Four Door Tiny Electric- NOT for highway!
All posts by Pere
April 13 again
April 13
Nanyang Catchup
Wow! I have really gotten behind in my posting!
Time to play catchup! I’ve got to just do brief notes… a few pics, otherwise I’ll have to rename this site “SlowNotes”!
Nanyang: Huazhou Academy
Musical fun in Nanyang
While wandering on my last day in Nanyang, I encountered a friendly group of musicians who were setting up to practice.
My request to photograph them led to them insisting I join in.
But I have no musical talent!
No problem they said, and this was the result.
(no part of the conversation was in English and most of the communication involved one of them saying something in Chinese, me insisting I don’t know any Chinese and couldn’t understand, then communication occurred through gestures and smiles.)
Travels with Jim
During this wide ranging spring trim to China I was aided by many friends.
Some of you looking at these posts may remember “Jim”, who I had met in Tunxi when I was visiting Anhui a few years ago. (If you watch my video on Pere-X.net about that Anhui trip you will see a photo of Jim.
Well, Jim was kind enough to take more than a week off work to spend about 9 days traveling along with me in China. He was a great pal to help me and he also enjoyed the travels. Together we visited:
Hangzhou, Tongling, Zhengzhou, Anyang, Kaifeng, Datong, and Taiyuan.
Jim also has channels on both WeChat and YouTube. He has posted some nice videos there showing some of the things we saw during our travels.
So, here are links to some of his videos that I hope you will enjoy!
(I apologize for inserting some of my own commentary. Feel free to ignore it and just enjoy Jim’s videos and let his narrative speak for itself!)
(I will mention that I always hate to see photos or videos of myself. But since Jim’s videos were not just telling about the places we went, but also talking about our journey… it is unavoidable!)
The Shang Dynasty? What you should know-
The Shang Dynasty is the oldest Chinese dynasty for which there is solid archaeological evidence.
Although human presence and the beginnings of Chinese civilization certainly predate the Shang… there just isn’t a lot of evidence.
The Shang dynasty was in power in what is now central China from about 1600 to 1000 BCE. Good lord! That was even longer ago then my high school days! (By the way: “BCE” is the same as BC for any “old school” folks reading this!)
Predating the Shang was the “Xia” dynasty. DON’T confuse that with the “Western Xia” which was much, much later! (And which is mentioned in my own videos when I talk about Ningxia.)
The Chinese have a long history of invention and should certainly be looked at as over-achievers! To help you get a handle on the Shang Dynasty, let’s talk about something you all have probably heard about:
The ”Oracle Bones”.
As a part of the Shang culture among the elite, soothsayers used a rather unique method to predict the future. They would inscribe questions on the bones of oxen or on the underside of a turtle shell, and then put these items into a fire.
Based on how the fire would crack the bone/shell, the soothsayer would interpret the answer to the inscribed question.
Well, guessing the future has a long long history… but what is really interesting about this is that they “inscribed questions”.
This is the evidence of the earliest form of written Chinese!
Yep, more than three thousand years ago they were writing with an early form of the written Chinese still used today!
Now that is sustainability!
In an early part of this video of our visit to the Iron Pagoda, Jim shows a crazy scene where numerous classes of young students pass by enthusiastically waving.
Chinese people, on the whole, are very friendly. And the kids seem really curious to see a tall westerner.
Although many westerners including western tourists, can be found in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi’an… there are many other areas where “Westerners” are a very rare site.
Early in this trip for example, when I was in Wuxi (between Nanjing and Shanghai) a few kids latched onto me, and one boy in particular wouldn’t leave. Finally he apologized and told me that it was just that he had never met a westerner before.
This video shows the “Hanging Temple” (悬空寺) in Shanxi Province (Note: Shanxi, NOT Shaanxi) near the city of Datong.
In the video Jim does an excellent job of explaining background details and cultural significance of this site.
I first saw a photo of the hanging temple many years ago in a magazine while riding a high-speed train in China.
At first glance the photo was nothing more than a photo-shopped adaptation of a picture of the cliff dwellings in “Mesa Verde” (located in southwestern Colorado), to convert the adobe/brick structures into Chinese type buildings.
