Thursday, January 21. I feel right at home. I opened the windows in my hotel room last night because my room was too warm, and this morning i can hear a rooster crowing! At 7 a.m. it is still completely dark. thirty minutes later, sky beginning to lighten.
Bathroom here is amazing. Terrific shower. Big, soft towels.
Down to Salt & Pepper cafe for breakfast. Raisin bran with homemade yogurt! plain omelet, bacon, toast with strawberry jam, juice and coffee. I'm set for the day!
Still foggy/overcast. i can see buildings in the immediate vicinity of hotel but nothing beyond.
Meet Charlie at 9 a.m. in lobby. Mr. Li is our driver, in quite a nice late model Ford which is spic-and-span. It is a two-hour drive to Dazu, site of the rock carvings we are going to see.
We chat a little about our families. Charlie has two brothers and one sister. All of them live in CQ but in different districts. His eldest brother has a son who is grown and working. His sister has a daughter who is at university. His second brother has a daughter in middle school, and their father (the grandfather) lives with that family to watch over and cook for the girl after school while their mother (the grandmother) lives with Charlie, his wife and 7-year-old son. It's the typical Chinese family!
I tell Charlie about my children and that my son works in NYC which is about 2 hours by car from my home. So Charlie says "maybe he comes home every week?" well, maybe not. I tell Charlie maybe once a month - but that we also go to NY to see him! :) The Chinese devotion to family is truly wonderful. In the US, we spend our energy in an effort to make our children independent. After two years here, i'm beginning to wonder if it's a completely good thing!
Actually less foggy today; i can actually see the river from the bridge and some of the hills. I can also see the elevated highway along the river that we were on yesterday. Need more roads? Just put them along the river bank!
During wartime, the city built many air raid shelters into the sides of the hills/mountains. Today they have been converted into shops, car repair places etc. along the roadways.
As we leave the city, we pass through many tunnels through the mountains. The landscape on the other side is hilly and rocky, but with little farm plots and even some terraced farming squeezed in wherever there is a space (sometimes even on the slopes of the highway!)
DaZu can mean "big feet" but it actually in this case means "abundance" or "rich in resources. Dazu County is one of the counties belonging to CQ. It is 1400 sq km with a population of 920,000 people. products are rice and fish (carp grown in fish farms?), bamboo mats and hardware (knives, scissors). Charlie shows the the character for "knife" (a simple two-stroke character) so then I start to see it everywhere.
Why are the rock carvings in Dazu? Five reasons:
1. economic: Sichuan prospered, not involved in wars, and rich in resources.
2. political: governor of east sichuan wanted support from people to attack governor of west sichuan.
3. many people moved to Dazu from all walks of life (because no war here?): artisans, monks, poets
4. Many people believed in Buddhism (with Chinese characteristics!): 80% of the carvings are Buddhist, 12% are Daoist, and 8 % confucian
5. A man named Zhao Zhi Feng, who was born in Dazu, was orphaned at age 5, became a buddhist monk, at age 16 went to western sichuan to study tantric buddhism at leShan, then came back to Dazu and from age 19 to age 90 he designed and supervised the rock carvings of BaoDingShan.
We pass through Dazu "downtown" where only about 60 K people live - practically no one! There's a big traffic circle in the middle of town with a column and grouping of four statues looking very Communist-era! probably from the 50s or 60s. Then we begin to climb into the hills.
Bao Ding Shan. See photos, book. Very unified in design and execution since overseen by one man and completed over a period of 70 years between 1179 and 1245. Thirty separate niches carved into soft limestone walls of a 28-ft high, horseshoe-shaped bend known as DaFo Wan (Big Buddha Bend) because there is a huge reclining Buddha there. I love the allegory of the buffalo and the herdsman, the buffalo representing the stubborn spirit that man tries to wrestle into submission on the way to enlightenment. Other ingenious features in one of the caves include a window carved to illuminate the interior as well as a drainage system that is virtually invisible. The representations of "heaven" and "hell" are remarkable. Unfortunately, the Goddess of Mercy who actually has 1007 arms is covered in scaffolding because the gold is being repainted. (Apparently, the way they figured out exactly the number of arms was when they painted them old (originally unpainted); everytime the monks painted a hand, another monk made a mark on paper. when they were finished, they counted the marks! otherwise, you could never really do it, they are in such a muddle, different poses and so forth.)
