Chengdu report

From Mr. Yu:

We left Lijiang for Chengdu on a late afternoon flight. While we waited in the airport, a bunch of high school kids from the city of Chongqing became curious about our kids. They soon approached them to start a cordial conversation and of course a photo session. They even wrote down Mr. Yu's phone number with which they would contact our kids again once we get to Chongqing on July 4.
The flight took only 1 hour and 10 minutes. We were greeted by the local guide whose name is Lily. Half an hour later we checked into the Minhang Hotel which is located right in the busy business area of Chengdu where Chinese department stores, restaurants and fast-food eateries like McDonald, KFC, and Pizza Hut are plentiful. I think there are at least three McDonalds within 5 blocks of the hotel.
On June 30, we first visited the International Studies Office of Sichuan University which has a student enrollment of more than 70000. They have about 450 international students from over 40 countries including USA and Canada. The monthly expenses including tuition, room and board would be about $400.00. Next our students sat in a level 2 Chinese class held for some college students from New York. Some of our kids became very encouraged because they could understand much of the contents.

Then we were taken to meet with some Chinese airplane engineers who were studying English at the university. They were engaged in a heated discussion for about an hour until it was time for us to go for lunch. In the afternoon we visited the Jinsha Museam which helps pushing Chengdu's history back to 3000 years ago. Other than the new technology used in this museum, the tour was boring. Then we were taken to tour the replica of Old Town Chengdu called the Broad & Narrow Back Alleys which are like any other reconstructed old towns in China we have visited. For dinner we had the famous Sichuan Hot Pot.
Over the course of this night, some kids spent their accumulated energy (there had been much physical activity as of late) running around in the hallway. A gymnastics meet was believed to have been held in one of the guest rooms. Complaints from other innocent travelers were delivered to the hotel management. So a curfew had to be declared to request all kids be in their rooms by 10:45 each night.
On July 1, we visited Chengdu Panda Breeding Center in the morning. Our kids were excited to finally meet with cute pandas face to face. Four students spent 1000 yuan each to hold a baby panda when posing for pictures. The price used to be 100 yuan but since the 2008 earthquake destroyed another panda facility 100 miles away. Of course this charge is categorized as a donation so each of the paying kids received a certificate commending their goodwill and generosity.

For lunch we went to a Buddhist Temple to feast on a Buddhist vegetarian banquet. It was very delicious. In the afternoon we toured the Wuhou Shrine dedicated to the Chief Counsul to Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms Era. Around this temple there is another ancient street or a newly remodeled street in ancient styles called Jingling Avenue. It was said to be very crowded. In the evening we watched a live show featuring rapid face masks changing, acrobatics, dances, and other performances. They kids all enjoyed the show. This was evident in their elevated level of excitement when checking back into the hotel.
The weather in Chengdu has been nice. It was a bit humid occasionally. Other than that it has been tolerable.
The next two days will be free days. Some kids have made up their mind to sleep in late. They have been advised not to spend all their time and money in the western style eateries.

Panda preview

I can't wait to hear about the groups trip to the Giant Panda research center!

When I asked my daughter what she was most excited about seeing in  China, she replied immediately, "Pandas." Giant pandas are a powerful symbol of China, as is discussed in this blog post "Defending Chinese Culture and Kung Fu Panda."

First, baby panda cuteness.


Giant panda males are filmed in the wild by David Attenborough for the BBC, as they mark their territory. Pandas live solitary lives in the wild:


This great National Geographic documentary "Young Explorers: Secrets of the Wild Panda" gives a lot of detail about how pandas live in the wild, (see the whole thing here).
Watch more free documentaries

It has proven very difficult for pandas in captivity to breed or for their babies to survive their first year.  Their wild habitat has been so degraded by human expansion that  one in ten pandas now lives in captivity, as various places attempt to breed pandas in captivity in ways that might ensure their survival. All pandas on loan from China, and any of their offspring, must be returned to China eventually.

The biologist Professor Pan Wenshi has dedicated himself to studying pandas in the wild, and his research has been very important for improving the care of pandas in captivity with the hopes of releasing more pandas into the wild.

