Saturday 19 November 2016

Wuyishan (1) Xiamei Ancient Village: South East China Part 8

A 'County Level City' and a Preserved Old-Style Village

By Train from Hangzhou to Wuyishan

China

Chinese high-speed trains are extraordinarily well organised. Every ticket has a carriage and seat number, and if you stand where that carriage number is marked on the platform floor the appropriate door will arrive right in front of you.

Train G1653 arrived on time from Shanghai at 09.01 and whisked us the 456km from Hangzhou to Wuyishan in 2hrs and 44mins, an average speed of 167kph. It would be much quicker but for the 6 intermediate stops – is frequent stopping the best way to use a high-speed train?

Train G1653 arrives in Hangzhou

We disembarked at Wuyishan, or rather at Wuyishan East Station at 11.46. Emerging from the echoing barn of a station, we found our guide, M, and the young man who was to be our driver and looked around, wondering where Wuyishan was.

The train took us from Hangzhou in Zhejiang to Wuyishan in Fujian Province

Wuyishan: A County Level City

According to Wikipedia, Wuyishan is a county-level city within the prefecture-level city of Nanping. We could see hills and trees, and a few buildings but nothing that resembled a city of any level.

Wikipedia further informs me that Nanping City contains 2 districts, 5 counties and 3 county-level cities (including the elusive Wuyishan). How can one city contain 5 counties and 3 county-level cities? What is going on here?

I had heard similar bewildering statements before, I needed to investigate.

Nanping City, I discovered, has a population of 2½ million and an area of 26,000km², making it twice the size of Yorkshire (pop: 5 million). Clearly the Chinese word shi (市) always translated as ‘city’, can mean ‘city’ as we understand it, but also a much wider area administered by a city, like a county or prefecture.

Nanping Prefecture, aka Nanping City, in the north east corner of Fujian Province

There is a sizeable city of Nanping (pop: 400,000) in Yanping District, but sometimes the whole prefecture is referred to as Nanping City. The differences between districts, counties and county-level cities is opaque. Yanping is the most urban part of the prefecture, while the other district, Jianyang, is rural. 'county-level cities' seem to be counties administered from a city of the same name (like Staffordshire or Worcestershire) while and 'counties' have no eponymous city (like Kent or Devon). Wuyishan City is similar in area to Staffordshire while Wuyishan itself, when we eventually arrived, is rather smaller than Stafford.

Anybody want to know more about the structrue of Chinese local government areas?

I thought not.

Wuyishan: The Town

At the time, I knew none of this but would soon discover that Wuyishan East Station (actually in Jianyang District) is over 30km from Wuyishan - and 30 fear-filled kilometres they were too. Chinese driving is often unruly but of the many professional drivers we have encountered in our various Chinese trips, the vast majority have been reliable and prudent, coping calmly with whatever is thrown at them. Today we encountered a member of the minority, a young man who believed in his divine right to overtake, even - perhaps particularly - on a blind bend beside a sheer drop.

Tucked away in the mountains (shan means ‘mountain’), Wuyishan consisted of a single main street lined with tourist shops, and a few residential areas. Our hotel, squarely aimed at the Chinese tourist market, was just off the main street. We dumped our bags and let M lead us to lunch

Lunch in Wuyishan

It is, apparently, the local practice (we have never seen it anywhere else) for restaurants to lay their wares out on a trestle table in the street. M took us to one where the mushrooms looked interesting, the vegetables tired and meat like it ought to be in a fridge. We like a written menu even if we can read little of it, but here we were reliant on M, whose English, we were discovering, was limited. Prices were high – the mushrooms astronomical – and perhaps we should have bargained, but that is not usual in restaurants. We settled for some duck which was overpriced and more bones than meat.

Lunch was unsatisfactory, but on the plus side we had now travelled far enough south to eat outdoors and sweaterless.

Xiamei 'Ancient VIllage'

Having eaten, we reluctantly re-placed our lives in the hands of the driver for a 6km trip to Xiamei Ancient Village

Xiamei Ancient Village, Fujian

At first sight Xiamei looks like a genuine slice of old China, but this is not just any old village, here there is a £5 entrance fee to be paid which includes the services a local guide.

