We had a morning tour of the Han Museum which just opened two years ago and is not yet in the guide books. We only saw Chinese tourists there so we were fortunate to be able to see it. This museum shows the site of the Yangling Han Dynasty Tomb which was discovered in 1991 when they were building the new airport road. Besides the amazing artifacts and thousands of small terracotta figures found intact in the pits, the presentation of the actual site is astonishing. The pits have been covered with a very modern bulding with marble walls and floors surrounding the dig. Then they have constructed several areas of glass flooring that allows you to walk directly over the pit so you can see right down into it with the figures right below you. What an experience! These figures are small but in perfect condition and they did not need restoration. They did need to be painstakenly unearthed by the archeologists. A small portion of the pit has figures only half exposed so you can see how the excavation is proceeding.
Lunch was at the airport in the tourist cafeteria and as has been typical, not very good.
We are again flying China Express (flight #14) from Xi'An to Changqing for our three day Victoria River Cruise on the Yangtze River. This ship will be bed #15 for us! We were met at the airport by our guide for the afternoon, Jeff Li. To contact him by email: jeffli1966@yahoo.com.cn or by cellphone at (13983663389). He has outstanding English skills and wonderful pronunciation. He told us that he has been to the US four times, each time as a reward for being named best guide for the region.
Changqing is the 4th biggest city in China with a population of 6 million people and up to 32 million if you include all the suburbs and outlying areas. It covers an area of the size of the state of Massachusetts. The Yangtze River is the 3rd longest river in the world. Changqing was bombed heavily by the Japanese for 5 1/2 years between 1938 and 1945. We saw a black building that was owned by a general of Chiang Kai Shek. It has been left in its burned state as a remembrance of this time.
Li then took us on a very intersting city tour and we were amazed at the size of the modern skyscrapers. We made a stop at the China Three Gorges Museum, a very modern structure which has a very large square in front of it. This square is used by people to enjoy the outdoors and many seniors come each day to exercise and dance. We have seen this many times and it certainly puts a smile on your face to see the people enjoying themselves so much. Opposite the museum is the very beautiful and ornate People's Congress Hall which is used for meetings and presentations. The hall can hold up to 4200 people.
From there, we stopped at The Flying Tigers Museum and had the intereting experience, just by chance, to meet one of the Chinese pilots who flew with the Americans when they helped the Chinese to fight the Japanese. His name is Long Qiming and he was visiting the museum to show it to some friends who were visiting him. He is in his mid 80s and there are apparently only 8 flying tigers left; one in China and seven in the US. According to the Sino-American Agreement from October 1942, a large number of Chinese Air Force cadets were assigned to Thunderbird and Luke Air Bases in the US for training. In 1943, the Chinese Air Forces Chinese American Composite Wing (CACW) recaptured China air superiority after a difficult fight against the Japanese. From 1931 to 1945, 35 million Chinese people were killed by the Japanese. In the museum, there are many pictures paying tribute to these pilots. It was extremely interesting.
In the van, we asked our guide to tell us a little bit about himself and his background. He is in his early forties and married. He has a fourteen year old son and his wish is that he will study at an American University. Li, as he wanted to be called, was born during the Cultural Revolution and was raised on a farm in the countryside. His family was targetted by the Red Guard and their neighbors started to report about his family to them. Both parents were pronounced to be rich farmers and they were badly tortured. At one time, they were made to kneel down on broken glass and tiles in the square. The had to wear hats that said "I am of the evil spirit" and they were shunned by neighbors and villagers. Our guide was born prematurely because of his mother's condition after the torturing. He told us this story: When he was five years old, he was herding the family's buffalo and stopped to play with his friends. He was having such a good time that he didn't realize that the buffalo had wandered away and when he finally found them they had eaten the new rice crop that was owned by the Communist official's family. His parents were blamed for this and they were tortured again. His parents were very upset with him but they continued to encourage him to learn as much as he could. They sent him to the village school at age five and he was ostricized there. Over the years, however, he was very fortunate to have an excellent teacher who appreciated his talent. The Communist officials tried to discourage the teacher from recommending him to go to secondary school but the teacher told them that he would quit teaching rather than pass up the opportunity to help this student. He went to H.S. in the city and stayed their as a boarding student with his parents encouragement. When he graduated from secondary school, he was accepted to the University. He was the first university student from his village. I may not have this story quite right but at least you get the jist of it!
Li then took us to a traditional Sezchuan restaurant for dinner. It was delicious. We have been amazed by how easily the guides have handled our small group's food requirements:
Lenny - vegetarian who eats fish
Mike and Geri - like spicy food - the rest of the group - no
Whole group - no pork
Lynn is allergic to shrimp
Another interesting thing we have been seeing all along but Li made it much clearer to us with some examples:
Keep steps away from crag in the water safety
Women may not have babies here - instead of saying, no children allowed
We then boarded our ship, the Victoria. It is a four story river boat that can accomodate 206 people and the ship is full. There are 32 English speaking people and the rest are Chinese tourists. We have paid to use the ship's internet but the connection is very slow and we may have poor service when we are cruising through the gorges. We will be unable to use our personal computer so we will be unable to download our pictures until we are in Shanghai.
No comments:
Post a Comment