headseast

From the Beijinger:

“The Global Times recently reported a planned expansion of the areas of the Forbidden City open to tourists, from 30 percent to 70 percent of the complex’s total area. As well as opening up new areas of the City, the renovation aims to relieve congestion and stress on the current zones open to visitors.

According to the report the area of the Forbidden City open at present has an ideal daily capacity of approximately 30,000, yet the City sees as many as 130,000 visitors a day during peak tourist seasons. Overwhelming crowds has led to damage and general wear that many hope will be relieved with the opening of new sections within the walled City.

The expansion project marks the start of phase two of long-term renovations; the first phase began in 2002, continued for six-years and restored areas already open to the public. Beijingers may remember that many of the gates were spruced up in the years before the Beijing Olympics.

This new phase will work on areas not currently open to the public and is scheduled to continue through to 2020. Tourists may see new areas of the Forbidden City open to them within a year however.”

Came across this from SkyscraperCity of Shanghai’s Pudong are – same perspective taken in 1990 and in again in 2010.

Another good article from National Geographic about the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang – Gansu province. Click here to view the article. We were there last November and felt like we had the province to ourselves which was wonderful – you can click here to see our blog entry. One of our photos from the Mogao Caves below.

From the China Daily:

A company of Terracotta Warriors – most painted in rich colors – have been unearthed at the largest pit within the mausoleum complex of the emperor who first unified China.

A total of 114 Terracotta Warriors have been found at No 1 pit, one of three, where excavation started in June last year, said Xu Weihong, head of the excavation team.

“The total area of the excavation was some 200 sq m and we were pleasantly surprised to find rich colors on Terracotta Warriors,” he said.

Photos of the new find are expected to be released later this month.

The clay warriors, ranging in height from 1.8 m to 2 m, had black hair; green, white or pink faces; and black or brown eyes, the archaeologist said.

“It was hard work to restore the clay warriors as they were broken into pieces. It took us at least 10 days to restore one,” Xu said.

The latest excavation also showed that the pit had seven layers, said Liu Zhanchang, director of the archaeology division of the Museum of Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses.

Also, traces of burns on the clay warriors and the walls prove that the pit had been set on fire, Liu said, adding more studies were needed for details.

A number of other relics including weapons, chariots, drums and painted wooden rings were also found during the excavation.

Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC), also called the First Emperor of China, was the founder of China’s first unified feudal empire, the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC).

The pit – located in Lintong district of Xi’an, capital of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province – was discovered accidentally by farmers in March 1974.

On Oct 1, 1979, the Museum of Qin Shihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses was opened to the public. It attracts millions of visitors from home and abroad every year.

The pits contain funerary objects for the mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, which is located some 1.5 km west of the pits. The clay warriors and horses are believed to represent the emperor’s army.

The discovery of the Terracotta Warriors is considered one of the most spectacular finds in the annals of archaeology and described as one of the wonders of the world.

Note that these are not the new discoveries above but the original find you can now see in Xian.

A good read from National Geographic about the ancient Tea Horse Road, a trade route from China into Tibet. It starts “Deep in the mountains of western Sichuan I’m hacking through a bamboo jungle, trying to find a legendary trail. Just 60 years ago, when much of Asia still moved by foot or hoof, the Tea Horse Road was a thoroughfare of commerce, the main link between China and Tibet. But my search could be in vain. A few days earlier I met a man who used to carry backbreaking loads of tea along the path; he warned me that time, weather, and invasive plants may have wiped out the Tea Horse Road.” read more…

Hong Cun village is now UNESCO recognized as a superb example of Hui style living. This particular village close to Mount Huangshan was the home of the Wang clan who made their money from the tea trade, one of the sources of this area of China’s past wealth. Although the village has been restored and an entrance fee has been applied there are still many local families resident here. Tourism is now the big business with families turning over part of their often substantial residences to both a souvenir shop and to act as a museum. Although this detracts a bit from the overall experience a couple of hours here as well as the journey to Hong Cun through bamboo laden hills makes it a worthwhile addition to a Mount Huangshan trip.

An hour from Hangzhou or several hours from Shanghai is curious Wuzhen, an ancient water town much restored to either it’s former glory or as a bit of a historical theme park depending on how you want to view it. The town is made up of a partially restored east side and fully restored west. A mish mash of old and new separates the two zones. The east side has a lived in feel and is more genuine but the west side is far larger and more impressive if a little sanitized. What can’t be ignored is the sheer scale of this tourism project – vast and very ambitious and, overall, very well done so the verdict is that it is worth a visit.

The last entry for Tibet – at least for now. In contrast to the last post from the Shod Seb Nunnery, Ganden is a much visited Monastery and impressive as it is, its popularity shows – no photos of smiling monks here! Dating from the year 1417 Ganden was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Reconstructed in the 1980s it is visited by many pilgrims and there are now over 400 monks studying here. Still, this is a long way off it’s former glory. Ganden has a mountainside Kora as well as a nearby sky burial site. The views from the Kora are stunning as is the road that has been cut up the mountainside to ferry the pilgrims in by bus. Next stop Shanghai…

Giant Chairman Mao

This extraordinary Mao statue has been built near Changsha in central China. The statue measures 32 meters high and 83 by 41 meters on the ground and is made of granite. All pretty amazing but what I think is interesting is that it shows a young Mao rather than the usual depiction of the Chairman which covers the elder statesmen look exhaustively.

Danwei has an interview with Xie Liwen, a professor at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts who was on the creative team.

He says “This design isn’t all that strange. The Mao statues people typically see are mostly of him standing and waving, or else fairly formal and serious. During the creation of this statue of a seated, young Mao Zedong, we were particularly concerned with differentiating it from past images,” said Xie Liwen.

The design of the seated, young Mao statue was hatched in 2006. “Our first concern was uniqueness and artistry,” said Xie. He said that at the suggestion Li Ming, president of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and another lead designer, they collected images of Mao at different stages of his life, ultimately selecting Mao at 32. “That was the year he wrote ‘Changsha,’ and besides, we wanted the design to capture the expansive abandon of the poem.”

For the torso of the young Mao Zedong statue, the creative team chose the form of a mountain: “It expresses Mao’s magnificence, and also shows that he came out of Shaoshan.”

A range of photos of a more elder Mao’s is below. Which do you prefer?