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| Map of Tang Dynasty Area |
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| Chinese Taxi |
My first stop was in the capital city of Chang’an. I was all dressed up in a red silk kimono for the trip. There were so many people there. I decided to use a Chinese taxi cart for my transportation since they were everywhere. The driver took me to visit the Da Ci’en Temple which actually has a pagoda built right in it. The pagoda is called the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Inside the temple were tons of Buddha statues and carvings, all in gold. I saw monks kneeling down to worship this Buddha. People were meditating all around the temple to help them stay calm. I found this fascinating, but not something I’d be interested in doing myself. |
| Blue Glazed Pottery |
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| Chinese Silks |
We went to the art gallery next and I wandered around looking at all the displays. I saw a vase that was made using the cobalt blue glaze that the Chinese invented and lots of silks of all colors. There were sculptures and paintings of all kinds. The Chinese love horses and camels, so I saw lots of those.
I decided to get a good rest before leaving the next day for a rice farm. The Chinese rice paddies are usually built in terraces. They irrigate with water from rivers and the water flows downward. When the plants are full grown, they are cut and then dried out so the rice can be separated from the plant. Then it gets milled to remove the hull from the grain. It’s a lot of work and the fields are major muddy.
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| Terraced Rice Paddy |
They let me taste some of their crops and I have to say that the food was a lot better than what I ate on my last trip to Timbuktu! We had barley cakes, rice with small pieces of pork and lots of fresh fruit. The men were all drinking wine and were very happy. After dinner they played backgammon and some of them were gambling which is very popular but illegal. If they got caught, there were really awful punishments...like getting 100 lashes or being forced to serve in the army.
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| Classical Chinese Dancers |
My last stop before leaving Chang’an was to go to a dance recital that was performed by classical Chinese dancers. Their costumes were long and looked uncomfortable. The sleeves were narrow at the top and had these long scarf like materials attached to them which the dancers whipped around during their performance. It looked like they could trip themselves any minute. Here is a link to that shows the dance routines like I saw performed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR7GX2KyD1U
After the recital I met some of the dancers and asked them to teach me a couple of dance moves. I looked ridiculous! It’s much harder than it looks and even the normally polite and shy dancers were laughing at me. Guess it’s time to go home now. I will always remember all of the colorful silk costumes of the dancers and how they were able to move so gracefully. I sure hope none of my rice farmer friends get caught gambling!
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| Chinese symbol for Goodbye |
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