The Bullet Train |
The Bullet Train
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Our tour began at the Dinghui Zen Buddhist Temple. It was built at the end of the Han dynasty around 220 CE. It was, of course, closed during Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, but opened again after Mao’s death.
The Dinghui Temple has the Happy Buddha – the Buddha who will come next.
A service was being chanted by the local monks in the last hall and honored someone who had died. Their chanting was melodic, not monotone.
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Dinghui Zen Buddhist Temple |
Happy Buddha
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Next we went to a government run silk factory and showroom. The process of using silkworm threads may have been discovered when a cocoon fell into a lady’s cup of tea. As she tried to lift it out, the silk filament began to unwind. Our guide, Charlie, explained the process to us. We looked at silk worms eating mulberry leaves and forming their cocoons on straw structures. The cocoons are then boiled to kill the worm before it makes a hole to get out and breaks the filament of silk in so doing. The filament in one cocoon is about 1.5 km long! The filaments from 8 cocoons are twisted together to make one thread. We watched women working the filaments into threads on a large machine. The process seems simple in theory.
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Mulberry leaves
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Silk worms |
Coming out of the cocoon
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Producing thread |
Producing thread
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The group helping to stretch silk which will be made into a comforter. |
We ate a lunch of 12 dishes on one Lazy Susan and then took a ride on the Grand Canal. The canal was dug by hand 2000 years ago. It runs south from Beijing. It is 1100 miles long and was made to move the Chinese army and supplies south to conquer various enemies. Our dragon-decorated boat took us from the Grand Canal into the Baby Canal (much smaller) within Zuzhou city.
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Cruise on the Grand Canal |
Canal scene
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Looks like the steps to nowhere
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Canal scene - busy place |
Our last visit was to the Couples’ Retreat Gardens (The Ou Gardens), which is another UNESCO Heritage Site. It was built in the 6th century in the classic design and was a very pretty setting.
We took the Bullet train back to Shanghai and ate dinner at our hotel (100 Yuan about $16).
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Couples' Retreat Garden |
Interesting sign
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Sat., 9/27/14 – Shanghai to Beijing
This morning we visited a neighborhood service center – a complete community within a set boundary and run for the benefit of the community. We sat drinking green tea while the madam (leader) of the Cao Yang Cultural House explained how the community works. The community was established in 1951 for the 95,000 people (mind-boggling numbers!), mostly factory workers, who lived and worked within the boundaries. There were also teachers, doctors, etc. There are kindergartens and middle schools, shops, two hospitals using both western and Chinese medicine (acupuncture and massage). There are senior apartments and nursing homes. 20,000 of the residents are retired and living on their government pensions.
The manager of the center then had us all go to her apartment for a “home-hosted” lunch. Her apartment was small with three bedrooms (one for her and her husband, one for the husband’s mother, and one for her son and daughter-in-law), a dining/living room, a small kitchen (a sink, 2-burner stove, and small counter), and one bathroom. We all sat around a round table with a Lazy Susan and ate about 20 different dishes her daughter spent all day preparing. All of it was good. The apartment and rooms were very small and plain.
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Another interesting sign - glad I"m not driving!~
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Neighborhood
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Lunch |
Next stop was the airport where we flew on a nice Airbus 300 to Beijing. We arrived at our hotel at 7 PM and ate dinner with Donna at the hotel restaurant. We shared a huge plate of shrimp and fried rice and Kung fu chicken with lots of hot red chili peppers. With the beer and bottled water it cost us less than $5 each.
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This interesting instrument was in the lobby of the hotel. |
Guzheng
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