A China Travel

We visited the horses when the skies became clearer. Thousands of tourists walked together with us. Qin Terracotta Museum is adjacent to the east of magnificent Lishan Mountain. Inside Lishan Mountain, stands the last imperial guards of Qin Empire.
Nowadays, the Warriors museum has already been built into a world-class Museum, tall bright No.1 pit contains adequate lighting, and visitors can randomly take pictures. No.2 pit excavation work is still continuing, visitors can watch the archaeological staff operating processes.
Today, the Warriors are not just a window for Qin Dynasty historical study, but also live military science materials. Reportedly, the U.S. military sent a delegation to visit there every year simply to find out their strategies and tactics dominated the world.
With the development of heritage preservation work, people have no chance to go to the bottom to do close contacts with Warriors. Fortunately, experience simply is not related to the distance of space, but in the hearts perceived. I stood before the pit, in addition to shock, I vaguely tastes he desolate and vicissitudes from them.
The morning two thousand years ago, when the last piece of wood covered put down, the only light was cut off. The sound of scattering soil constantly came from upside. It was dark around under the ground; the turbidity of the air was a smell of dirt filings. Human voices went further and further, until light completely disappeared, leaving only endless dark, endless lonely, linking the endless glory together in the endless waiting.
A luxury, brave, no hostile army, after achieving their historic mission, in this way, went into the dust-laden history with their dead monarch and their dead empire together, and looked forward the future discovery.
Walked at the side of this huge Army, if you put ears to them, their mutter and breathing could still be heard clearly. Although their empire had passed away, they were survive and loyally fulfilled its obligations, no matter the how fast the time flitted from the ears like the Arrow. I was surely belive that those artisans who baked the Corps in the conviction that they were alive and certainly convicted that they could live forever. Somebody said that the figures were original from the real Qing officers. But I thought that the figures should come from their artisans themselves, because only in this way could we let them to show so vivid facial expression, so live with the lives, and so charming enchantment.

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An old saying is people pay most attention to food. During my trip, Longsheng local favor also impresses me besides Longji terraces and Ailing hot spring. Of all special dishes, unforgotten ones are rice in bamboo;air-dry fish on iron board.
1 Alcohol. This is a kind of sweet wine made from sticky rice. The way of brewery is really pristine, put raised sticky rice in a wooden cask, and then put the wooden cask in a big caldron, at last braise it, wine will stream from the bamboo which is inserted in the middle of wooden cask. White wine rushes down from pot, aroma of wine blow on my face. Shake the goblet, aroma is getting denser. Like yellow wine, after warming up, I feel the warmth of wine coming through goblet to my palm; it seems to paste my palm to the goblet.
According to guide Mr. Su, water of brewery is drawn from the stream outside the village, with gentle of water and fragrance of flower. Sticky rice grains popple in the wine, like boat in river, ups and downs.

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Slightly sip makes me sweet which I have never experienced, after tasting carefully, gingers flavor comes out. For the climate in villages is really humid, to boil the wine with some ginger can dispel algidity.
Tossing off, you will find warm current flows to your stomach, and your heart. With strong local customs in village, girls in folk costumes will toast you. Touched by songs of toast, I am getting drunk. With beautiful scenic spots, beautiful wine and beauties, how can I avoid drunken?
There are many minorities in Longsheng; their wine has its own specialty. To toast you more wine can eliminate your grief.
2 Rice in bamboo.
Cutting bamboo into sections with 35CM length, villages put sticky rice which was emerged in stream into these sections, together with wind-dry meat, agaric, dried bamboo shoot and peanut. Fill all the stuff from a small hole on bamboo, seal it with sweet potatoes, the last step is to burn the bamboo sections.

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Firewood is charcoal or bamboo so that it is more convenient to burn the sections and water will not lose. Fire can not be too fierce so that bamboo sections will not be on fire. Faint scent of bamboo and sticky rice spills out with vapor from the burnt bamboo sections. After 30-40 minutes, all things have been done. Scratching black ashes outside the bamboo sections with sharp knifes, and then hack it into two half. Mixed fragrance with meat, agaric and bamboo shoot, it really makes me water.
3 Wind-dry fish on iron board
After tasting alcohol and rice in bamboo sections, wind-dry fish on iron board attracts me again.
Streams outside the village come out from remote mountains, they are really transparent. Small fishes can be easily caught, for there are many cobbles in stream, so villages call them cobble fish.

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First of all, wind-dry the fish, and then spice them, the last step is to saute; fishes with local capsicum and garlic shoots. Its favor is hot and acetous with fragrance, it is most suitable for accompany with rice.
One more interesting thing is vegetables on the mountains, which is authentic green vegetables; without pesticides. Its favor differs from vegetables in cities, really dainty!
Sitting under boundless sky, smelling wine fragrance from far, I feel drunk again.

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Miao minority is one of the minorities which locate in the north of China. Now there are totally 7,384,000 Miao people in China, with 430,000 in Guangxi, which are mainly spotted on the four Autonomous counties-------Rongshui, Longlin, Sanjiang and Longsheng, with the other are on Ziyuan, Xilin, Rongan, Huanjiang, Tianlin, Napo, Laibing. Except their own traditional festival-----Miao New Year Day, Miao people of Guangxi observe the same Festival Day of Han people, while their activity is a little different from Han minority people.
On 9th February,2006(12th January, lunar calendar), we photography team were invited to Antai countryside of Rongshui county to celebrate the Miao minority New Year, the destination is to Zaihuai village of Antai countryside. We started from Guilin at 8:30am (Guilin----Lingui----Yongfu-----Rongan-----Rongshui), we arrived at Rongshui County at 1:00pm, just eating some rice-noodle, we continued at 1:30. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we met a strong fire, which burnt two wooden storied building, and had obstructed us for an hour.

