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![]() Hongluo Temple is about 55km north of the heart of Beijing and has the Hongluo Mountains to the north of it and Hongluo Lake to the south. Originally built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (338AD), it was expanded in the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). This 1000-year old temple complex covers 800 hectares in total, and is an extraordinary Buddhist holy land. It is said that there are 'Three wonders of Hongluo Temple' - the imperial bamboo forest, the male and female ginkgo trees and the wisteria pines. As with a lot of temple complexes in China, the Hongluo Temple complex is a very cool, peaceful one. There is an abundance of bamboo, as well as thousands of acres of pine trees surrounding the whole area. These two temples are across the road from one another to the north east of the Forbidden City. The Confucious Temple is several hunderd years older than the Lama Temple, but both are impressive temple complexes to wander around. Temple of Confucious![]() The Temple of Confucious was build in 1302 during the Yuan dynasty. It has been added to over the years - the first time being during the Ming dynasty; the second during the Qing dynasty and now sits approxiamtely 20,000 square metres of grounds. The grounds are a very quiet place to wander. The buildings to the sides of the main temple have been converted into exhibition rooms highlighting the life and works of Confucious and how his teachings have impacted other countries. One of my all-time-favourite temples is the Temple of Heaven. This temple, just south of the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square, was completed in 1420 and is a complex of an 'axial arrangement of Circual Mound Alter to the south open to the sky with the conicallly roofed Imperial Vault of Heaven immediately to its north.' (Temple of Heaven: an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing - UNESCO World Heritage Centre)
It's one of my favourite temples because it is so different. You don't come across that many circular structures and certainly not decorated to the degree that these are. ![]() When we lived in Tianjin, we always used to like wandering around the Art District when we came to Beijing. It had a very different vibe to it - relaxed, laid back and generally not that busy. Now that I am living in Beijing, it's still one of my favourite places to head to, but it has changed somewhat over the years! My first trip back here was a more crowded experience - admittedly, I did come on a public holiday! (will try not to do that again!) The red dinosaurs are one of the first instillations you see when you enter from the main road. They're big; you can't miss them! Some of the other instillations that I remember from our early trips seem to have gone. There are plenty of new art galleries of varying sizes open these days and most are free to enter. It's always been a place for finding quirky little shops, and many are still there, but quite a few seem to have been replaced with more general tourist tat - it's a same really! This was the second of Ahng Yimou's shows we saw on the tour around southern China. It's supposed to have the Jade Mountain as a backdrop, however, the day we were there it was pretty wet with loads of low cloud, so no backdrop. Around 400 local ethnic Naxi, Bai and Yi people were selected from nearby towns and villages to participate in the performance. They dress up in their ethnic costumes and accessories to perform the singing and dancing. As you can see it is another grand-scale spectacular! It was pretty wet the day we were there. I am not sure if they always do the show in wellies!
There are 56 recognised different ethnic groups in China. What we in the West (stereo-typically) think of as being Chinese are Han Chinese and they make up around 90% of the population. As I mentioned earlier, one of our friends commented that as you travel around China you will feel you are in a different country: Which is true! One of the most striking things is how this different ethnicity shows in facial features. Here are some portraits of different people from the South of China. If one goes further West then the Tibetans look different again and the Uyghur (Pronounced Wee-ger.... Kind of like someone from Glasgow) are distinctly different again. We walked around a really interesting market (in the rain) in Yunnan, where most Bai people come from/live. I wasn't altogether fussed by going to the show I have to say. I fancied a quiet dinner and a sunset walk round the village where we were staying but the tickets were bought so off we went.
