Shanghai, Suzhou, & Hangzhou (June 15 – 19)

Day 1: Shanghai

My three-week tour of Southern China and Tibet began in ShanghaiShanghai is a relatively new city by Chinese standards at only about 150 years.  Shanghai is also the largest city in China at either 25 million or 30 million depending on who you are talking to.

My whirlwind tour of the city began at the Bund on the Old British Concession side of the Huang Pu River.  Back in the mid 19th Century Britton, France and the United States all set up shop in the city to capture a share of China’s economic riches.  The British section which runs along the riverfront looks like London of the 19th Century.  The huge brown stone buildings are now the home of the Shanghai financial district.

Across the river stands the new and modern Shanghai with shiny streamlined skyscrapers and Towers stretched out across the skyline.  The remarkable thing about this stunning skyline is that 30 years ago this was all pastures and rice paddies.  The entire new city of Shanghai has grown like weeds from the rice paddies to 100+ story towers and futuristic skyscrapers.

But the truth is modern architecture does nothing for me.  So, after a quick look I asked my tour guide for the day to take me some place more interesting.  Our next stop was in the French Concession and Shanghai’s Yu Garden.  And I found this part of the city much more interesting and charming.  The buildings are all traditional Chinese architecture and the gardens were elaborate and intricately laid out.

The Yu Garden dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was owned by a government official named Pan Yunduan.  Beautiful lotus filled canals and ponds are surrounded by expertly landscaped trees, shrubs and flowers.  Graceful bridges span the canals and small pagodas, pavilions, and huge Rockeries highlight each garden.  And the walls separating the various gardens have a myriad of gates from moon gates, to gates that look like jars and jugs to geometric designs.

The furniture is elaborately carved with marble inlays and if I understood my guide correctly were also from the Ming period.  After spending most of the day in the Yu Garden and Yuyuan Bazaar I visited a traditional tea house for a tea ceremony and tasting.  I finished my Shanghai day with a weird visit to the Urban Planning Exhibition Hall to look at old photos and plat maps of Shanghai.

Day 2: Suzhou, Jiangsu Province

Day 2 in China began with a high-speed train ride to Suzhou (Land of Fish and Rice) to spend a day visiting the Humble Administrator’s and Lingering Gardens, taking a small boat down the Grand Canal, and walking the ancient 1000-year-old Pingjiang Street.  The Humble Administrator’s Garden and the Lingering Garden are considered two of the four best classical gardens in all of China.

Like the Yu Garden of Shanghai, the Humble Administrator’s Garden was created during the Ming Dynasty and is an exquisite work of art.  I found the odd name of the garden amusing once I learned the back story of the man who built the garden.  It seems the humble administrator was actually a corrupt high-level bureaucrat in the Ming Court. He was responsible for the governing of the provinces and used his position to extort or happily accept bribes from anyone and everyone who wanted to curry favor with the emperor.  The emperor caught wind of his activities and fired him.

Fired him but did not confiscate the ill-gotten gains nor imprison him.   So he used part of his dirty money to build this beautiful garden to sit and admire in his old age and exile from the court.  But the name of the Garden is not the only thing oddly named in the garden.  A short list of locations within the garden with odd names would include:  The Tower of Reflection, The Floating Green Tower, The Keep and Listen Pavilion, The “With Whom Shall I Sit” Pavilion, The Fragrant Isles, The Pavilion of Lotus Breezes, The Hall of Distant Fragrance, and the Far Away Looking Pavilion. 

Regardless of the weird names the gardens are definitely one of the most important historical sites in China and has the UNESCO designation to prove it.  If you are planning to visit this garden plan on spending at least half a day and a knowledgeable guide will make the time spent much richer.

Perhaps the coolest thing I saw was an ancient wisteria planted over 460 years ago and is still growing and blooming.  Check out the photo of this huge tree. 

And speaking of trees, one section of the garden is dedicated to Bonsai Trees.  Many of these miniature trees are hundreds of years old.  I had no idea that so many types of trees can be made into Bonsai art.

After the Humble Administrator Garden, my guide and I boarded a small canal boat for a peaceful slow drift down the Grand Canal

x-men marvel GIFThe boat was powered and guided by a middle-aged woman who I made the mistake of giving a 10 yuan note to the lady to sing for me.  God it was terrible! I have no idea what the lyrics were but the sounds emanating from her shifted between someone stepping on a cat to the croaking of a frog.  I suggested my guide offer her 20 more yuan to stop but he refused to pass on my generous proposal and told me that would be rude.

After the canal cruise, we walked down the ancient Pingjiang Street.  The narrow road runs alongside the Grand Canal and has never been widened from ox cart days so automobiles are prohibited.  The old cobblestone street is very scenic with old willows along the canal side and small shops and café are in the original stone buildings on the other side of the street. 

