18. Generals and Poets

Our Chengdu tour started with the archaeological sites I mentioned before, then a 'hot' lunch (in the Sichuan sense), and in the afternoon, we visited two shrines, one dedicated to a well-known ancient general and the other to a famous Tang dynasty poet.



The first is a shrine to Wuhou, 武侯祠 (http://www.wuhouci.net.cn/). Wuhou is more popularly known as Zhugeliang 诸葛亮, a prime minister of the kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period. This temple is built about 200 years after Christ, so we are talking about the time of the Roman empire. Walking through it does give me a feeling of history.

If you are wondering why there is a shrine just for Zhugeliang? I believe it is because Zhugeliang has always been considered one of the geniuses in Chinese history. He was not only smart, resourceful, with wide knowledge of both the literature and military strategies, but also he was known for his dedication. He served the king faithfully till his death just because the king took pains to recruit him. The photo shows his image in the shrine.


In the shrine, there are a series of figures of all the well-known generals that I had read about in my youth. But I'll show you a not-so-well-known one: General Liaohua. There is a Chinese saying that is often quoted: 蜀中无大将，廖化当先锋. (Roughly translated: there are no great generals in Shu so we ended up having to have Liaohua be the leader.) This saying is used in modern day to describe how companies that are so short of talent that they'll draft any one to be a leader. Alas, whether Liaohua was a great general or not of course is debatable and our tour guide, you can see his hand there, insisted that he was unfairly treated by history. C'est la vie!


杜甫草堂 (Dufu's Grass Hut)
Tang dynasty is well-known for its great poets and the 300 Tang Poems, a collection of poems from the period is often found in many Chinese family libraries. Dufu is a prolific and well-regarded poet who happened to live in Sichuan and so they have dedicated this shrine to him. What's interesting is that this place is called simply Dufu's Grass Hut - but it has very nice ponds and rows of bamboos. Ah, the serenity of the place, especially since it was raining when we visited, soothed me.

17. Up on a Tree and Down in the Ground

We flew into Chengdu at night and checked into the Kempinski in the center of the city. The Kempinski is a 5-star hotel but incredibly they turned off the air-conditioning for maintenance for a whole week and the day we arrived, it was hot, humid and no air-conditioning! The first night was therefore, shall we say, a sweaty sultry Sichuan night. Even though the air-conditioning came back next day. I must say we did not find the Kempinski as appealing even though it features some very modern room furnishings.

But this sad start in Chengdu is more than compensated by our agenda the next day. Our new tour guide, a very sincere young man, took us to five wonderful places. I'll start with just two for now: a panda bear reserve and an archeological dig that unearthed vases that seem to have come out of a Mayan (i.e., Mexican) site!



Our first stop was the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. It is here that the first successful artificially-augmented conception and breeding of giant pandas occurred. This is a world-renowned institute that also allows tourists to both see, and on occasion, to touch and post with the pandas.



On this day, no posing with pandas were allowed but we did catch a few pandas up on a tree. At the time, we also saw six pubs in the nursery. They are about the size of a small dog. It has been rumored that a pair of them has been promised to replace the aging pair in a Hong Kong Park.



Our next stop is the archaeological site known as SanXingDui, literally "Three Star Mound", which is about 45km outside of Chengdu. From this photo, you can see the amount of funding that has been spent to make this into a monumental museum. But I thought that the designer of the museum seems to have forgotten that the figures from the dig should be the star rather than his/her architectural design. For details, see: http://www.china.org.cn/e-sanxingdui/jingtai/6.htm


I took only a few not very good photos. This one shows a major find, a bronze human head that is hollow inside. What struck me was how the features shown do not seem to me to be Chinese but more like Mayan. I think I'll want to do some more research on this interesting site that unearthed no written records.

And that was just for the first morning in Chengdu.

16. Rocks And Sands of ChangSa

ChangSa is a major city in the province of Hunan. It is in the north eastern end of the province. The name ChangSha literally means 'long on sand'. While I do not know if the city is named for its sands, I thought it may be fun to see what ChangSa offers in rocks and sands.



This is a street scene in a typical weekday afternoon. Even for a mid-size city in China, the streets are already filled with vehicles. When we were there, the city was going through its drought season, not much rain, and hence, everywhere one looks, it indeed looks sandy and you can almost breathe the sand in your nostrils. But there is also a very nice downtown with a pedestrian mall.



We visited one of the oldest university in the world and it is called Yue Lu Su Yuan 岳麓书院. This is where famous Chinese scholars once studied and taught. For example, Zhu Xi 朱熹, a 12th century AD Song Dynasty scholar, was a resident here. And in the courtyard is a large stone shown here. It is a specimen of the locally quarried stone - a chrysanthemum stone. The flower patterns are natural and are the imprints from petrified vegetation. This piece is very expensive if it is offered for sale. Also, Yue Lu is the seventh oldest university in the world (with Cambridge being the oldest) and the current Hunan University is its direct descendent.



Then of course, since ChangSa is located on the banks of Xiang Jiang, the Xiang River, I've got to show a photo of the sandy beach on the river. The east bank of the Xiang river has been set aside for a park and that is where this photo was shot. No, we didn't sail on that sightseeing boat.

Next stop, ChengDu and onto JiuZaiGou!

15. Ancient Technology, Science and Marketing

Our tour bus took us into the city of ChangSa at night. After resting overnight in the 5-star hotel, the Dolton, we embarked on sights of the city. Our first stop turned out to be the Hunan Provincial Museum that has a very interesting archaeological dig collection called MaWangDui.