But then I realized the amazing reality of Datong’s “Hanging Temple”, and swore that I had to go visit it one day! Well, the opportunity came this April! It is “way cool” to say the least!
This collection of Buddhist artwork within a series of “caves” is considered one of the three most important such sites in China.
(The other two are Longmen Grottoes, near Luoyang in Henan Province, which I visited with my colleagues Alexandria, Megan, and Kristen from the XJTU Summer English Program, and Magao Grottoes near Dunhuang in Gansu province which I visited with another colleague- my good friend Marlene)
Take a look at Jim’s video to get an idea of how impressive this artwork is!
Taiyuan – Capital of Shanxi province (April 3rd)
After Datong we had another smooth ride on the Chinese high-speed rail network. Destination- Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province.
There is a lot to see in Taiyuan, but unfortunately my time was short, so I really only was able to squeeze in a visit to the twin pagodas.
My friend Jim had even less time because he was flying to Nanjing in order to get back to his hometown of Tongling in time for work.
The inside of one of the pair of pagodas was open and one could (theoretically!) climb a dark slick staircase up to the top of that pagoda.
From that location there is a view over the city.
I soon began to question my judgement and my decision to ascend. Fine for younger, more nimble bodies. But this slow, tired old man of 69 decided that about halfway up was plenty far enough!
Well, as is often the case going down can seem more dangerous than ascending!
Adjacent to the towers was a temple complex.
Datong- Day two: Yungang Grottoes and more!
Located16 km from Datong this remarkable concentration of Buddhist statues includes some 50,000 statues, some protected completely within about 50 caves. Initial work to create this artistic marvel began a bit more than 1500 years ago.
Ubicado a 16 km de Datong, esta notable concentración de estatuas budistas incluye unas 50,000 estatuas, algunas protegidas completamente dentro de aproximadamente 50 cuevas. El trabajo inicial para crear esta maravilla artística comenzó un poco más de 1500 años.
It is considered to be among the three most significant concentrations of Buddhist statues in China. (The other two are the Mogao Grottoes near Dunhuang in Gansu province [been there!], and Longmen grottoes near Luoyang in Hennan province [yep, there too!])
Se considera que se encuentra entre las tres concentraciones más significativas de estatuas budistas en China. (¡Los otros dos son las grutas de Mogao cerca de Dunhuang en la provincia de Gansu [¡He estado allí!], Y “Grutas de la Puerta del Dragón” cerca de Luoyang en la provincia de Hennan [Sí, allí también!])
After visiting the grottoes, it was time to head back to Datong to visit some other great things including a “Nine Dragon Screen”, a temple or two, and the old city wall.
Después de visitar las grutas, fue hora de regresar a Datong para visitar otras cosas importantes, incluida una “Pantalla Dragon”, un templo o dos, y la antigua muralla de la ciudad.
Datong- An ancient town in Shanxi’s far north, almost at the border with Inner Mongolia (Day One)
A six-or-so hour train ride from Zhengzhou brought me to Datong.
The trip involved leaving Henan province behind and heading north through the loess covered land of Shanxi province.
Along the way there was ample evidence of the depth of China’s commitment to green energy. A very large number of buildings were topped by either photovoltaic solar panels and/or hot water heat panels.
We even passed entire hillsides covered with photovoltaic panels!
My friend Jim and I had second class seats, which are about as narrow as a tourist class seat on an airplane, but have much more leg room! And China’s high speed trains have an even smoother ride than the excellent “AVE” trains in Spain.
We saw some of the sites of and near Datong the afternoon of our arrival, and got a chance to see much more the next day!
Here is a small selection of snapshots from that first day:
The hotel (Pipa Old Inn) I had selected is within the old walled city and takes its name from the traditional upright stringed “Pipa” as displayed in the statue.
One of the famous sights of Datong is actually over an hour outside town. It is the “Hanging Temple”.
The first time I saw a photo of this, I honestly thought it was a mock up on the theme of “What would a Chinese Mesa Verde look like”.