I was expecting some sort of tacky light show with high pitched warbling Chinese music. The show is absolutely stunning. A true spectacular! The whole thing is put together by the same guy who did the opening ceremony to the Beijing Olympics (This seems to be a water-tight badge of his brilliance as far as the Chinese are concerned!) and has over 600 performers. It is billed as using the mountains as a backdrop for the lights. Hence my concern for some sort of terrible floodlit affair. However, it's night so you can't really see the mountains and it is the spectacle of the 600 performers on the water that makes. it. On from Chengdu to Guilin in Guangxi province. This is a largely rural part of China and is absolutely wonderful. It is rice fields flanked by weirdly shaped peaks (Karst peaks, apparently!). Most Chinese tours stay in the main town of this area, Yangshuo. We would highly recommend avoiding this and finding something smaller and quieter in the countryside. I have to say, not impressed by the town itself, but the area that surrounds it is hard to beat... anywhere. This is doubly true if you have only experienced the mega-cities of the Eastern seaboard of China. Before we went, a friend told us how much we would like it as it was like a different country. Hmmm! I'm sure it will be nice and different from here, but a different country? He was right and I was wrong. It is like a different country. Fresh, clear mountain air, lush green scenery, different food, faces. Everything is different. The famous view is this one: Very pretty, but if you don't know China you'll be wondering what the fuss is about. The reason it's famous is this is the reverse of the 20Y note.
Chengdu has a reputation amongst the Chinese as being a bit of a lazy place where people are more concerned about enjoying themselves than working hard! We certainly found plenty of evidence to back that up, indeed the locals seems quite proud of their reputation for laziness. The centre of the city is Tianfu Square which is, as in may Chinese cities a big open area designed for those big mass rallies so beloved by the early communists. It is now quite a nice public space filled with fountains and police! It is over-looked by a huge (and I do mean huge) statue of Mao. A short walk further on from Tianfu Square is Renmin Park, a perfect example about what I liked about Chengdu.
This was a lovely way to spend a morning. Once you are off the main roads there is very little traffic and it is mostly flat and very pretty. Another popular option is to take a bamboo punt down the river. Although I have to say, this place was much busier than where we went from. Apparently, it's cheaper and shorter so very popular. They punt downstream, take off the seats, then man-handle the rafts onto a truck and drive back up. You frequently see these lorries piled ridiculously high with the rafts. Despite how it looks, it was a really peaceful hour or so floating down the river. The rafts only last about three months as the bamboo wears out through crossing the weirs in the river constantly. However, it is the countryside that is the real star attraction.
I think it's fair to say that zoos in China do not have the best reputation. For example, you can buy chickens and even cows to let loose into the lion's cages and watch the feeding frenzy begin.
This panda centre is excellent. It is set in a large amount of woodland and specialises in breeding programmes. All of the guidebooks say get there early while they are still eating otherwise they become lifeless and shy. This is certainly something we would echo. By the time we had walked round a bit the main adult panda area was much quieter than when first got there and they were filling their faces. The river here can be quite picturesque given the right weather. It also looks better while frozen on one of those cold, crisp, clear winter mornings. Perfect for a winter's morning walk. I really like the repeating patterns in these apartment blocks. They also look good at night when some of the lights are on.... One day!
Harbin is a city in the far North East of China. It's closer to Vladivostok than Beijing and is only about 200KM from the Russian border. Obviously, being that close to Siberia it's chuffin' cold in the winter. We were told to expect temperatures down to MINUS 26 and, indeed, that's what they were the week before we went. However, it was a positively tropical minus 5-10 during the day so not too bad at all.
There is but one reason to risk the cold and go to Harbin in the middle of its winter and that's for the Ice Festival. A mega-event where several parts of the city are given over to buildings and sculptures made of ice. We were discussing this the other night and although that is what you go for (and it is amazing) it is the other stuff that makes it. The same is true of Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors. The warriors are amazing and that is why you go to Xi'an, but the city is also really cool and interesting. One of the interesting things about Harbin is the Russian influence. Lots of the shops still have Cyrillic lettering over their doors, there are lots of shops selling Russian themed tourist tat, including rocket launchers and land mines! No trip of ours to Beijing would be complete without a wander around 798 a bite to eat and some quality people watching.
