm

rooms, ate in their dinning hall and took some great

pictures together. My heart was so warmed when we left

as I saw several of the Chinese students crying to see

us go.

I am writing this an hour after our latest concert in

the very very beautiful concert hall. Again, it was

completely full... with many of the high school

students attending that we met today. The groups have

NEVER played better. Afterwards (as with the last

concert) there was much time spent with our kids

signing autographs. Many of the major leaders of the

area came, and left in their motorcade following.

We are leaving in the morning for another city. Check

the schedule. Since we are going WEST in CHINA, I don't know 

if we will have access to the Internet. I cannot promise another

update. I will try. It takes a long time to send

something,,, and posting pictures is out of the

question because the internet link is so slow.

We HAVE gotten all the emails that have been sent.

They do take a long time, but Tony Tang has been very

willing to stay up late and get up early to download

them. Sending our emails out to you is even slower,

but we will try.

This has been a perfect experience. Our students are

spending MUCH time talking to the Chinese people...

who have ALL been so very kind to us. They love to try

their English on us, and some of our people have

learned quite a bit of Chinese.

Tomorrow night is the last time these two groups will

ever play together. I don't think the seniors have

realized that yet... so we expect tomorrow night's

concert to be the most special of their lives.

We are very safe and happy!

Sincerely,

Jim Warrick