Benden ne söylememi beklediğini biliyorum," dedi. "Genç olmayı yeğlerdim dememi bekliyorsun. Çoğu insana sorsan, genç olmayı yeğleyeceğini söyler. Gençken sağlığın, gücün kuvvetin yerindedir. Benim yaşıma geldiğinde ise hiç iyi olamazsın. Ayaklarımdan fena çekiyorum, mesanem de berbat durumda. Gecede altı yedi kez yataktan kaldırıyor beni. Öte yandan, yaşlı adam olmanın da büyük avantajları var. Aynı dertlerin tasaların olmuyor.
'I know what you expect me to say,' he said. 'You expect me to say as I'd sooner be young again. Most people'd say they'd sooner be young, if you arst 'em. You got your 'ealth and strength when you're young. When you get to my time of life you ain't never well. I suffer something wicked from my feet, and my bladder's jest terrible. Six and seven times a night it 'as me out of bed. On the other 'and there's great advantages in being a old man. You ain't got the same worries.
Do you remember saying that women’s love turn men to angels? Well, the love of man turns women into martyrs; for its sake we do or suffer anything.
Sometimes it's about playing a poor hand well.
After Mao’s death in 1976, US president Jimmy Carter began establishing relations with China. In 1982 a new law permitted new freedoms to Chinese Christians as well as the printing of Bibles in the country. Both registered and unregistered churches enjoyed greater liberty. Churches grew rapidly and many quite large. By the end of the twentieth century, it was estimated that nearly 80 million Christians lived and worshiped in China—some 8 percent of the country’s population.
At the end of the 1970s, many feared that Christianity in China was near extinction. But not only did it persist, it flourished. It was estimated that China had 3 million Christians in the 1980s. The number grew to 100 million by 2018. Not only did the Christian population grow, but it migrated from the heartland to the cities. In the span of one generation, Chinese Christianity became an urban movement that attracted an increasingly well-educated following.