China, Sue and the Dragon Cake

China, Sue and the Dragon Cake

 

I had the privilege to create a dragon fondant cake for a friend who was celebrating the birthday of their Chinese foreign exchange student. At the time of the birthday party, my friend told me that the Chinese people don't make cakes for birthdays and that this would be a very special thing for her guest. The student they have staying with them was given the name Sue, for ease of pronunciation. She chose the name herself.

Yesterday, I was checking facebook posts, and I stumbled upon something very disturbing. It was a video post of an Asian woman, I can't say if she was Chinese, but that is what I suspect. The woman was physically abusing her infant daughter. I wanted to punch the computer screen and felt completely helpless upon seeing the video. Another person was video taping the act of abuse. There were a few young children standing back observing. The woman hit the infant over the head with a pillow violently as the baby was crying. The baby, of course, continued to cry because of the blows. The baby whimpered and cried some more. The mother or caregiver, whatever she was, hit the baby in the face then pinched its legs while she yelled at it. They baby cried even louder. Then the woman pinched the nose of the baby very hard. The baby tried to reach up to the woman and the woman shoved the baby's arm away and pushed it into the corner. Then she kicked the baby in the stomach and hit it in the face again. The child had no other defense than to turn her head away from the abuse.

I was thankful that the video ended and quickly added my comment to the other horrified viewers. The person who shared the video stated that the mother of the baby and the person who video-taped the incident were put in jail. I was somewhat relieved at hearing that but still horrified. She also stated that the mother was going to try to have the video removed . . I don't know where she got the information, but it was removed shortly after. I sat there and cried for a while.

I thought about how much these type of things go on and we hear about it on the news or read about an incident in the paper or internet, but never actually see it happen . .  right in front of our eyes. When I told my husband, he said that it was probably staged. I told him there is no way it could have been. I said, "You know that this type of thing, and worse, goes on. And you know that a lot of things get video taped with all the technology available . . so why wouldn't we eventually see something like that?" He just nodded.

So this really isn't a post about a dragon cake . . which brings me back to my friend and her foreign exchange student from China. After viewing the disturbing video, I told another friend about the video. This friend shared a little more about the exchange student as she is also friends with the family. She stated that Sue shared that women are not valued in China, something I guess we all knew, and that this birthday celebration . . the cake, presents, guests, food and attention . . is not something that she has ever been accustomed to.

All of this made me think that the acts committed on this horrific video are probably not uncommon occurances. If the value of a female child is so little, this may be actually quite common. We already know of the abortion rates and infanticide of females in this country. And we also know how males are valued over females in China.

I pray for this country. I pray that freedom of religion would come to this country. I pray that underground Christian churches and their values could come to surface and spread the message of love of God and value of human life . . all human life. Please join me in prayer for China and its people.