July 4th in Beijing

July 4th was just another work day in Beijing. BF and I did go to Tim's Texas BBQ for a good old American dinner and then off for a foot massage. Trying to get a taxi was quite an event since it was raining so hard. We had a hard time getting back to the apartment with street flooding near our apartment.

Dragon Boat Festival

This was the first year that mainland China celebrated Dragon Boat Day as an official holiday. It was also the first time they held a dragon boat race. A bunch of us decided to go the dragon boat races to check it out. The park was in the SW corner of Beijing about 1.5 hours away. We got a little lost on the way but finally found the event. We were the only westerners at the event. We stayed for a couple of hours to watch the races and then left for lunch and a relaxing afternoon.

Yangtze River Cruise

Three couples from our apartment building went on a Yangtze River cruise in May. We flew to Chongqing to start the cruise which ended 3 days later at Three Rivers Gorge Dam.

Here we are arriving at Chongqing airport. Chongqing (also once known as ChungKing) is the largest municipality in China with over 31MM people.













Chongqing is a very hilly city in a very warm climate near Sichuan Province. We did a little sightseeing and ate at a hotpot restaurant before boarding our cruise ship.

































































Below we are arriving at Fengdu (ghost) City. The river cruise ship we traveled on is in the background.

The T-shirt I am wearing was a gift of an expat who has lived here for 13 years. It always gets laughs from the locals - bei ren kan pu dong - "white men don't understand" (westerns can't read this).













Very strange demonic statues along the walk up the hill to a temple.

This small guy has a great business. He rolls this huge iron object around a vertical pole and then has to lift it up on top of the pole Everyone is challenged to do it and of course no one can. He has a great technique that he has perfected. On our way back to the ship he caught up with BF to see if she would exchange all of his Dollars for Yuan. That is how weak the US Dollar is :(

He did not like me too much. He thought I was a foreign devil (large westerner with sun glasses). He was glad to see me go.

Sights of the river and gorge. The river has been flooded to 152M and will be complete when it reaches 175M in the near future.

The very controversial Three Gorges Dam, in Hubei Province, largest in the world.

May Holiday

One of the Golden Weeks was eliminated this year so more traditional holidays could be celebrated such as Tomb Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, etc.

Tomb Sweeping or Qingming Festival was celebrated on May 2nd this year.

The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. After the festival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall increases. It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing. But the Qingming Festival is not only a seasonal point to guide farm work, it is more a festival of commemoration.

The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadness and happiness.

This is the most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the deceased. Also, they will not cook on this day and only cold food is served.

The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was usually one day before the Qingming Festival. As our ancestors often extended the day to the Qingming, they were later combined.

On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatly simplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before the memorial tablet.

In contrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of Spring outings. At this time tourists are everywhere.

People love to fly kites during the Qingming Festival. Kite flying is actually not limited to the Qingming Festival. Its uniqueness lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns."

The Qingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past, the Qingming Festival was called "Arbor Day". But since 1979, "Arbor Day" was settled as March 12 according to the Gregorian calendar.



From China.org

Tomb Sweeping Day

April 4th is Tomb Sweeping Day in China. This is a traditional holiday that was passed up in the previous few years due to the Golden Weeks that were established including the week in May. In 2008, the government eliminated the May Golden Week and instituted some traditional cultural holidays instead.

We spent the day by visiting the Summer Palace. It was a beautiful warm, blue sky day. We took a couple of boats up the canal to get to the Palace. It turns out many others had the same idea of visiting the Palace.

Tomb Sweeping (Qingming Festival) has been celebrated since the 2nd century BC and is considered an unlucky day to work. Here is an excerpt from the Chinese Culture Club:

Tomb Sweeping Day is one of the few traditional Chinese holidays that follows the solar calendar-- typically falling on April 4, 5, or 6. Its Chinese name "Qing Ming" literally means "Clear Brightness," hinting at its importance as a celebration of Spring. Similar to the spring festivals of other cultures, Tomb Sweeping Day celebrates the rebirth of nature, while marking the beginning of the planting season and other outdoor activities.