Entrance to Xiamei Ancient Village, Wuyishan

We had spent the last week in jam-packed Jiangsu* and Zhejiang. By contrast rural Fujian is relatively empty, but there was modern housing nearby. I wondered if the people we saw were genuine residents of the ‘Ancient Village’, or were they employed as local colour. Am I really cynical enough to believe they brought their washing here so tourists could watch it dry? Probably not, but the Chinese tourist industry makes you think that way.

They put foodstuffs out to dry as well as clothes (Sadly, I have forgotten what this is!)

Xiamei is, however, picturesquely strung out along the Dangxi River which connects to the nearby Meixi Brook. In tourist literature the suffix '-xi' is invariably translated as 'brook' so 'Meixi Brook is a tautologism (though it is bigger than anything we would call a 'brook'). The Dangxi, smaller than most xi, was promoted to 'river' by M but is, in fact, a canal.

The Dangxi 'River', Xiamei, Wuyishan

The Dangxi is crossed by several bridges of varying antiquity.

Old bridge, Xiamei, Wuyishan

The local guide was loquacious, and we looked to M for translation, but she was clearly not up to the job, providing two or three words for every hundred spoken to her. Fortunately, the Zou Family temple was captioned in English and in two languages written in Cyrillic, Russian and, er…another one.

Zou Family Ancestral Hall.

Xiamei prospered on the tea trade during the 18th century when it sat at one end of the Tea Road from China to Moscow. The houses are not as grand as those in the water town of Nunxun (was that only yesterday?) but as village houses go, they are impressive.

Village house, Xiamei ancient Village, Wuyishan

Other ancestral halls with intricately carved doorways vie with the Zou’s for prominence. I like the way they can be adapted for Taoist, Buddhist or Confucian ceremonies as required, an ecumenical harmony we had observed in 2013 at the memorable Hanging Monastery near Datong.

Stone carvings at the entrance to an Ancestral Hall, Xiamei ancient Village

At the end of the row we found the village blacksmith hard at work…

The village blacksmith, Xiamei Ancient Village, Wuyishan

…then we crossed the Dangxi and walked down the other side.

Starting down the other side, Xiamei Ancient Village, Wuyishan
Tea: Lapsang Souching and Jun Ju Mei

We soon encountered the local guide’s house where his mother set about making us a cup of tea - actually several cups. Wuyishan is the home of Lapsang Souchong, a black tea dried and smoked over pinewood fires. Worldwide demand for Lapsang Souchong has become far greater than the Wuyi area can provide, but although there is no Chinese concept of appellation controlée, Wuyi Lapsang Souchong still commands a premium price. She made us a pot of Lapsang Souchong and one of Jin Jun Mei (lit: golden beautiful eyebrow), an early spring picked Lapsang and even more highly prized. I like an occasional Lapsang, but I would struggle to drink it every day. Jin Jun Mei was gentler, sweeter, slightly less aggressive. We bought some. We also tried a superior Jin Jun Mei but that seemed to give little more for a higher price. She did not brew us any Da Hong Pao (big red robe) 20g of which can cost up to US$20,000, unless you source it from one of the original six bushes, in which case it becomes seriously expensive.

Making tea, Xiamei Ancient Village, Wuyishan

We moved on through another impressive house…

One of the grander village houses, Xiamei Ancient Village, Wuyishan

…with a strange door. Allegedly this is a template against which a mother can check a future daughter-in-law, a sort of Chinese glass slipper though without the foot fetishism. It was treated as a joke, but it embodies an attitude to women some might have difficulty laughing at.

Bride template, Xiamei Ancient Village, Wuyishan

At the end of the village a woman was de-husking rice using a hand powered machine. This was certainly not being done for the benefit of tourists, and the more I had seen of Xiamei, the more genuine it felt and the more I warmed to it. It is though, undoubtedly part museum and part living village. I have nothing against museums, on the contrary, at the Black Country Museum, for example, I watched with interest as blacksmiths and chain-makers demonstrated their crafts, but they and I knew it was a demonstration, there was no pretence; in China you cannot always be so certain. [We were almost the only visitors. I read it can be very crowded at holiday time or when school groups descend. I might have liked it less then.]

