China Travelogue

When I went to Guilin two yesars ago, we also took a cruise on Li river in Yangshuo. Yangshuo County is a county in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China. Surrounded by karst peaks and bordered on one side by the Li River it is easily accessible by bus or by boat from nearby Guilin. Over the years, it has become popular with foreign backpackers.

Yangshuo,China

We 7 pax together when to Yangshuo from Guilin city, it took about one and a half  hour to get there. When we got there, all you can see are the beautiful landscapes. Becasue of the Karst relief, you will see so many small karst peaks every where. And beside the peaks, the Li river add some gentle beauty to Yangshuo.

The water in the Li river is quite clear and cool, you can easily see the float grass in the river and the swimming fish. That’s wonderful. As the ship took us to the centre of the Yangshuo scenic area, all you can see were natural sceneries. Up your eye level is the blue and clean sky dotted with white and soft cloud, at your eye level are the half rouded or cone-shaped karst peaks,below your eye level, there is the floating clean water.

When we reached to a island in the Li river, we landed to take photos. After one hour’s free time, we went back. And during the way back, the boatman asked us to take out a 20 yuan RMB and see the back side of it, then pointed to the peaks not far away, we were amazing that the features on the back side of the 20 RMB was exactly real in front of our eyes, we could not help taking photos immediately.

Yangshuo, scenery on 20 RMB note

When we left Yangshuo, the fresh air and overwhelming beauty are still remain in our memory.

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Maybe some of you don’t understand the definite meaning of water town, it is the title we Chinese give to some villiages in east China which are surrounded by rivers and small canals.Therefore, the most common “architecture”you see in those places are bridges.

wuzhen,Stone Bridge

There are dozens of water towns in east China because of geographic reasons.Among them, the most famous is Wuzhen.It locates in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. It has been a tourist destination for years, but fortunately, it has not serious been effected by the commercial things.It has kept its old houses, bridges living customs, and the important, the peaceful atmosphere!

I have only been there once, it is nice! Before you enter the town, you have to take a boat to across the river that circle the town.When you loanded, you will see all the building there are made of wood and stone with an antique beauty, quite Chinese.When you stepped on the stone lanes which snaked through two rows of old buildings, the feeling is fantastic. C’z there are not so many people, so the environment is quite quiet,you will have a illusion that you have backwards tolast century . I really enjoy that feeling! I even felt the quietness in my soul!

If you like, you can take a small boat and row it in the rivers to see the lod local houses along the river banks and the people walk pssing by. You will feel relax here,both in the body and soul. The pressure form the daily life will soon been released after you have breath the air here with the cool and  vapour.

Wuzhen wooden houses in the morning

I only have been there once, but after that experience, I began to love that place.

I think this place contains all the traditional Chinese elements what I favor. Maybe not all the foreign people know the exact meaning of water town, in China,especially in east China, some of the viliages are surrounded with rivers, just like a town in water,hence the name.

And Wuzhen is also hailed as the Venice in Orient because of its beauty. The difference is that, Venice is surrounded by the ocean while Wuzhen by the rivers.

If you go to Wuzhen, you can not get to the town directly, c’z the town is circled by the river. So you have to row a boat to get there. There are special boats for tourists, so you don’t have to worry about that. When you land there, you will see all the building are made of wood, and the lanes or roads are made of stone. I really like this feeling, it seems that you are walking through a place in last century in China.

The good thing for Wuzhen is that, it has not seriously effected by the commercial elements.So is has been well preserved till now. Most of the building there are nearly one century old, and have kept its original flavour.

China, Wuzhen in dark

The reason why I love that place so much is because the quiet atmosphere there. When you breath the cool air, feel the breeze with vapor from the rivers and see the antique buildings there, you will quite relax yourself and release all the pressure from the earthly life. The people here live a smple life with slow pace, so you will easily find calm smile on people’s face because they are satisfied with the life style here.

Wish I have the oppotunity to go there again~

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Nanjing, is the capital city of Jiangsu province,China. It also has been the first capital of Ming dynasty. The Ming dynasty began in 1368 A.D, and ended until 1644 A.D,which in total lasted for 276 years. It was found by a normal peasant, the third of only three peasants ever to become an emperor in Chinese history. Zhu Yuanzhang, known as Ming Emperor Taizu and Hongwu Emperor, and led the revolt against the Mongols and

The founder of Ming dynasty-emperor Zhuyuanzhang

the Yuan Dynasty. He was quite worried about conspiracies against himself, and despite the many moral homilies he gave, favored violence to deal with any one suspected of plotting against him or back to the conspirators. The capital was originally located in Nanjing but the third emperor moved the capital to Beijing. Though he is a cruel emperor who only believes in wars and violence, yet carried out a comprehensive reform of previous political, military and other systems. Zhu grasped the political, military and judicial powers that pushed the feudal centralization to a high level, which was carried on by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In the early Ming, the nation’s economy soon recovered and progressed to its highest level. Zhu’s achievements made him one of the most outstanding statesmen in Chinese history.

