I finally finished my Chinese History summary thing that I started in Nov. With the usual disclaimers etc etc

China History 102:

The Tang dynasty, where we left off last time, was one of the longer period of stability and considered a zenith of Chinese culture, was responsible for a number of beautiful things; such as the incredible life-like horses ( Read more... )

My Old China by Katherine Moore | Make Your Own Book

My new travel book - which very appropriately for today - is about China!
So 新年快乐 and 恭喜发财 everyone and check it out!

After a bit of late night of drinking in Lijiang, at one of the most un-stereotypical Irish bars I have ever been to, we caught a flight to Guilin, via Kunming.

It took a while, but we finally arrived at the Bravo Hotel, which looks out on to the large lakes that are scattered around the centre of town. On our arrival we were greeted by a staff who ( Read more... )

From Chengdu we flew south to Lijiang in the neighbouring province of Yunnan. Another mountainous Tibetan stronghold, Yunnan is also the home of the Naxi, yet another of China’s little known of minorities. Dark fermented Pu’er tea and coffee are grown here, as well as a lot of yak milk cheese and yogurt.

Lijiang has an extensive “Old City” which is ( Read more... )

After a severely delayed flight, we finally arrived back in Chengdu - this time to stay. We were taken to our hotel by a our clearly patient guide Lexi, which was in one of the cities many ‘old towns’. This was the fantastic Buddha Zen courtyard hotel, which had a small Zen garden and a four-faced Buddha set in an open air courtyard to back up its ( Read more... )

Next stop was Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan; this is a national park in the far north of the province that is famed for its bright blue lakes - famously used in the ‘Hero’ for Flying Snow’s final resting place and the water top fight of Nameless and Broken Sword.
We flew in, via a stop in Chengdu, over rugged snow capped mountains that pushed through the ( Read more... )

The next day we went to the Shaanxi History museum, which has an excellent chronological display regarding Chang’an, now Xi’an role in Chinese history as the capital. Starting with the Zhou and their iconic three legged pot know as ‘ding’, through the short and brutal Qin of the Terracotta Armies, to the Han of the Silk Road and finally the ( Read more... )

Following our morning at the Terracotta Armies we drove back into the City to visit the Big Goose Pagoda - built in the Tang dynasty this 7 story, square sided tower is within a Buddhist temple that honours the Buddhist  scholar Xuanzang who braved the wilds of western China and the Himalaya to travel to India to collect sutras, scriptures and ( Read more... )

The next day we flew to Xi’an in Shaanxi province. Xi’an is the ancient of China - called Chang’an - at the time, being the administrative centre for 14 dynasties. From the Zhou (pronounced Jou) Dynasty in ~1100BC to the Tang in the 900AD, Chang’an was the greatest city in China, and for much of that one of the greatest in the world; it was the ( Read more... )

The next morning we took the subway to Yongegong Lama Temple. This is Tibetan Buddhist temple, which is a type of Buddhism very popular in China, but not the main stream type practiced by most Chinese. This temple is one of the most important outside of Tibet itself, has some uniquely Tibetan features about it that set it apart from the typical ( Read more... )