Husking rice, Xiamei Ancient Village

The short journey back to Wuyishan brought no accute threats to life or limb.

Dinner in Wuyishan

We took a walk round the town, looking for a promising restaurant. There were plenty of shops selling wood carvings and more selling tea, but few restaurants. Even the little grocery shop offered tourist tat, but we did note a couple of possibilities.

Later, as we set out to eat, the rain descended so, ignoring our research, we ran for the nearest restaurant. Menu excerpts were displayed outside and we had earlier noticed we could read most of one of them, so we ordered it by pointing, just to check we were right.

The unexpected plate of fresh, crunchy, just-roast peanuts, was a definite bonus. The strips of pork, mushrooms and potatoes were what we thought we ordered and the celery was obviously the unknown word. The stock in which everything had been cooked gave it a touch of class and the price was reasonable. We felt well pleased with ourselves.

Drinks cupboard in a small restaurant in Wuyishan

I often take pictures of our meals, but just for a change, here is the restaurant’s drinks cupboard. Bottom right is fruit juice and beer (though our beer came from the fridge), above that cola, Red Bull and interestingly wrapped spirits. On the next shelf is Chinese red wine (generally avoided by locals and tourists alike) and a few bottles of Chinese vodka. The top two shelves in the centre also have vodka and more expensive rice and sorghum based spirits, their bottles made special by hiding them in decorated boxes. The contents of the big bottles at the bottom are considered medicinal and are best not scrutinised too closely.

Wuyishan at night

*Jiangsu Province’s 79.8 million people live at a density of 780 people per km² (c.f. United Kingdom 270, USA 91) and this does not include the mega-city of Shanghai which is a province in its own right.

Friday 18 November 2016

Hangzhou (2) Nanxun Water Town: South East China Part 7

An Old Town on the Grand Canal and Hangzhou's Street Statues

Hangzhou to Nanxun

China

C and her driver, L (only the second female professional driver we have encountered in China, the first was a Kunming taxi driver) arrived after breakfast to take us to Wuzhen water town.

‘I am sorry, but the government has taken over Wuzhen for an event,’ C told us. ‘We will go to Nanxun water town instead, it is very similar.’ When planning the itinerary with our travel agent we had discussed these towns and Wang had been adamant that Wuzhen was better, but there was little we could do now.

Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province

Both towns are north of Hangzhou, almost back in Jiangsu Province. Nanxun is the further but of the 90 minutes we took to cover the 100km almost half was spent extracting ourselves from Hangzhou; the high-rise blocks, many of them destined to remain empty, are marching ever deeper into what little remains of the countryside in this extraordinarily densely populated area. At the outer edge farmers' cottages were being demolished ready for yet more urban sprawl.

A forest of tower blocks on the road out of Hangzhou

Nanxun

Chinese internal tourism is a boom market and Nanxun is very much a tourist town. L parked among dozens of tour buses and we made our way to the town entrance – unless you live there you have to pay to get in.

The entrance to Nanxun water town

Nanxun was founded in the 9th century or earlier and by the 13th had become a well-established distribution centre mainly for silk. In the heart of the land of rice and fish (the oriental version 'milk and honey') it grew around the intersection of the Shihe River and the Grand Canal which runs for 1800km from Hangzhou in the south to Beijing in the north. More and more smaller canals were added so that goods could be moved to the main waterways and eventually Nanxun had more canals than streets. There are 9 ‘water towns’ in northern Zhejiang – and more elsewhere - all frozen in time (the late 19th/early 20th century in Nanxun) and operated as tourist attractions.