The historical city Nanjing, now remains so many relics from the Ming dynasty as it was the first capital of Ming. Such as Ming tombs, Ming city wall and Ming palace.However, most of them are rebuilt ones because of the civil wars and natural disaters. What is more, several names of streets and district are named after those relics or origin from the Ming culture. So, Nanjing is a city infused with dense Ming culture atmosphere. If you don’t the Ming culture in Nanjing, you will surprised to find that you have missed so many historical remains. Maybe the stone bridge you just passed over has a 500 years history, a broken stone deserted in the wildness has once been touched by the emperor or loyals in Ming dynasty as it used to be a sacrificial vessel. That’s amazing,doesn’t it? The reason why I talk about the Ming dynasty and Nanjing here is because I have lived in this city for more than 4 years and will keep living in Nanjing if everything goes smoothly.

The statues in the Ming tomb

If you need to know more information about Nanjing,  Nanjing tours, Ming culture or China tours, plz be free to ask me!

Ming city wall in Nanjing

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To Chinese people, drinking tea is as simple as having meal or answering the nature’s call. I can not say that every Chinese likes tea, but definitely most of they like it, if not, will not against it at least. China has a long history of drinking tea for thousands of years. And it can not only be categorized as a daily behavior but also a culture and art.

Chinese tea culture

China is a country with a time-honored civilization and a land of ceremony . Whenever guests visit, it is necessary for the host or hostress to make and serve tea to them. Before serving tea, you may ask them for their preferences as to what kind of tea they like and serve them the tea in the most appropriate teacups. In the course of serving tea, the host should take careful note of how much water is remaining in the cups and in the kettle. Usually, if the tea is made in a teacup, boiling water should be added after half of the cup has been consumed; and thus the cup is kept filled so that the tea retains the same bouquet and remains pleasantly warm throughout the entire course of tea-drinking. Snacks, sweets and other dishes may be served at tea time to complement the fragrance of the tea and to allay one’s hunger.

Different area in China grow various kinds of tea due to the geographic location and climate. In general, there are five kinds of tea classified according to different technique involved in the making of tea:
* Green tea – Longjin
* Wulong tea
* Scented tea – Jasmine tea
* Black tea
* Compressed tea.

Tea garden in China

I don’t have much knowledge on all these five kinds of tea,but as far as I know, the Green tea is the best for our healty. It contains antioxidant and other good element to prevent the radiation from the computer. And tea is good for your kidney, c’z tea is diuretic, but one thing you should pay attention, if you fong of put something into the tea for better falavor, you’d better add honey or lemon instead of sugar or milk.

Here I find some information about the advantages of Tea-Drinking from the inter net:
Medically, the tea leaf contains a lot of chemical elements, of which 20-30% is tannic acid, known for its anti-inflammatory and germicidal properties. It also contains an alkaloid (5%, mainly caffeine), a stimulant for the nerve centre and the process of metabolism. Tea with the aromatics in it may help resolve meat and fat and thus promote digestion. It is, therefore, of special importance to people who live mainly on meat, like many of the ethnic minorities in China. A popular proverb among them says, “Rather go without salt for three days than without tea for a single day.”

Tea is also rich in various vitamins and, for smokers, it helps to discharge nicotine out of the system. After wining, strong tea may prove to be a sobering pick-me-up.

Tea pot&Tea leaf

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Chinese spring festival-Fireworks

chinese spring festival-shopping

The spring festival is Chinese most traditional festival every 365 days. For all the Chinese people, the Spring Festival is the most important festival and is when all family members get family union, just like Christmas in the West. The people living away from home have to begin their crowded home-returning, therefore it becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees.

chinese spring festival-Chinese knot

      But，with the development of the world， many different attitudes between the young and the old towards the spring festival come forth in recent years. The old are still pay more attention to the spring festival， but the young gradually change the mode to spend their spring festival holiday， such as travel overseas.

   When I am a childhood， I celebrated the spring festival with my family about a month in my winter vacation in traditional way， such as helping cleaning our houses， putting red couplets on gates， setting off firecrackers， and wear new clothes. But now, I don’t have such long time to celebrate the New year with my parents because of my work or other things.
   
   Whether or no， I like the spring festival. It is one of the most important part of our Chinese culture. However busy I am， I will try my best to celebrating it with the traditional way to protect those our ancestor has leave behind. While nowadays many young people pay less and less attention to taboos during the Spring Festival. In fact, many customs during the Spring Festival have also changed.

Chinese spring festival-Laterns

Additional information:
History of Spring Festival
Spring Festival begins on the January 1 of the lunar calendar, and ends on Lantern Day, or the January 15 of the lunar calendar. The Chinese New Year falls on different dates in the Gregorian calendar every year. Many confuse their Chinese birth year with their Gregorian Birth-year. As the Chinese New Year starts in Late January to mid-February, anyone born before the Chinese New Year takes the Zodiac of the previous year. According to legend, Chinese New Year began with a fight against a beast called Nian, or “year” in Chinese. Nian would come out the first day of New Year to eat livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves villagers put bowls of food outside their doors so Nian would eat the food instead of their children. Once, the villagers saw a child in the street with a red coat on. When Nian saw the child he was scared away, so the villagers realized that Nian was afraid of red. From then on, the villagers wore red, placed red scrolls over their doors, and lanterns outside their homes. Nian never came back to the village. During the Spring Festival fireworks are set off at midnight, red envelopes filled with money are given to children, and friends and family are visited. It is also considered bad luck to get one’s hair cut during the first lunar month but sweets should be eaten to ensure a “sweet year.” A placard with the character 福 should also be hung upside down on one’s front door to invite good luck into the house.