Chengdu and Nanjing

Field trips in Chengdu and to Nanjing
  • DSC05312 Before the start of the conference in Chengdu, we had tour of the Jinsha archaeological site.
  • DSC05313 When digging to build Chengdu, the Chinese found this site, dedicate the area around it to a park and built this impressive facility, rivaling that of the Terra Cotta army in Xiân
  • DSC05314 This is a downed tree lying in what was, 2 millennia ago, the course of the neighboring stream.
  • DSC05315 This particular area had, they say, a sacrificial site where the local people buried teeth: elephant and boar tusks.
  • DSC05316 Every sign in the place followed EXACTLY this format: much more inventory than interpretation. How one concludes anything regarding use or meaning is never explained.
  • DSC05317 Tusks of elephants and boars embedded in the soil.
  • DSC05318 Beneath the thick glass floor are the roots, once buried, of a banyan tree,...
  • DSC05319 estimated to have been "thousands of years old".
  • DSC05321 This was just one of the buildings on the site.
  • DSC05322 We crossed the stream on our way to the museum. It was always this overcast in Chengdu.
  • DSC05323 The intro to the Museum, which was among the better that I have visited.
  • DSC05326 A huge diorama showing the artist's impression of the site 3000 years ago. The sky was certainly much clearer then!
  • DSC05329 An skeleton exhumed from one of the graveyards. Here the interpretations given begin to sound a bit far-fetched.
  • DSC05330 Who can know what these things really mean, if anything?
  • DSC05331 We can appreciated the beauty and craftmanship, but any story we give says more about our current cosmology than about theirs.
  • DSC05332 A jade dagger. Interestingly, while bronze (my favorite alloy) ornaments were found, there were no bronze tools or weapons.
  • DSC05338 There was leaf gold in the streams. The people collected it and pounded it into foils. This "flying birds" is the most-renown artifact of the site.
  • DSC05339 Why this gold maks is not similarly revered I cannot say.
  • DSC05340 but the "flying bird" motif in now everywhere, as in the roof of the museum itself.
  • DSC05342 Starbucks: Arvada, CO, Madison, NJ, or Chengdu, CN? They are all the same and I love it that way!
  • DSC05344 Starbucks is the universal place for consulting your devices.
  • DSC05345 A pedestrian mall at the start of my Long March through Chengdu.
  • DSC05346 The mail was dedicated to little children and old people, who in China are most often founded glued together, while Mom and Dad pursue the "legal tender".
  • DSC05347 Kilometers later during which the urban landscape repeated itself à la the Truman Show, I turned onto the river of idiosyncracy. Note: at left, a lock.
  • DSC05348 Flows of different sorts. While the water was murky in the extreme, the stream banks were clean: (see Kathmandu for contrast)
  • DSC05349 Some architectural distinction of the People's Boulevard.
  • DSC05350 Even art and Western commerce
  • DSC05392 Fast forward a day, and Francis and I are in Nanjing. That building is the Zifeng Tower, 7th highest building in the world.
  • DSC05351 But we did not spend our time downtown.
  • DSC05352 Instead we went for a hiking tour of the Purple Mountain, a park the size of the city just adjacent to the east.
  • DSC05353 After an abortive attempt to find the bakery/deli listed by Google (bad data), Francis and I started along the Plank Road, where fires are expressly forbidden.
  • DSC05354 I bought some (packaged) food plus a ear of steamed corn (bland but nutritious) at this stand. Where's Francis?
  • DSC05355 There he is, patiently waiting for me.
  • DSC05356 After what seems like weeks in huge cities (in fact, not really) the walk through the chestnut forest was wonderful.
  • DSC05359 Sycamores along the winding roads.
  • DSC05360 A terrible map of Purple Mountain but potentially useful (poor data is better than no data).
  • DSC05361 Inside the Ming Tombs (my first instance of an entrance fee reduced for my age!!) broad clean walks.
  • DSC05362 The entrance to the Ming Tombs proper.
  • DSC05363 Entrance door and the first of many pavilions.
  • DSC05364 Chinese motifs
  • DSC05365 An Emperor no doubt.
  • DSC05366 Stairs onward into the Tombs.
  • DSC05367 The final Tomb
  • DSC05368 Wobbly chrysanthemum motif found all the way to Tibet
  • DSC05369 Yellow is royal?
  • DSC05370 Non-informational plaques.
  • DSC05371 Stunning roofs! The colors are amazing!
  • DSC05372 Ceiling of the main Tomb.
  • DSC05374 Detail of the ceiling
  • DSC05375 I like these doors! Remind me of my own!
  • DSC05376 The eaves: examine these structures!
  • DSC05377 Platebandes of flowers at the start of the ascent to Sun Yat-Sen's Mausoleum.
  • DSC05378 An Imperial Gate for the founder of the Republic in the 1911 revolution.
  • DSC05379 Friday afternoon and all of China seemingly wishes to honor the Repubic's founder.
  • DSC05380 But peace reigns just off the paths.
  • DSC05381 The mid-station on the ascent.
  • DSC05382 The final steps and crowds, reminiscent of Sacre Coeur in Montmartre.
  • DSC05383 Mid-station with the urban skyline in the distance.
  • DSC05384 Onward and upward
  • DSC05385 The Nanjing skyline
  • DSC05387 Looking down from the top.
  • DSC05388 This is really like the Lincoln Memorial for China.
  • DSC05389 Everyone gets their picture taken here.
  • DSC05391 Back at the train station.
  • DSC05393 Bye-bye Nanjing!