Once through the gate we, inevitably, found ourselves walking beside a canal…,

Crossing one of Nanxun's many canals

The Lotus Villa

…but the main attractions are the houses of the wealthy merchants, the Elephants, Bulls and Golden Dogs as they were known. The first stop for nearly everyone is the Lotus Villa, the former home of Liu Yong, a government official and merchant – a combination which allowed him to become not just one of the four elephants but the richest man in Nanxun. Building started in 1885 and took 40 years so Liu Yong never saw his house completed.

It is called the Lotus Villa for obvious reasons, but in November the best you can do is imagine what it looked like in the summer.

Lotus Villa Garden, Nanxun

The interior is similar to many other Qing (1644-1912) houses...

Lotus Villa, Nanxun

...always looking elegant, but never comfortable; perhaps there are rooms we do not see.

Unusually for China, though not for Nanxun, the exterior has some western features, including a couple of towers.

Lotus Villa, Nanxun

The Jiaye Library

Facing the Lotus Villa is the Jiaye library, built in 1922 by Liu Chenggan the grandson of Liu Yong. One of the youngest buildings in Nanxun, its architecture also shows western influence.

The Jiaye Library, Nanxun

Liu Chenggan had an impressive collection of 600,000 books and documents, including scrolls dating from the Song (960-1279) and Yuan Dynasties (1271-1368). Most of the books seem to be still here, gawped at by people like me but otherwise unloved.

Inside the Jiaye Library, Nanxun

Leaving the library, we strolled beside the water and across several bridges admiring the old houses before being rowed gently down the canal to our next stop.

Along a Nanxun canal

The Former Residence of Zhang Shiming

The former residence of Zhang Shiming is a large elegant house which mixes Chinese and French styles. Zhang Sonxian, Shiming’s grandfather, made his fortune from silk and became one of the four elephants.

The former residence of Zhang Shiming, Nanxun

Zhang Siming’s father died when he was young and he was brought up by his mother who also assumed the household roles traditionally assigned to men. The main hall is called Yi De Tang (the Hall of the Virtuous Woman) in her honour.

Yi De Tang Hall, former residence of Zhang Shiming, Nanxun

I have discovered little else about Zhang Shimming other than he built this house at the start of the 20th century. Whether he picked up his French influences from European travels or in China I do not know. The house also contained various exhibitions including a display of foreign banknotes.

French influence in the former residence of Zhang Shiming, Nanxun

Chinglish Signage

Many of these posts, though not this one, start with a slogan seen on a tee-shirt or other clothing. This fashion has been durable, but as the wearers can neither read not understand the slogans, the writers – the tee-shirt designers for the sweat-shops of Guangdong - have no incentive to write anything that makes sense, even if they had the ability. My favourite I spotted on a tee-shirt in the old city of Pingyao in 2013. "London Bruins UCLA that and" compresses more nonsense into five words than I would have thought possible. Such slogans are about fashion, and their pretentiousness is ripe for mockery. I am, though, reluctant to mock English translations on signs and menus; however unintentionally hilarious they may sometimes be, the writer’s intention was to help and inform – and their English is better than my Chinese. On the other hand, there are some signs which are so good they have to be shared.

Sign beside a litter bin, former residence of Zhang Shiming, Nanxun

Lunch in Nanxun

It was now lunchtime and as Nanxun was cheaper than our intended destination, C said she – or rather the company – would buy us lunch. The canal side restaurant was rough and ready, the sort of place that in England might offer a microwaved pizza or sausage roll.

A brief wait for a canal side lunch, Nanxun

The owner was delighted to have foreign visitors – I think ours were the only western faces in Nanxun’s tourist invasion - and made a fuss of clearing us a table. We did not have long to wait, only in China can well cooked food arrive so quickly and in such variety. We had noodles, pork, wanton, tofu, pak choi and chicken. All excellent and far more than we could eat even with the assistance of C and L.

C bought us lunch, Nanxun

But C had not yet spent her budget so she bought us some beer. I have drunk many poor beers in China, but they were local beers and, (almost) taking Friends of the Earth’s advice, I try to think global, drink local. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, the beer she bought was not a good beer, nor was it local. Lynne’s picture blows whatever beer drinking credibility I had clean out of the water.