Mawangdui is an excavation site that consists of 2 hills with a saddle in between - hence the name literally means 'saddle mounds'. In 1972-74, it was discovered that there were 3 well preserved tombs of a Marquis(Li Cang), his wife(Xin Zhui), and a third person who is probably his son.

A detailed description of the site can be found in: http://www.answers.com/topic/mawangdui



As I toured through the collection of artifacts from almost 2000 years ago, a few items strike me as particularly worthwhile to mention. First, this photo shows the large tomb itself that is technologically very advanced. It uses layers upon layers of various wood materials, culminating in the huge wood planks shown, tightly fitted to preserve the body. Outside, layers of charcoal and clay were used to drain away the moisture. Indeed, the body was so well-preserved that a normal autopsy was conducted. The intestines were all still intact and they show it in a chloroform-filled jar!

Among the artifacts are many musical instruments from this ancient time - wind, percussion and string instruments. The amazing thing is that they have already devised a set of pitch pipes to standardize the frequencies and for tuning the instruments. Keeping in mind this is about the time of Christ and well before the word 'acoustics' was even coined.


Next, look at this gift box. Again, 2000 years ago, form-fitting individualized packaging for decorative purposes has already been invented!

Finally, we came across a set of manuals about how to conduct surgery of the inner guts, including the importance of maintaining a clean environment to reduce infection. That is advanced medicine way before western medicine started surgical techniques.

It seems to me sometimes we tend to think that science and technology were all invented in the west. This exhibit clearly shows that that is a myopic view.

14. Out of This World, Metaphorically

Leaving Zhangjiajie early in the morning, our bus got on the Chang-Zhang Highway and took us, through the city of ChangDe, to a place called TaoHuaYuan. Along the way, I saw that every valley between every hill is terraced for farming. While I don't know what was grown there, it was pretty clear that this is the heartland of China, where every arable inch is tilled, where peasants will dry their harvests smack in the middle of the road so buses and trucks have to swerve to avoid ruining the crops.

All of a sudden, we arrived at a legendary spot: TaoHuaYuan - The Peach Blossom Garden.



Since this is October, there are not a single peach blossom. Indeed, I didn't even notice any peach trees. But there is an interesting story behind this seemingly ordinary picture of a small water fall.

About 1600 years ago, a highly-regarded government official, TaoYuenMing, became tired of the politics in the court he served and decided to early retire himself. He started traveling around China and by happenstance, wandered into a wonderfully peaceful area where there was no government and only peasants and fishermen quietly living their lives. He penned the now famous Annals of TaoHuaYuan which has been one of the often taught ancient documents. The place we visited is the place supposedly TaoYuenMing discovered; although no one really is certain if this is indeed historically correct.

If you look at the photo carefully, at the left side, there is a dark grey spot hidden behind the green vegetation. This is the cave entrance to a tunnel that cuts through the mountain. We went through a parallel tunnel that was dug later and voila, emerged on the other side that is a small village - it is supposedly here that people have lived 'outside of this world'. As one emerges from the dark tunnel to the sunny stream and fields, it indeed feels like one is getting away from it all.

For those who can read Chinese, here is the site that explains everything: http://www.chthy.com/

For those who cannot read Chinese, just click on the map and you'll see what I mean by the tunnel leading to a village.

13. Kids in Baskets & Adults in Wicker Chairs

While going up and coming down the mountains of Zhangjiajie, I captured two interesting photos - they are the reliable local transportation systems.



This photo was captured while we were lining up to get on some modern air-conditioned buses. Notice both the old man and the woman have back packs on them. The backpacks are made entirely of bamboo, including the strap. It was an ancient design that has worked well for the Tu people. The baskets are used to carry everything, and in this case, a toddler who's obviously enjoying the ride. So if you think that the modern backpack was invented in the US, think again - these ancient people have already got it all figured out.



Walking up the perilous mountain trails of Zhangjiajie is quite a lot of work. There are ribbons after ribbons of stone steps that are narrow and slippery in the rain or fog. For those who cannot make it on their own, fortunately there are professionals who will take you on their shoulders. We passed by this station of carriers who for a fee will take any one, of any weight, up the stairs. The passenger is seated in the rigged-up wicker chair and two men will run up the steps; bouncing the chair up and down on those flexible bamboo poles. I think they are invoking scientific principles as in every bounce, they would have to carry only half a cycle of dead-weight. As long as they can take the peak load, it is much easier than using a rigid pole and having to carry the entire dead weight. As the trails are usually packed with tourists, those who walk often have to hurriedly get out of their way. To make more money, these carriers will also run down the hill. What a way to make a living!

12. What happened to the posts?

It's been more than a week since I have reported on our tour and you may begin to wonder what happened. Our tour group has traveled from Zhangjiajie to ChangDe, and then stayed in Changsa, Hunan for three days seeing various sights. Next, we flew to ChengDu in the SiChuan Province, flew to JiuZaiGou and then flew back to ChengDu, drove to LuoShan and stayed overnight in Ermei and then drove back to Chengdu. Finally, we flew yesterday to GuangZhou and took a long-distance bus back to Hong Kong. It was quite a trip with lots to report.

I have not been able to post during this time mainly because the tour guide has kept us very busy and very tired every day with lots of meals. In addition, some of the hotels charge quite a lot for an internet connection(in Changsa, the rate was 10RMB per minute, ~80cents US/min!). So, now I am going to go back and continue the travelog from where I left off.