Qing Ming Jie in Ancient Times In ancient times, people celebrated Qing Ming Jie with dancing, singing, picnics, and kite flying. Colored boiled eggs would be broken to symbolize the opening of life. In the capital, the Emperor would plant trees on the palace grounds to celebrate the renewing nature of spring. In the villages, young men and women would court each other.
The Tomb Sweeping Day as Celebrated Today With the passing of time, this celebration of life became a day to the honor past ancestors. Following folk religion, the Chinese believed that the spirits of deceased ancestors looked after the family. Sacrifices of food and spirit money could keep them happy, and the family would prosper through good harvests and more children.
Today, Chinese visit their family graves to tend to any underbrush that has grown. Weeds are pulled, and dirt swept away, and the family will set out offerings of food and spirit money. Unlike the sacrifices at a family's home altar, the offerings at the tomb usually consist of dry, bland food. One theory is that since any number of ghosts roam around a grave area, the less appealing food will be consumed by the ancestors, and not be plundered by strangers.

Honoring ancestors begins with proper positioning of a gravesite and coffin. Experts in feng shui determine the quality of land by the surrounding aspects of streams, rivers, trees, hills, and so forth. An area that faces south, with groves of pine trees creates the best flow of cosmic energy required to keep ancestors happy. Unfortunately, nowadays, with China's burgeoning population, public cemeteries have quickly supplanted private gravesites. Family elders will visit the gravesite at least once a year to tend to the tombs.

While bland food is placed by the tombs on Qing Ming Jie, the Chinese regularly provide scrumptious offerings to their ancestors at altar tables in their homes. The food usually consists of chicken, eggs, or other dishes a deceased ancestor was fond of. Accompanied by rice, the dishes and eating utensils are carefully arranged so as to bring good luck. Sometimes, a family will put burning incense with the offering so as to expedite the transfer of nutritious elements to the ancestors. In some parts of China, the food is then eaten by the entire family.

Besides the traditions of honoring the dead, people also often fly kits on Tomb Sweeping Day. Kites can come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors. Designs could include frogs, dragonflies, butterflies, crabs, bats, and storks.

Time for Haircut

[asianewsphoto]

One of the traditions during the Chinese New Year is to not cut your hair because it will mean bad luck. So barbers and hairdressers are very busy prior to the Chinese New Year and the month after.

Spring Break

It is spring break back in the US for many colleges. Both EF and MF are on vacation from university. AF will get a break later in the month (march 31 to April 11).

While MF had an exciting winter break visiting South America, EF is visiting the Middle East for school for Spring Break. EF will be gone for 16 days and actually miss a little school. I know she felt a little stress with mid-terms before the break and will likely feel some when she comes back.

She is leaving JFK on a red-eye, February 29th and flying a little over 11 hours to Amman, Jordan.

• She will have dinner after arriving around 5pm on March 1st and get some rest.
• On the 2nd she leaves for a full day of sight-seeing: Amman’s Citadel and Amphitheater, Madaba, Mt Nebo, and finally proceed to Petra.
• On March 3rd she will spend the whole day at Petra.
• On March 4th, they will go to the Dead Sea to swim and then back to Amman.
• On the 5th she has a little free time in the morning before traveling by air to Cairo, Egypt.
• On the 6th she will see Cairo sights (not sure what).
• On the 7th she is off to see the pyramids and Giza then off to Aswan by sleeper train.
• On the 8th visit in the morning the High Dam, Unfinished Obelisk, and Philae temple. In the afternoon sailing by Felouca to the Botanical Garden.
• On the 9th a drive to Luxor with on the way visits of Kom Ombo and Edfou.
• On the 10th morning visits of Kings and Queens valleys, Nobles tombs, Hatshepsut temple, and Memnon colossi. In the afternoon a visit to Karnak and Luxor temple. In the evening a sleeper train to Cairo.
• On the 11th some more Cairo sightseeing before checking into hotel for Model UN competition.
• The Model UN competition is from the 12-15th.
• Finally, after a long trip and lots of traveling, she is flying back to the US from Amman on the 16th to finish the school semester.

Yunnan XiShuangbanna Day 6

We had the morning free and some suggested we visit their exquisite botanical garden. Well that garden was too far away to visit before catching our plane home. This garden was wonderful.