Definitely one of my favourite parts of China... Although (Dare I say it?) becoming quite commercial even in the 18 months we've been going. As if I would know commercial art from pile of dirty underwear! To round off our week off for the Lunar New Year we took a trip down to the water park and the TV tower. The water park is a massive man made lake with some impressive, but new bridges that look like traditional Chinese/Japanese bridges. The whole thing was built because of Tianjin being an Olympic city. What? You missed that? Tianjin hosted some of the Olympic football and so therefore to be an Olympic city! The water park is also home to the world's least impressive fun-fair. I am not even slightly sure that I trust Chinese built and maintained roller-coasters even if they were working (Which they weren't!).
First off, I thought Dagu was the swampy planet where Yoda lived! But no! Apparently it is a gun emplacement that defended Beijing's port city (Tianjin). The website describes it thus:
'The Dagu Kou Forts, also called the Taku Forts... [were] built in 1816 to protect Beijing, the capital of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). As a heroic symbol of China's fight against foreign invasion, the emplacement is considered one of the three treasures of Tianjin by its people.' I'll come back to the last sentence in the quote in bit. Getting there was fun! We took the light rail from Tianjin station (a bargain at 90p for an hour's journey). I do have to say that if you are ever planning to make a film and need a set for that post nuclear apocalypse scene then the place to come and scout for locations is anywhere along the that journey. ![]() The observatory sits on top of one of the few remaining parts of the city walls. So, a trip here is also a rare chance to see those too. There are some small, but very nice gardens to walk around that house an interesting collection of planetary position fixing gear, all of which is ornately covered in the usual dragons. The guy to the left is the one who was responsible for all of this physics stuff and there are a couple of statues to him. At the top of the watch tower are some bigger pieces of kit which look very impressive but I have no idea what they do/did. One of the highlights is a water clock that uses uses a bunny to help measure the time but, unfortunately, the pictures of this didn't come out very well as it was inside and the light was too low. In the end we decided that it was more of a stopwatch than a clock: still it was querky. Three adults, two children all for the bargain price of 65Y (GBP6.50) which I thought was pretty good value. One of Beijing's lesser known sights but very interesting none-the-less and well worth a look see. Shanghai was my first experience of China five years ago and I was not impressed! It was a big, ugly, dirty city. Either time has changed it for the better or I have got used to not living in lovely Taipei quicker than I thought.
Another belated Easter travels post (I have been having 'computer issues' of late). While down in Shanghai we decided we would have a couple of nights in Suzhou. This is one of the many canal towns around Shangers. It's also one of the many places to call itself the 'Venice of the..' (insert geographical location), although Marco Polo thought it was pretty good! It is famed as the centre of Chinese garden design. It also appears to be THE place to go to have your wedding photies taken. I have to say that it is a top little (well, its a huge city, but the old town is quite compact) place.
This is a belated update following our grand tour around Eastern China with my Mother-in-law. The Terracotta Warriors are something you 'just have to see' while your in China. Not so sure about that, but they are unique and you won't see them anywhere else.
After the world heritage site of the Great Wall, the other thing we did during the Lunar New Year holiday was to look at some of the historical stuff in Tianjin. This is mainly centred on the 8 concession areas (There were 9 but America gave hers to Britain), in the same way that Shanghai has the concessions so too does Tianjin. Although to a large extent the original sutff has gone, there are still some interesting things to see. For example Pu Yi's house is there which is OK but not the most interesting thing, even if it is important.
So, I've returned to probably my two favourite Tianjin themes... The Station and the frozen river. I just can't get enough of the space age architecture of the station, which was just incredibly busy as most of Chinagets on a train during that week it seems. More or less 6 months after moving to China I thought I should probably see what all the fuss was about and get out and see the wall. The wall is about 8500KM long so the first question is which bit? Most people seem to head up to Beijing to see it and I am sure we will too in the end.
As the river freezes people use it to fish. No comments as it speaks for itself. Was a bit nervous at first standing on the ice.
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AuthorsWe are teachers and have worked in various schools in Europe & Asia. This is really a chronicle of out travels over the years. It is meant for us to look back on, reflect and remember where we've been, what we've done and all our little adventures. If you like it too, then fab! If you don't, do you think we care? Archives
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