The baby panda is born about the size of a stick of butter, naked and blind. Within three weeks its eyes will open and it gains weight rapidly. One discovery from studying baby pandas in the wild is that the mother will leave the cub for hours to feed on bamboo; this was mistakenly interpreted as abandonment, and cubs were taken from the mothers, but did not thrive. Now, zoos have better understanding of how mothers care for cubs, and some zoos that have more successfully raised cubs recently include the Smithsonian, Atlanta, San Diego, Madrid, and zoos in Thailand and Japan.

Pan Wenshi's work has shown that habitat conservation is crucial to panda survival. His own imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution has shaped his drive to study pandas in the wild. He also showed how species conservation is directly linked to alleviating human poverty in a region to relieve pressure on habitat. In addition to pandas, Prof. Pan has contributed to the conservation of other species such as langurs and dolphins.

More about Chengdu's sights

There is more to see and do in Chengdu than visiting the pandas.

Wenshu Monastery is an important Buddhist monastery, with peaceful grounds and a tea shop. The area around it bustles with activities for the many tourists and locals who come there.

The Wuhou Temple dates back to the Shu Kindgom, one of the "Three Kingdoms" which struggled for control 2000 years ago. Stories of that period have inspired Chinese literature ever since and continue to be retold in manga and films today, such as the 2-part Asian blockbuster Red Cliff.

They will stroll JingLi "ancient street" or "folk custom street" where they can find traditonal crafts:


and attend a performance of the famous Sichuan Opera. Today's performances combine five past traditions, including "face-changing" "fire-spitting" as well as singing and dance.

After such a busy day, it is good to know that the group will be able to have the weekend (July 20-3) to wander the city and explore!

Photos

Photos from the horseback ride

Remember that you can double-click on these photos to see them in larger format!

Cultural conservation, cultural spectacle

The group has had a tremendous opportunity to visit a place where they can see natural wonders, begin to learn about the extraordinary and multiple cultural history of China and also witness the impacts of the rapid changes that are affecting all of China. I will be very curious to hear about their reactions when they return.

This video talks about the tensions between cultural conservation in Lijiang, as funded and promoted by UNESCO and the Chinese state, and the needs of the town's inhabitants who are faced with overwhelming numbers of tourists--almost six million a year--- from both China and abroad. {Note that it is doubtful that our group did kind of the bar-crawling and karaoke that is depicted at the end of the clip!)

The famous movie director Zhang Yimou, who also choreographed the amazing spectacle of the opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, has created an outdoor show called "Impression Lijiang" that employs several hundred local people. Rather than presenting the various ethnic groups of Lijiang in a "natural" or folkloric way, this oversized spectacle astonishes with its scale, color and movement. I confess to some ambivalence about this, but it is not pretending to be something it is not.

Eating in Chengdu

Chengdu has been named a UNESCO City of Gastronomy for 2011 because the cuisine of Sichuan (Szechuan) is considered one of the "jewels" of the many regional Chinese cuisines. Although Sichuan food is famous for some of its spicy dishes, not all Sichuan food is spicy: Tea Smoked Duck, for example, or Twice-Cooked Pork are not spicy at all. A few restaurants that serve Sichuan cuisine have opened in the Twin Cities in the past few years.

In this episode of his Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern  (chef, food writer, and TV show host Zimmern is based in Minneapolis!) provides a great tour of Chengdu as he tastes his way around the city. Accompanied by fellow "food-geek" and martial arts national champion, Tiger Hu Chen  (fight choreographer for The Matrix, Kill Bill, Charlie's Angels, and stunt double to the stars) he tries all manner of dishes. A highlight of the tour is when Tiger's mother prepares a home-cooked feast for them.

Obviously, some foods are 'bizarre" to outsiders, but perfectly normal to those who eat them regularly.  Oddly enough, the only food Zimmern won't eat is walnuts!

If you want a taste of what it is like to live in Chengdu as an English-speaker, I highly recommend Chengdu Living.

On to Chengdu

The flight from Lijiang to Chengdu is only 360 miles: just a hop compared to the other plane rides they have had!