Here is the opening sign. I neglected along the way to say that temperatures here in Xishuangbanna were in the mid 70's. The azaleas were in full bloom. I also must say that we were told that 80% of all plants in China and 60% of all animals originated from Yunnan province.

Tom noticed this beautiful plant with variegated leaves and azalea like blossoms.

Look at the tree at the end of this lane. There is a palm tree right? You are partly correct, there is a palm tree but a banyan tree is growing around it. Eventually the banyan tree will kill the palm tree and there will be a hole in the center of the banyan tree.

This is a close up of the trunk of the tree with the palm tree peeking through.

This awesome tree is about three feet across on the one side and skinny as heck when viewed sideways like this. How cool is that?

Concrete lily pads across the water. See Tom on the far shore?

I am enjoying a wonderful ride over the lake. Actually I got to ride the other way too!

A beautiful archway of flowers.

I miss not seeing the lotus in Beijing. Here they are.

It is time to go home and there is my basket ready to get on the plane. I tied a smaller basket to the top with strong, sturdy sock yarn. That knitting habit comes in handy sometimes. Speaking of knitting yarn. I lost a button right in the middle of my shirt one morning as soon as we took off in the bus. I had nothing with me but my yarn needle and sock yarn. I sewed three places along the front of my shirt to make it look decent. Thanks Mom for teaching me all the tricks.

Yunnan Xishuangbanna Day 5 Bulang Village

The last event of the day was to visit a tea plantation. Bulang Village is at the top of a mountain and many of the people there "own" the land and grow tea. I neglected to mention how fickle tea is to grow. Conditions including altitude must be right.

To reach the village we took tractors. These were amazing machines. I wish I had the vocabulary to describe how ancient the mechanisms were. I can tell you that the engine was a crank start. The ride was 30 minutes.

We passed fields. I love this bamboo fence and notice the plastic covering the soil in the background. Perhaps it is weed control. There is lovely terracing in the background.

The village must be doing well. They are building a better road than the dirt one we used. This is the rock foundation.

We have arrived. I got to ride in the front. Even though I saw how the tractor operated, I still can barely describe it. The shifter was a side ways H and I had to watch my feet. There was a rubber flap where my feet would go. The shifting thing-a-ma-bobby moved around quite a bit on the bumpy road. Maybe the rubber flap is to keep out the splashing in the rainy season. This is a typical bamboo house. Many are being replaced by concrete homes.

At the front of the village is the monastery. We also were greeted by two young girls who were chewing the stuff to turn their teeth purple to attract men. To each his own.

We visited a local home. It was upstairs ( just as the houses were in LiJiang). The sides were vertical planks of wood. In the center of the room was a fire and a hole in the roof above. This woman is visiting her neighbor. She is 77 and her husband is 63. She talked about how they take turns working in the tea field and in the home. The woman who lived in the house had lost her husband. There was a young man holding her baby and her older son.

This woman was smoking a pipe. She was sitting close to the fire and relighting her pipe with a frayed piece of bamboo. She was very animated and told us she was rich as she showed off her silver earrings with red yarn through the bottom for emphasis.

This is the primary school. Way down at the end of the gutter in front of the school you can see a black spot.

This is the black spot. I love the pigs.

This is a picture of one lane in the village. On our walk through and really around the streets of the village we encountered several people taking showers on their "decks". One of our group asked if we should walk down another lane to leave these bathers their privacy. Our guide said they are used to this in the village, there is no need.

Look closely and you can see the water flowing down the middle of the lane. I loved the pigs. There is a "real" runt in this family. He was so cute.

A beautiful picture of a new monk.

Another newbie.


We all visited the 5 star (not!) potty in the woods and then walked a ways to meet our ride back to the bus......the tractors.

Tea plantation

A woman carrying something in her two! baskets. These people are such hard working folks.

We are in our tractors now and headed down. The two giant "trees" in the middle of the picture are actually bamboo. I had been trying to figure out how to take a good picture that shows how tall and sweepy this plant is. I was really trying to take a picture of the two water buffaloes along the side of the road on the right. The tractor driver was honking and they scampered up the road toward us and off to the left of this picture.