Yuan: Bringing People Together

  Another Yuan 
  Originally uploaded by interplast.

Bill Chiang, Interplast’s volunteer liaison in China, believes that “yuan” helped bring this team together to help those in need in Ganzhou City and its surrounding areas. As an explanation, he shared with me the following. “There are certain words that are unique to each culture and therefore impossible to translate. For example, the phrase ‘to be or not to be’ has yet to find its Chinese equivalent. The word ‘yuan’ is one of these words. ‘Yuan’ is part destiny, part karma and part fate; it describes the connection between people or between people and the events of their lives that are to be treasured forever. ‘Yuan’ is one of those bedrock words in the Chinese language that defines certain immutable aspects of the Chinese culture and civilization. It is not the same as Yuan, the Chinese currency unit, though that is always treasured. An ancient Chinese poem reads You Yuan qian li lai xian hui. Wu Yuan dui mien bu xian pon. Translated it means: if there is ‘yuan,’ you are a thousand miles apart but you will meet. If there is no ‘yuan,’ you are face-to-face yet you will miss each other.” Interplast is very thankful for the “yuan” that brought us together with Bill. Here is Bill, trying to keep one of our first patients smiling. We went to visit her at her village a couple of days after surgery. More on the Wu baby will follow.