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan 四川 province, in the heart of China, and has been inhabited for over 4000 years. In the summer the climate is humid but relatively mild (temps in the high 70s). People speak the Chengdu dialect of Sichuanese, and the food is delicious and spicy. Although it is a large and bustling city, it also is home to many historical attractions, and, of course, Pandas!

Film director Zhang Yimou made this short promotional film for the city:


Another film director visited Chengdu for inspiration:

 Some of the places the group will visit on their first day include the Sichuan University and the  Jinsha Museum. This museum is actually an archeological park, with excavations as well as displays of relics. The site was only discovered very recently, but the site shows layers of history going back 3000 years.

In the afternoon, they will have the chance to see a part of the city that has been preserved called "The Wide and Narrow Lanes," combining architectural preservation with shops and restaurants. Maybe they will see one of the sugar candy blowers make a dragon, as in this video:

More on the Tibetan Mastiff breed

Report: Riding excursion

From Mr Yu:
Rosemary slipped down from the stepping stones when crossing the little brook in town after dinner. She had some minor scratches on her left leg. We applied some antibiotic cream on the affected area and wrapped up with a patch. It was a little painful at beginning but she felt better later. She was able to participate in today's activities. After breakfast we headed for Baisha Village where we spent the next two and half hours riding on horse backs through a Naxi Village and some beautiful pastures.

The weather was just right. It was cloudy so there was no threat of sunburn.

After lunch most kids went back to the hotel to chill. Sam, Mike, Sean, and Jack Martin went with Jackie and Mr. Yu to the climb the Elephant Mountain located in the center of Lijiang. It took us more than an hour to get to the top where we had the bird's-eye-view of the city and the surrounding mountains. We were able to discern Shuhe Township where we have been staying some 10 miles to north.

I am also saddened to report that Maggie's day was interrupted and spoiled by her ailment related to the consumption of a pan-fried egg supplied by the hotel. She threw up once shortly after the horse ride started, so she had to walk back to the parking lot. We hired a taxi to get her back to the hotel before lunch. After we came back in the afternoon, Maggie reported that she was feeling much better. She vowed not to eat any pan-fried egg again provided to her by any hospitality-related facilities in the world. At this moment she is sitting next to Mr. Yu and a bunch of other loud kids in the Nomad's Cafe owned by a Dutch guy who married a Tibetan girl. She is fantasizing about being mauled by a gigantic panda bear and she is begging Mr. Yu to write this down as a piece of fact, and at which point she is repeatedly reminded not to confuse fantasy with reality.

The kids present at the cafe would like Mr. Yu to add that during the horse ride, Jack Martin's horse soiled a certain boy's trousers when relieving itself when transporting its cargo from Point A to Point B. The kids insist the boy's name is NOT Ben.

The writer confesses that he is under tremendous amount of pressure to write the above two paragraphs, which do not reflect the views or opinions of said writer.

Tea from Yunnan

The oldest planted tea trees in the world are found in Yunnan province, making it the origin of tea. This video, promoting one tea company's pu'erh tea, is describes how tea is cultivated in Yunnan:


The website Tea Facts is a very good source of information about Chinese tea, laid out in a very clear fashion in English, but also using Chinese sources.

Report: to the top of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

From Mr Yu:

6/27
Today is a tale of heaven and earth. The hotel we are staying in Lijiang is the traditional Chinese courtyard style with us occupying yard #5. Each room is facing each other and has a view of the distant mountains or of a wild pond. Besides the cool feeling of inside a traditional Chinese residence, the rooms come with most, if not all, modern conveniences we have been spoiled to take for granted. The service is wonderful and the breakfast offered here has more options than many other hotels we have stayed in so far.