I buy a souvenir book with photos (so I can actually see the 1000 armed Goddess of Mercy!), haggling the price down from 88 yuan to 55! it's the "yingyu laoshe" and "mei you qien" that does it everytime! :)
We have lunch at a little food stand near the exit. Fried rice with cabbage, pea leaves, seaweed, and tofu. See photos of lunch being made!
Bei Shan. See photos. If it were up to me, I would have skipped this. But I got a lot of exercise climbing the 140 steps! The sun actually comes out while we are here, and i have photos to prove it!
Drive back to CQ. The sky is actually blue overhead for part of the way, but once back in CQ, it is "foggy" again. All along the road between Dazu and CQ, the trees, plants and bushes are completely grey from dust/pollution. Only the small farm plots look green (because those plants have been growing for only one season). The whole area feels unbelieveably dirty and dusty.
CQ makes me think of Los Angeles, a city in a spectacular natural setting but one which no one will ever actually see again. The two rivers coming together, the hills and mountains, must have been a lovely sight a hundred years ago. But now CQ is everything that is wrong with modern China: heavily polluted, congested, acres and acres of unattractive (one could say hideous) buildings, even the new buildings are pedestrian. It is quite sad. Can't say I'm sorry to be departing on an earlier flight tomorrow.
NB: but CQ does have one thing going for it that Los Angeles doesn't: a massive public transportation network with buses, a subway, and a monorail line with another in the works.
I pick up dinner at the same little food stall i went to last night: lotus root, flat green peas, and eggplant. NutriExpress. a few sections of pomelo that Charlie gave me.
Read China Daily about Sino-French ties now "in good shape" thanks to the efforts of Jean-Pierre Raffarin (www.carnetjpr.com), a former Prime Minister. The annual Salon du Chocolat is being hosted by Shanghai this week! (other hosts, besides Paris, Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Beijing), and Sarkozy will be coming to the opening of the World Expo in May
Book of rock carvings 55 yuan
Lunch 15 yuan
Water 2 yuan
Nutri Express 5 yuan
Stir-fry veggies 6 yuan
Bathroom here is amazing. Terrific shower. Big, soft towels.
Down to Salt & Pepper cafe for breakfast. Raisin bran with homemade yogurt! plain omelet, bacon, toast with strawberry jam, juice and coffee. I'm set for the day!
Still foggy/overcast. i can see buildings in the immediate vicinity of hotel but nothing beyond.
Meet Charlie at 9 a.m. in lobby. Mr. Li is our driver, in quite a nice late model Ford which is spic-and-span. It is a two-hour drive to Dazu, site of the rock carvings we are going to see.
We chat a little about our families. Charlie has two brothers and one sister. All of them live in CQ but in different districts. His eldest brother has a son who is grown and working. His sister has a daughter who is at university. His second brother has a daughter in middle school, and their father (the grandfather) lives with that family to watch over and cook for the girl after school while their mother (the grandmother) lives with Charlie, his wife and 7-year-old son. It's the typical Chinese family!
I tell Charlie about my children and that my son works in NYC which is about 2 hours by car from my home. So Charlie says "maybe he comes home every week?" well, maybe not. I tell Charlie maybe once a month - but that we also go to NY to see him! :) The Chinese devotion to family is truly wonderful. In the US, we spend our energy in an effort to make our children independent. After two years here, i'm beginning to wonder if it's a completely good thing!
Actually less foggy today; i can actually see the river from the bridge and some of the hills. I can also see the elevated highway along the river that we were on yesterday. Need more roads? Just put them along the river bank!
During wartime, the city built many air raid shelters into the sides of the hills/mountains. Today they have been converted into shops, car repair places etc. along the roadways.
As we leave the city, we pass through many tunnels through the mountains. The landscape on the other side is hilly and rocky, but with little farm plots and even some terraced farming squeezed in wherever there is a space (sometimes even on the slopes of the highway!)
DaZu can mean "big feet" but it actually in this case means "abundance" or "rich in resources. Dazu County is one of the counties belonging to CQ. It is 1400 sq km with a population of 920,000 people. products are rice and fish (carp grown in fish farms?), bamboo mats and hardware (knives, scissors). Charlie shows the the character for "knife" (a simple two-stroke character) so then I start to see it everywhere.
