Thursday, July 10, 2014

Lanzhou 兰州 Capital of Gansu Province

Lanzhou sits on the Yellow River surrounded by mountains both to the north and the south. The Yellow river is the second longest river in Asia and the sixth longest in the world. It's the first time we've seen it. Its called yellow because of the large amount of silt that it carries; however, its not so much yellow as it is chocolate. The chocolate river. I'm not sure its clean though. One of JS' students from Gansu told us its not safe to swim in. Anyway, the Yellow River is called "the cradle of Chinese civilization", because its basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization, and it was the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. Lanzhou has many mosques throughout the city, as there are many Muslim Chinese in the area. We also saw several temples and one big church.

Here's some shots of the river.


This iron bridge built by the Germans was finished in 1907. It claims to be the first bridge over the Yellow River, but its hard to believe. It is the oldest of the current bridges in Lanzhou, perhaps that's what they are trying to say.

 

Lanzhou is also famous for its Lanzhou beef hand-pulled noodles 兰州牛肉面.We also also ate some delicious lamb during our stay.



JS was very please because during this trip he was for the first time able to have an ongoing conversation in Chinese. He spoke with this Hui man for about 20 minutes. We learned that he works in a mosque near Linxia and has the early morning shift to call everyone to prayer. He was very kind and shared some lamb with us that he was carrying with him.


Here are some other scenes from around the city.


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Linxia City in Gansu Province

Back in March we took a trip to Gansu Province where we visited Lanzhou, it's capital, and Linxia.  Gansu is just one province to the west of Shaanxi (the one where we live) and is filled with interesting people and places, as many minorities are living there. Gansu is also synonymous with the Silk Road, as it reaches from east to west and has been filled with commerce and trading for centuries.

After taking an 8 hour night train to Lanzhou, in the morning we took another 2 hour bus to Linxia, also called "the little Mecca of China." On the way we found ourselves entering highlands and crossing arid mountains that were peppered with mosques. This is the home of the Hui people.

As soon as we arrived to this small city (population of just over 200,000) we were greeted by a group of elderly Hui men who were eager to talk with us. Here you can see JS sitting and talking with them.


People there were so friendly and interested in talking to us probably because there are very few tourists that make it there. The typical man was wearing a little white hat, white beard, and big round eye glasses that were also worn during the Qing dynasty (the last imperial dynasty of China) and still made there today.


Women also wear head coverings. Some of them are very elaborate and sit quite high on their heads. There will be more pictures to come of those in the Lanzhou post.


Here's just a few of the 80 mosques that are in this small city.


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Shaanxi Grand Opera House

The last part of our university sponsored trip was near the downtown of Xi'an where we enjoyed the Tang Palace Dance Show and Dumpling Banquet.  Although we are rather weary of these touristy kinds of things, we really enjoyed this meal and show combo!

The meal consisted of mostly steamed dumplings that were all shaped according the their flavors. That means the pork dumpling looked like a pig, the fish dumpling were shaped like a fish, and so on. There were a total of 18 different kinds of dumplings that were brought to us, so we left with extremely full bellies. The large room was filled with foreigners. We are sure we've never been surrounded by so many in Xi'an.

This is the only picture we have of the dumplings. You can barely see their duck shape. I guess we were more focused on eating than taking pictures.


The show is based on Tang dynasty style fashion and poetry, while using traditional Chinese instruments. Some of the pieces that they did were called Gossiping Duck & Hungry Tiger, Fairy Dance in Feathered Costume, A Moment of Idleness and White  Sleeve Dance. The pictures will speak louder than words.



Monday, July 7, 2014

Famen Temple 法门寺

Our university took some of the foreign teachers on a day trip to several locations in the area. The first that we went to was Famen Temple in Baoji.  Going there was definitely an interesting experience, but neither of us have any desire to return.

First of all, what is Famen Temple? It's an ancient Buddhist temple that may have been built during the Eastern Han dynasty (25 BC – 220 AD).  It's famous now because of the relic that was found there during the reconstruction of its pagoda in 1987: the finger bone of Sakyamuni Buddha. Apparently after his death pieces of his bones were sent around the world to different Buddhist temples. China received several bones, but this is the only one remaining today.

Apart from the creepy finger bone, its a strange place for another reason. Because this place is now a pilgrimage destination and filling up with tourists, millions of dollars have been poured into it, and it now resembles more of a amusement park than a temple. It seems that their project was a failure as lots of money has been lost because they created something that is commercial and ugly. You can also see that most of its buildings will probably fall apart in a decade.

Here is the pagoda where the finger was found in an "underground palace." This is the nicest part of the place.

  

These are the four relics that were found. One of them is the real deal and the other three are duplicates that were made to protect the real one. 
 
  

This is the kilometer-long walkway that is all concrete and no trees.


Here you can see the modern temple that they have created, and inside you can find the finger bone.


 This is a shot of the inside of this building that is extremely large (made for giants). The finger bone is below the Buddha inside the little gold temple shaped container.