Oh, the shame of it

I try hard not to be a grumpy old man or make disparaging remarks about ‘The Youth of Today’ but…… eight lads surrounded the table behind us, dressed in identical track suits, presumably on a school trip. They sat in silence, each staring at his phone, or the phone of his neighbour. The only time any of them looked up or made any non-electronic communication was to show something on their screen to one of their companions. This was happening in China, but it could have been anywhere.

Young people and their phones, Nanxun

Leaving Nanxun

Lunch over, we expected to see more houses, though they are a bit samey, but soon realised C and L were shepherding us towards the exit. And it was not just us, as if by some unspoken agreement almost every visitor was doing exactly the same, Nanxun was emptying. My research suggest that Nunxun is one of the least visited and most unspoilt of the area’s water towns, but if this is what a quiet town looks like on a normal Wednesday in November, then I am glad we did not visit a busy town at holiday time. Overnight stays are possible, I have read, and at 5 o’clock, when all the day trippers have gone, the town takes a deep breath and gets on with its life - unlike some of the water towns, Nanxun does have residents and is not just an ‘Old China theme park’.

Back in Hangzhou

We retraced our steps to Hangzhou, arriving just in time to beat the evening rush hour, though the streets of Hangzhou are never quiet.

Hangzhou Street Sculptures

We took a walk before the light faded. Hangzhou is a huge and modern and sometimes feels like it is hastily discarding its soul in case it hinders its dash for modernity. In two full days C showed us many sights outside the city but none within the urban area. But perhaps it is redeemed by its street sculptures…

Street art, Hangzhou

…but do they look back wistfully to the China they have lost, or are they merely mocking an earlier way of life?

Street art, Hangzhou

We were unsure if we wanted dinner, but scouting along a different street from yesterday we found a few possibilities though none with picture menus. After some dithering Lynne took the initiative and pushed open a door. We were met with a friendly smile and noticed a group of lads with a chicken dish that looked attractive. We pointed at it and nodded and were soon enjoying chicken with onions, garlic, ginger and celery - a smallish meal, one dish between two, but exactly what we wanted.

19/11/2016

In the morning C and L took us back to Hangzhou station (‘the busiest station in Asia’) in time for the 09:02 to Wuyishan. Chinese stations are organised like airports and we waited at our gate for our train to be called. Announcements are in Chinese, but the constantly up-dated display boards alternate between Chinese characters and Latin script.


Hangzhou Station

>Huge, bright and shiny, Hangzhou station is rather like the city, efficient but soulless.

Hangzhou Station

Our high-speed train arrived on time to whisk us the 450km to Wuyishan in time for lunch.

Our high-speed train to Wuyishan arrives

Thursday 17 November 2016

Hangzhou (1) West Lake, Lingyin Temple and Longjing Tea: South East China Part 6

Attractions Round the Edge of Another Huge but Little Known city

But first another of the endless supply of meaningless slogans that adorn Chinese tee-shirts and other garments.

China

Nevermind
Forever
Koetic Spirit

(seen on shirt at Lingyin Temple)


Koetic Friday is a Hong Kong clothing company. What, if anything, 'koetic' means is a mystery

16-Nov-2016

Arriving in Hangzhou

Our train reached Hangzhou after dark. We were met by D, the enthusiastic young man responsible for our transfer. ‘Welcome to the busiest railway station in Asia,’ he said.

We arrived on the high speed train from Suzhou

It was a long ride to our hotel, not in terms of distance but getting anywhere during the Hangzhou rush hour requires patience.

D suggested we eat in the hotel as it was reasonably priced and there was little choice locally. We generally avoid hotel restaurants, but we were tired so we took him at his word.

Jack Ma and Digital Hangzhou

During the drive he had told us, at length, that Hangzhou is a digital city, the home of Alibaba, the world's largest online retailer and Alipay, a third party on-line payment platform much used locally for payment by smart phone. The hotel restaurant lived up to his digital claim. The menu was on a tablet, an appropriate touch communicated our choices to the kitchen next door. We found the system problematic, searching and sending were not intuitive and the instructions were in Chinese only, as was the list of food categories. And we were not always sure what we were looking at, on a printed picture menu you can scan everything at once but here the pictures popped up devoid of context. The waitress had a device into which she typed Chinese characters and a metallic voice provided an English translation, but it was cumbersome and the translation quality variable. The technology somehow interfered with the human interaction - smiles and gestures work better for us - but we eventually ordered some pork, vegetables, rice and beer. It was good enough and inexpensive but it had been hard work getting it.

[Update: Alibaba and Alipay were both founded by Jack Ma. Born and still resident in Hangzhou he has allegedly accumulated well over US$30 billion. In 2018 he retired from Alibaba to concetrate on philanthropy and other interests. He has been seen only twice in public since 2020. This may be his choice, or a consequnce of criticising the Chinese government. Speculation is rife.]

Jack Ma

17-Nov-2016

West Lake, Hangzhou

A different guide, C, picked us up in the morning and she arrived with a woman driver, only the second female professional driver we have encountered in China (the first was a taxi driver in Kunming). She drove us to West Lake. Hangzhou is another huge city with 7.5 million people, but at its western edge the urban sprawl is halted by a lake.

Su Dong Po


Su Dong Po, West Lake, Hangzhou

We parked by a statue of Su Dong Po (or Su Shi), a Song Dynasty (960-1279) writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman. Born in Sichuan Province in 1037 he passed the highest level civil service examinations at the age of 19. There followed a long career as an administrator included 18 years (1060-78) in Hangzhou.

Being an able administrator and the most important cultural figure of his century, did not make him immune from government infighting. He endured several periods of exile including 7 years in Huizhou (1093-1100). Our daughter taught English in Huizhou, 60km north east of Hong Kong, in 2004/5 and we met Su Dongpo on our first Chinese trip in 2004 beside Huizhou’s West Lake (he seems attracted to ‘West Lakes’). For a man who has been dead 1000 years, it is surprising how similar he looks in the two statues!

Su Dong Po, West Lake, Huizhou, July 2004
Odd how they are remarkably similar though nobody can have the least idea what Su Dong Po looked like

Across West Lake

On such a damp misty morning we thought we might have the lake to ourselves, but we had reckoned without the indefatigable Chinese tourist. There they were in their thousands being marshalled by tour guides waving flags like regimental banners.

We had plenty of company as we marched along the Su Causeway (built by Su Dong Po) to the dock and were perhaps lucky to grab the last two spaces on a boat leaving immediately.

Heading off into West Lake, Hangzhou
We grabbed the last places - but there were plenty of seats once everybody had moved to the observation areas at either end

West Lake was as smooth as rippling silk, but the morning mist meant poor visibility.

Yesterday’s guide had asked how I knew of Hangzhou as so few westerners visit. I was unsure; it is a vast city so I assumed I knew anyway, but I remember its charms being advertised on CNN during a previous visit and then the G20 Summit had been held here in September, though that was after we booked. I could not mention Jun Chang and Jon Halliday’s biography of Chairman Mao - a character assassination as much as a biography - and unavailable in China, but in it I had learned that Mao had a favourite house by West Lake. I asked about it now. His house, C informed us, had become a hotel and was on the opposite headland below the Leifeng Pagoda. It was the hotel used for the G20 summit so Theresa May had been here before me. I felt truly ambivalent.

The headland opposite with the Leifeng Pagoda lurking in the mist

The boat found its way among the lake’s several islands, some natural some man made, and beside causeways dividing it into different areas. We saw this unusual vessel pottering across on a parallel path....

Unusual looking vessel, West Lake, Hangzhou

...and there were rather more basic craft, too.

Traditionally powered craft, West Lake, Hangzhou

After 20 minutes we bumped gently into the other side or perhaps an island (the mist made it impossible to say). The large Chinese tour part departed and were replaced by a smaller group; we set off on the return journey.

On the return journey, West Lake, Hanghou

Three Stone Pagodas and the 1 Yuan Banknote

Our route passed Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, one of those wonderful Chinese names which tell you what you can enjoy and how to enjoy it. The three pools sit inside a circular causeway, like tropical lagoons – though Hangzhou felt far from tropical this morning. Between the pools and the headland, three stone pillars - C described them as pagodas - protrude from the water.

The three 'pagodas' in the misty distance, West Lake, Hangzhou
They are very small protruding from the water between the boat and the right hand end of the causeway

I am not sure what they are,…

A closer view of two of the 'pagodas', West Lake, Hangzhou

…. but they must be important as they feature on the 1 yuan banknote.

Reverse of the One Yuan banknote with the three West Lake 'pagodas'

We docked beside the interesting craft we had seen earlier. Through the round window we could see a business meeting taking place.

And through the round window....., West Lake, Hangzhou

After what would, in better weather, have been a pleasant stroll along the shore, we re-met our driver and she took us westwards into the countryside - a relief after a week in uncompromisingly urban surroundings.

The Lingyin-Feilai Scenic Area

The Lingyin-Feilai Feng Scenic Area is much visited and a settlement has grown up around the entrance containing, among others, a Starbucks, a KFC and a Pizza Hut (though remarkably no Macd's). Why does China, with its vibrant food tradition, insist on importing the worst of western food? Beats me.

Feilai Feng

According to tradition, Lingyin Monastery was founded in 328AD by an Indian monk given the Chinese name of Huili. His ashes are said to be entombed in the small and weathered Elder Li’s Pagoda. I have found no suggestion as to its age; it is clearly ancient though I doubt it was built very soon after Huili’s death.

Elder Li's Pagoda, Feilai Feng

Behind the pagoda is Feilai Feng (lit: The Peak that Flew Here). It is limestone which is unusual in this area, so obviously it arrived from elsewhere, probably India, whisked through the air by the power of Buddhist philosophy.

Feilai Feng is covered with carvings of the Buddha and his disciples….

Carvings, Feilai Feng

….many of them sculpted in the 10th century when Lingyin housed over 3,000 monks.

More Carvings, Feilai Feng

Lingyin Monastery

Beyond Feilai Feng we entered the main courtyard of the Lingyin Monastery...

Main courtyard, Lingyin Monastery

... and, like all visitors, were presented with a bunch of incense sticks. The appropriate procedure is to light them in the brazier...

Lighting the incense stick, Lingyin Monastery

…bow in the four cardinal directions and then plant the incense sticks in the burner.

Bowing to the north, Lingyin Monastery

Despite the monastery's antiquity most of the current buildings date from the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). During the Cultural Revolution the monastery was threatened by the Red Guards but it is said to have been saved from destruction, like so many other antiquities, by the personal intervention of Zhou Enlai. Others, notably Chang and Haliday in their biography of Mao, question these claims and find nothing heroic about Zhou.

To the south is the Guardian Hall, where four scary guardians ensure evil spirits are too frightened to enter.

Guardian, Lingyin Monastery

From there we made our way to the main hall and the main Buddha image.

Main Buddha image, Lingyin Monastery

Behind is a wall encrusted with arhats and others.

Arhats and others, Lingyin Monastery

Which I found strangely reminiscent of part of the north façade of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona!

North façade, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Lunch at Feilai Feng Scenic Area: Dong Po Pork and Prawns in Longjing Tea

It was now time for lunch. We went to none of the previously mentioned junk food outlets but to a large and well-presented Chinese restaurant where we joined a larger number of China's growing middle class.

The picture menu had English as well as Chinese descriptions and advised by C we chose two local specialties. Dong Po pork, named after the poet, is a slab of braised pork in a rich brown sauce with slices of steamed dough, described as bread, folded into a fan shape. Agreeably inexpensive it is a starter of sorts, though the Chinese have no concept of courses. I do not rate the ‘bread', but the pork was absolutely delicious, though it does not photograph well.

Delicious if not very photogenic Dong Po Pork, Lingyin

More photogenic, and expensive and equally delicious - were the shrimps cooked in the local longjing tea - a delicate flavour, but one worth savouring.

Prawns cooked in Longjing Tea, Lingyin

Longjin Tea


Tea in Tablets and Much Nonsense About Oxidents

Lunch over, we drove on to one of the tea producing villages further into the country where we enjoyed a tasting and were then subjected to a hard sell of tea in tablet form. The woman started by asked what supplements we take. There was a momentary pause when we answered 'none,' her script did not mention that answer.

The home of Longjing tea

Undaunted she set about convincing us that swallowing tea in tablet form was vital to our well-being. Green tea, she told us, is full of anti-oxidants which are essential to counter dangerous free radicals.

To ‘prove’ it she poured some rice into a beaker of water and added a few drops off iodine, colouring everything purple. She gave the beaker a shake and held it up for us to admire the purple stained rice. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘it has been oxidised’. She stirred in a ground up tea tablet and the colour disappeared. ‘Look’ she said again, ‘the rice is no longer oxidised’. There was much more in this vein as she talked about de-detoxing (itself a doubtful concept), her script carefully aligning the 'ox' in toxin with the unrelated 'ox' in oxidation.

I was a bad audience; I have some scientific knowledge and a healthy degree of scepticism. I am a sceptic, not a cynic – it is those who wrote her script who are the cynics.

The rice had, of course, not been oxidised it had been stained, a physical not a chemical change. The iodine reacted with the molecules in the tea tablet (oxidised them) and producing a colourless iodate. This has no relevance to human nutrition.

Free radicals are dangerous but they have been around for ever and all animals long ago evolved ways of dealing with them. Free radicals need an extra electron or two, if they take that electron from molecules in your cells (i.e. ‘oxidise’ them – which need not have anything to do with oxygen) they can cause damage, the trick is to have enough molecules floating round which can be harmlessly oxidised and thus mop up the free radicals – such molecules are the so-called ‘anti-oxidants’. Our bodies manufacture these from vitamins A, C and E. A normal balanced diet will provide all the anti-oxidants we need.

But if some are good, would more be better? Do we need to take supplement? ‘Randomized, placebo-controlled trials…offer little support that taking vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, or other single antioxidants provides substantial protection against heart disease, cancer, or other chronic conditions.’ (from Anti-Oxidants Beyond the Hype – Harvard School of Public Health).

Sorry about the science lesson/rant, but the woman annoyed me. We did, however, buy some tea (in leaf not tablet form), because we liked it.

Our Longjing Tea

Back to Hangzhou and a Supermarket Visit

The ride back to Hangzhou started well but became slower as we got into the confines of the city.

In late afternoon we walked south, crossing one of the city’s many canals….

Crossing one of Hangzhou's many canals

….to the nearest supermarket.

The view from the supermarket steps, Hangzhou - an unusual caption

The three storey building was a treasure trove of the mundane and exotic. Chinese snacks include unfamiliar varieties like shredded squid (the strips have a pleasing texture though a mild ketchup flavour drowns out the even milder squid), pork floss (as regrettable as it sounds) and, among the more recognisable peanuts, wasabi peas, and ‘strange flavoured horsebeans’ (Guaiwei - lit: strange flavour - seasoning originates from Sichuan and is pleasantly unusual rather than truly strange.)

We bought some Bai Jiu (lit: white alcohol), which can be distilled from a variety of grains, but ours came from sorghum. At 50% abv it was fiery stuff with a lingering sweet taste (and smell) reminiscent of the odour of decay that settles over afternoon fruit markets in the tropics. As a nightcap it was not unpleasant - and at 10 Yuan (£1.20) for a litre very cheap - but the smell lingered in the room, being particularly noticeable when we returned after breakfast.

Bai Jiu - Sorghum based firewater

Lynne thought dinner unnecessary after our excellent lunch, but I persuaded her into a cheap Chinese fast food restaurant. A set meal of meat, rice and a non-descript sauce came with a thin soup, so Lynne had the soup, I ate the meat and we both watched our youthful fellow diners. The signature dish, served on a sizzler plate, was surrounded by a paper collar so we never saw it, but forks were supplied rather than chopsticks. It was the first time we had seen Chinese people eating with forks in the Han heartland.