Why are the rock carvings in Dazu? Five reasons:
1. economic: Sichuan prospered, not involved in wars, and rich in resources.
2. political: governor of east sichuan wanted support from people to attack governor of west sichuan.
3. many people moved to Dazu from all walks of life (because no war here?): artisans, monks, poets
4. Many people believed in Buddhism (with Chinese characteristics!): 80% of the carvings are Buddhist, 12% are Daoist, and 8 % confucian
5. A man named Zhao Zhi Feng, who was born in Dazu, was orphaned at age 5, became a buddhist monk, at age 16 went to western sichuan to study tantric buddhism at leShan, then came back to Dazu and from age 19 to age 90 he designed and supervised the rock carvings of BaoDingShan.
We pass through Dazu "downtown" where only about 60 K people live - practically no one! There's a big traffic circle in the middle of town with a column and grouping of four statues looking very Communist-era! probably from the 50s or 60s. Then we begin to climb into the hills.
Bao Ding Shan. See photos, book. Very unified in design and execution since overseen by one man and completed over a period of 70 years between 1179 and 1245. Thirty separate niches carved into soft limestone walls of a 28-ft high, horseshoe-shaped bend known as DaFo Wan (Big Buddha Bend) because there is a huge reclining Buddha there. I love the allegory of the buffalo and the herdsman, the buffalo representing the stubborn spirit that man tries to wrestle into submission on the way to enlightenment. Other ingenious features in one of the caves include a window carved to illuminate the interior as well as a drainage system that is virtually invisible. The representations of "heaven" and "hell" are remarkable. Unfortunately, the Goddess of Mercy who actually has 1007 arms is covered in scaffolding because the gold is being repainted. (Apparently, the way they figured out exactly the number of arms was when they painted them old (originally unpainted); everytime the monks painted a hand, another monk made a mark on paper. when they were finished, they counted the marks! otherwise, you could never really do it, they are in such a muddle, different poses and so forth.)
I buy a souvenir book with photos (so I can actually see the 1000 armed Goddess of Mercy!), haggling the price down from 88 yuan to 55! it's the "yingyu laoshe" and "mei you qien" that does it everytime! :)
We have lunch at a little food stand near the exit. Fried rice with cabbage, pea leaves, seaweed, and tofu. See photos of lunch being made!
Bei Shan. See photos. If it were up to me, I would have skipped this. But I got a lot of exercise climbing the 140 steps! The sun actually comes out while we are here, and i have photos to prove it!
Drive back to CQ. The sky is actually blue overhead for part of the way, but once back in CQ, it is "foggy" again. All along the road between Dazu and CQ, the trees, plants and bushes are completely grey from dust/pollution. Only the small farm plots look green (because those plants have been growing for only one season). The whole area feels unbelieveably dirty and dusty.
CQ makes me think of Los Angeles, a city in a spectacular natural setting but one which no one will ever actually see again. The two rivers coming together, the hills and mountains, must have been a lovely sight a hundred years ago. But now CQ is everything that is wrong with modern China: heavily polluted, congested, acres and acres of unattractive (one could say hideous) buildings, even the new buildings are pedestrian. It is quite sad. Can't say I'm sorry to be departing on an earlier flight tomorrow.
NB: but CQ does have one thing going for it that Los Angeles doesn't: a massive public transportation network with buses, a subway, and a monorail line with another in the works.
I pick up dinner at the same little food stall i went to last night: lotus root, flat green peas, and eggplant. NutriExpress. a few sections of pomelo that Charlie gave me.
Read China Daily about Sino-French ties now "in good shape" thanks to the efforts of Jean-Pierre Raffarin (www.carnetjpr.com), a former Prime Minister. The annual Salon du Chocolat is being hosted by Shanghai this week! (other hosts, besides Paris, Tokyo, New York, Moscow, Beijing), and Sarkozy will be coming to the opening of the World Expo in May
Book of rock carvings 55 yuan
Lunch 15 yuan
Water 2 yuan
Nutri Express 5 yuan
Stir-fry veggies 6 yuan
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