In the morning we first visited the Dongba Valley, a replica plaza of what life was like to the local Dongba people many years ago. There was little worth taking note except for a guy who climbed up tree bare-footed on a ladder made of knives with sharp edges. There were of course the usual assortment of shops selling tourist trinkets dotted by a few Tibetan yaks and peacocks waiting for paying customers to take photos with them. From there we drove for about 30 miles before we arrived at the base cable car station at the foot of the Jade Dragon Mountain. Due to safety concerns, we left Eu-k and LJ here. It was believed they had spent the time there waiting for us playing games or surfing the net using Mr. Yu's 3G-enabled ipad. We rode the cable car up to the elevation of 4512 above the sea level. From there we had to hike for about 1/5 of a mile (more than 300 steps up) to reach the point of 4636 meters (about 16000 feet). There we were in close contact with the year-around snow and glacier. It was foggy for a few minutes but the wind would blow the clous away to reveal a stunning scenery of mountain peaks glistening with snow and ice. The white clouds were furiously rolling underneath our feet.

It was hard to put how we felt in words. It was absolutely worthy of the long ride up, of our shortness of breath, of the headaches, and of having to fork over ¥95.00 for each of us to switch the lower cable car that had been originally booked to the second highest cable car in Asia.
Rachel and Zosha inside a cable car cabin going up.

We had a lousy lunch at he foot of the mountain and then proceeded to tour a place called the Blue Moon Valley. In this valley some pools were created to contain beautifully colored water, but we could tell this was man-made. Here we saw more tourists swarming the trails. Between holding up umbrellas and waiting forever for the cable cars with hundreds of other tourists some of whom tended to budge in in total contempt of the waiting line, we decided this was not worth of our time all.

So we concluded this tour early and got back to our cozy hotel rooms by 3:30 p.m..
We used portions of the fundraising money for the lift cable car upgrade. LJ and Eu-k will get the cash reimbursement because they did not go up with the cable cars.

Here is a video of a group of students from Stonybrook University, with their professor, as they ascend Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the cable cars and walking to the top. I don't think the weather was as good for them as it was for our group!


Additional links that may be of interest:
The travel writer Bruce Chatwin wrote an article for the New York Times in 1986 that brought international attention to Lijiang through his account of the botanist Dr. Joseph Rock who studied the incredibly rich and diverse plant life of the mountain. He tells how Rock's eccentric book about his time among the Naxi people captured the imagination of poet Ezra Pound while he was in a mental hospital. He also writes movingly of how the village survived the terrible destruction of the Cultural Revolution. {You'll note he uses the old pinyin conventions of spelling, so Lijiang is spelled Li Chiang, and the Naxi people are called Nakhi.}

A more recent visitor to Lijiang who has written an equally fascinating account of his time there is Michael Palin (yes, of Monty Python). You can read his travel tales here. Note that you will have to click on "next" to continue reading the account, as it is spread out over several pages. His tells of meeting Xuan Ke, the leader of the Naxi orchestra who was sent to labor in a tin mine for 22 years, andof the concert he attended. Lijiang's millenial history of cultural transformations and convulsion is a long one. This video has excerpts of of the concert. Xuan Ke is the man who speaks in the blue robe.

Report: Return to Lijiang

From Mr. Yu:
6/26

Yesterday afternoon we visited the Songzanlin Buddhist Monastery near Shangrila. The bus first came to the hotel to pick up LJ and Mr. Yu. LJ was feeling a little better, but not well enough to climb up the steps leading to the main building, so he waited at the gate. Then we were dropped in the old town where the kids went into different directions seeking for their favorite food.
We left Shangrla for Lijiang at about 9:00. By this time LJ has returned to his old form after a long night of sound sleep. His roommates who would rather remain annonymous reported that LJ was up immediately after the morning wakeup call, and dashed extremely animated into their room to shake them up by force. The drive back to Lijiang was beautiful. After lunch we visited the Jade Water Village and Yushui Monastery which was said to have Asian's biggest tea tree. For dinner the kids ordered lots of dumplings and noodles. Right now Sean, Sam, Orion, Eu-K, and LJ are sitting in a cozy cafe by the brook with wifi access.
More to follow tomorrow.

Added by your blogger momo: Town and Country magazine has an article with some great pictures about a visit to the Songzanlin Monastery.


This Flickr Slidewhow set by aljazz8 has some stunning images of Lijiang and the area: