{"id":59,"date":"2013-01-30T11:57:24","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T16:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/?p=59"},"modified":"2016-07-03T18:50:39","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T23:50:39","slug":"farmer-cycles-from-china-to-london-to-spread-the-olympic-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/30\/farmer-cycles-from-china-to-london-to-spread-the-olympic-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmer cycles from China to London to spread the Olympic spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden collapsible is-collapsed clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Epic Rickshaw Journey\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HiRVTLvQuAk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Every so often, a truly great story appears of an epic <a class=\"inline_link omniture-click-processed\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/topic\/adventure\">adventure<\/a> or a heroic person, accomplishing a grand, mythical feat that challenges humanity&#8217;s thoughts of what mankind is truly capable of.<\/p>\n<p>In ancient times, these stories were more frequent, in modern times these tales usually only exist on a Hollywood set. Chen Guanming of <a class=\"inline_link omniture-click-processed\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/topic\/china\">China<\/a> proved that for some, the spirit of adventure and the ability to accomplish the impossible is alive and well.<\/p>\n<p>Four years ago, Chen Guanming, was overwhelmed with emotion when the Mayor of London accepted the Olympic flag as the host nation of the summer games. According to Chen, it was at that moment that he wanted to spread the same Olympic spirit by riding his \u201crickshaw\u201d from China to London in order to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 262px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"zoomable media__img\" title=\"A farmer states that he cycled from China to London to spread the Olympic spirit.\" src=\"http:\/\/cdn2-b.examiner.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/image_content_width\/hash\/b2\/3b\/b23bccb664a71fa6a21baaf6623a6865.jpg?itok=O8GNgxkG\" alt=\"A farmer states that he cycled from China to London to spread the Olympic spirit.\" width=\"262\" height=\"196\" data-large=\"http:\/\/cdn2-b.examiner.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/image_content_width_large\/hash\/b2\/3b\/b23bccb664a71fa6a21baaf6623a6865.jpg?itok=Li8QMsBH\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">cnews.canoe.ca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The 57 year old stated, \u201cI came to support and cheer all the people from all over the world who are participating in the sports, I&#8217;m volunteering, I&#8217;m not looking for a reward. (<a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/olympics\/summer\/2012\/story\/_\/id\/8202240\/2012-summer-olympics-man-rides-rickshaw-china-london\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Associated Press, ESPN.go.com<\/a>)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As expected, many doubted Chen\u2019s claims that he actually traveled for 2 years, through 16 countries on his three wheel rickshaw. In a modest manner and with a warm grin, Chen gladly shared stories of his trip along with hundreds of photos as well as the visa stamps in his passport.<\/p>\n<p>Chen said \u201chis worst experiences \u2026 were traveling during Thailand&#8217;s floods and being trapped in freezing temperatures in the snow in Turkey. He arrived in Britain by ferry from France on July 6&#8230; (Associated Press, ESPN.com)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let us not forget that for several thousand years, man was traveling from Europe and the Middle East to China via the Silk Road, for the mutual benefit of trade (whether the commodity was knowledge or physical). How truly remarkable it is that as the world gathers together to cheer for elite athletes, it is a \u201ccommon farmer\u201d that reminds us, of the incredible potential humans are capable of, when not suppressed by political games and artificial barriers.<\/p>\n<p>As we watch the accomplishments of the world\u2019s elite athletes and ponder the enormity of Chen Guanmings journey, we are reminded of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/article\/jesus-and-lao-tzu-expressing-the-same-message\">Lao Tzu\u2019s<\/a> famous section from the Tao Teh Ching.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPeace is easily maintained:<br \/>\nTrouble is easily overcome before it starts.<br \/>\nThe brittle is easily shattered;<br \/>\nThe small is easily scattered.<br \/>\nDeal with it before it happens.<br \/>\nSet things in order before there is confusion.<br \/>\nA tree as great as a man\u2019s embrace springs from a small shoot;<br \/>\nA terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;<br \/>\nA journey of a thousand miles starts under one\u2019s feet.<br \/>\nHe who acts defeats his own purpose;<br \/>\nHe who grasps loses.<br \/>\nThe sage does not act, and so is not defeated.<br \/>\nHe does not grasp and therefore does not lose.<br \/>\nPeople usually fail when they are on the verge of success.<br \/>\nSo give as much care to the end as to the beginning;<br \/>\nThen there will be no failure.\u2026 (Section 64, Tao Teh Ching, Gia-Fu Feng)\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Don&#8217;t miss another National <a class=\"inline_link omniture-click-processed\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/topic\/taoism\">Taoism<\/a> Examiner article. Receive e-mail alerts when new articles are available. Just click on the &#8220;<strong>Subscribe<\/strong>&#8221; button below; also make sure you click all of those social network buttons and share the article with your friends and family as well.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a story, photo or video from your area that would be of interest to Taoists? Feel free to email (<a href=\"mailto:TJ@theQiInstitute.com\">TJ@theQiInstitute.com<\/a>) and they may be included or featured in a National Taoism Examiner article.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every so often, a truly great story appears of an epic adventure or a heroic person, accomplishing a grand, mythical feat that challenges humanity&#8217;s thoughts of what mankind is truly capable of. In ancient times, these stories were more frequent, in modern times these tales usually only exist on a Hollywood set. Chen Guanming of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291,"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.theqiinstitute.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}