The most interesting shop I saw was one that sold huge grasshoppers. Unlike in Cambodia and Java – these grasshoppers were not for snacks but are kept in small wooden and screen bird house looking containers.  People buy the grasshopper house and large grasshopper and place them near the front of the house as an organic alarm system.  The grasshopper chirps constantly until something startles it and then it clams up.  When the property owner no longer hears the grasshopper he/she knows something is amiss and needs investigating.  Interesting system and certainly cheaper to feed than a large German Sheppard or Doberman.

Next stop on my Suzhou agenda was the Lingering Garden which was just down the street from my hotel.  The garden only occupies an area of about 6 acres but man has they crammed a ton into this small space.  And like the Humble Administrator Garden, it is considered one of the four most famous gardens in all of China.  Also like the previous garden it was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1997.

The garden was first built in 1593 during the Ming Dynasty.  It was purchased by Liu Shu during the Qing Dynasty and the gardens were enhanced with elaborate calligraphy and stone carvings.  Subsequent owners added to the gardens until it was bought by the government and opened to the public.

The gardens somehow manage to blend trees, flowers, temples, homes and other buildings into a harmonious masterpiece of landscaping architecture.  Again, to properly enjoy this garden plan on spending some time there.  This is not the sort of venue you just breeze thru.  Take your time sit in the many pavilions and just soak in the beauty.  Tune out all the other tourists and enjoy the tranquility created by the masterpiece of landscaping.

Day 3: Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province

jaguar raining GIFDay 3 began with another high-speed train ride to Hangzhou for visits to West Lake, Six Harmonies Pagoda, the Linyin Temple, and the Meijawa Tea Plantation and Tea House.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate for this day and everything was marred by a constant drizzle of rain.

First stop for the day was the famous West Lake.  Supposedly this is one of the most romantic places in all of China.  According to Leo my tour guide, there are four classic love stories in Chinese literature and two of the four use West Lake as the scenic backdrop.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling it.  Between the rain dampening the mood and limiting visibility and my guide demanding I sit in the last row of seats (which were windowless) on the boat to leave the window seats to the Chinese tourists I saw very little of interest and thought the entire hour and half a total waste of both my time and patience.

Leo quickly found the magic to getting back into my good graces was thru my stomach.  He suggested we have a buffet-style lunch at the Lakeside Shangri-La Hotel.  And I enjoyed an incredible western-style lunch with entire cuts of beef, pork, and chicken instead of the Chinese chopped and diced crap.  Vegetables I actually recognized, potatoes and bread.  I was surprised to learn that this property (part of a Malaysian Chain) was China’s very first five-star hotel.

The next stop was the Six Harmonies Pagoda which was also a bit of a waste of time.  The huge pagoda built on the bank of the Qiantang River is nearly 200 feet tall.  The 13-story octagonal pagoda was built over a thousand years ago to calm the dragons that the ancients believed caused the catastrophic river tides that flooded the city regularly. 

The river tidal surge reaches 30 feet and to the uneducated populous of a thousand years ago must have seemed both frightening and puzzling.  So, of course, the tidal waves must have been the result of angry river dragons thrashing around under the water’s surface.  Based upon the recommendation of some enlightened monk the pagoda was built to calm the dragons.  My question is – what happened to the Monk when the big ass pagoda failed to stop the tidal waves?

Next stop after the Pagoda was the Lingyin Temple and Monastery and this place was definitely worth the price of admission and a day in Hangzhou.  According to the legend, sometime in the 3rd or 4th century a Buddhist monk from India came upon this site and was so taken by the natural beauty of the mountain, stream and valley he began building one of the most significant and beautiful monasteries in China. 

The name “Lingyin” means “Soul’s Retreat”.  The temple complex sports a large number of caves and religious rock carvings.  On the walk in to the temple complex you pass by hundreds of rock grottos with carved big bellied Laughing Buddhas

During the Temple and Monastery’s prime Lingyin boasted nine buildings, 18 pavilions, seventy-seven palaces and halls and was the home to 3,000 monks.  The site has hundreds of statues, reliefs, paintings and relics.  Both the temple and monastery are still active so there are plenty of the faithful worshiping throughout the complex.  Proper decorum should be practiced – no photos within the temples, knees and shoulders should be covered, no shoes beyond the temple thresholds, and never enter or exit a temple from the center door – it is reserved for the monks.

My final stop of the day was at the Meijawu Tea Plantation and Tea House for a very interesting explanation of the process of growing, harvesting, processing and packaging green tea.  And finishing by participating in a tea ceremony and learning about tea culture, health benefits and serving. 

Green tea comes from bushes grown in rows on terraced hillsides.  The leaves are picked by hand by women during a very short 6 week harvest and it takes 4 kilos of leaves to make one kilo of dried leaves.  I am personally not a big fan of green tea but according to the experts, green tea provides a host of health benefits such as lowering blood sugar, lowering blood pressure, weight loss, fighting cancer, and improves digestion.

One last interesting set of statistics for the city of Hangzhou – the city is home to 70 Buddhist Temples which sounded pretty impressive until I learned that the city is also home to 80 Kentucky Fried Chicken stores and 360 Starbucks outlets.

Next stop/blog Guilin

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