Well you would never guess it. Its raining again. According to my friends here it is highly unusual to have rain at this time of year particularly when it is very heavy.
This week end has been quite good despite the rain, and catching a cold. So where did I go I here you ask. A good Question.
On Saturday I was picked up by a car, Della and Helen Z to go to the Hometown of Deng Xiaoping. It was approximately a two hour drive and we went through some not very well ventilated tunnels. Smog in a bottle.
His hometown is a city called Guang’an and his actual home and village that he live in for his first 16 years has been made into a memorial for him. Deng Xiaoping is touted as being the main architect in creating China’s place in the world economy. He was a very interesting man who had a vision that was not a replica of Mao’s and also had a hard life because of this. a brief history of him can be found at Wikipedia. His museum is very interesting and until his death there was not a statue of him anywhere in China unlike other Chinese leaders. It is also interesting to hear the memories of my friends who were quite young during the Cultural Revolution and grew up with Mr Deng being the powerhouse in China’s politics.
His family home has been kept as it was before the revolution and Feng Shui has played a part in how the house is situated to the lake and the mountains beyond. You can see a high mountain peak from Mr Deng’s home and it is said in china that “if you can see a mountain peak from your home you will have a great soldier/leader in your family”. I don’t know how true that is but it is the case with Mr Deng.
Sunday I rested so I could get over the cold I had caught. Miracle drugs work well…
On Monday I went to Dazu to see the stone carvings at Baoding. Tony Wen traveled with me this time as well as a daughter of one of the teachers from the college named Michelle. This trip also took approximately two hours and we had to leave he expressway to get to the caves. These were very interesting and basically it is a Buddist temple grounds built around these carvings. Even though they are several centuries old their colour is still eye catching. It does not take long to look around when you do not have a tour guide and when we left for lunch many tour groups were coming through.
Pictures of these trips are going up on Flickr so watch out for them.
’til next time.
HB
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