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At 5:00pm, we the team with more than 90 people, we went to the village as we are with our guns (tripod) and cannons (cameras) as if we are devils, while the villagers did not look us as that way, they were exited to heard that we are photography fonder, and some of which were from media units, so they welcomed us with the most warmest ceremony.
The villagers dressed up in queue met us with fresh flowers, the others played the Yaogu (a kind of Chinese drum which can hang on ones waist), and Lusheng (a kind of traditional musical instrument of Miao minority people), a pretty girls toast us one by one.
When we arrived the village square, the villagers served us with the most wonderful Lusheng dancing; we felt the atmosphere of festival in their skilled performance, beautiful and honest dance posture. We could not help clicking the shutter as to catch the most brilliant instant.
This night the arranged us stay in the villagers families, with the way of Dahongbao (the host serves us a night sleeping, a supper, a breakfast, and each of us pay the 20 Yuan, cheap? So cheap! )

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Lao Xu and I were arranged to the family with the master whose name was Lao Shi, Lao shi was pretty veridical and honest. He guided us to his house and showed us the rooms which are ready for us, in which there is simply a bed, maybe that can not be titled as bed, which was built by several wood bat, ok, it does not matter, we originally came here to experience the life of people here, while the problem is the bed is not large enough, I thought we would fell on the floor in the night, Lao shi caught our he explained I had three children, Laoer (his second child) stay in his friends house as to provide for us, if this does not enough I will ask Laosan (his third child) to do that too. When he said he veiled his eyes all the time. We said ok. At last we have others two even three persons slept in a bed.
Our supper was simple, (we ate in a wood building, which may be owned by collectivity, the first floor is kitchen, the second one is dinning room which displayed about 6 big dinning tables, and the minority people were very hospitable.) Every 8 persons sat by a table, all the food were placed by large bowls, two bowls of stewed beef, braised pork, net radish, cabbage, soup, a bowl of meat was stewed with big boiler, which had little attraction for us, compared with the delicacies of every kink, it was a bad one, while their we cannot buy in the restaurant and also I knew it was the best for the local residents, they did their best to satisfy us, I, too, tried my best to taste my food, even though I felt I could not swallow them.

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Finished our supper, we went to our residency, the lowering lamplight backed me to my childhood, my home was very poor at that time, much poorer than Laoshi, that was hellish.
The scale of the celebration this year is the largest; the Lusheng teams joined us, too. The ceremonious performance lasted until 2:00 at dawn. Zaihuai village was divided into 5 production teams, Lao shi family was the first one. There are six persons in Laoshis family, his old father, his wife, his three children and he, the eldest and the elder ones are boys, the eldest one is disabled on his leg, while the littlest is a girl, who is a senior grade 2 student, Laoshi worked at a power plant as a casual laborer, salary is 400 Yuan per month, with the three pigs they fed, they could earn 10,000 Yuan per year, which was on a low level in their village, with the mail earning on curing his eldest childs leg, and on the girls study.
I had a bad sleep that night, I could not adapt to the condition, and the cock sang at about 2:00 at dawn, since then I opened my eyes turning over from time to time, since their breakfast started at 10:00, and its raining all the last night, I had to got up until 8:00, at about 10:00, the members of the family got up one by one, and then they were busy with our breakfast. They began to boil Youcha(a kind of tea), kill the chicken, and Youcha is the necessary meal to the Miao people and the Dong people, which was considered as breakfast. It was very simple to make it. First of all, put some edible oil in the pan when the oil is heat, we could fry the Mihua (a kind of sticky rice which was boiled and dried) then put 1,000km water with 20-30 grams tea, and boiled it, adding some salt, monosodium glutamate was ok, we can enjoy a wonderful tea, it was a traditional food there, this morning, or we can say it was noon, we had a wonderful meal.

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Laoshi treated us as honored guests ,he asked us to drink more all over the time, they called it Quangjiu, in their way Quangjiu means the host respect or welcome you very much, they would make many excuse cheat you to drink more, the more you drink, the more happiness they got, I could understand this, so that day I drunk much, though I usually drunk little, I loved the family, loved their custom, at last, Lao shi exchanged his cup with mine, I felt some his wife told me, that mean he want to close to you, it was also their custom, I nod my head, did that and smiled, suddenly I remembered my father, I did not know why. Our main food was sticky rice ,it was very funny, we ate it with hands. 12:30, we finished our breakfast, and went to the plaza, both of we gave another 20 Yuan to Laoshi for his hospitality.
The celebration was held for a while when we arrived, we saw there were many Lusheng pillars of every camp and the body of the pillars were carved as dragons, with a favonian bird on the top of the pillar. Lusheng pillar is the signal of holy. Thousands of Miao minority people and Dong minority people and several dozens of Lusheng team ran from all aspects. They sacrificed and prayed under their own pillars, they prayed the God to give them a harvest next year. I forgot everything as if I was the member of them, together with them to feel the exiting and happiness which the God gave us. And it was also a good chance to make young people fell in love; this was another custom of them. The remainder was perfect, too. The particular one was which called horse-fight. Maybe it is more bloody and, but it was also a kind of culture, as if the bullfight on abroad.
How time flied, we have to leave. When we got on the bus, all the villagers in the street, their mood was same with ours. Wait for me next year, I shouted with my heart. See you next year, thank you for your hospitality; I will miss you, with the beautiful photos in my camera, which is eternal in the shoot, also in my heart.

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Came the summer vacation finally, my exhausted body became easy. I didn’t understand why I gave myself pressure, but hope the leisure life again. I knew everybody should adjust oneself continuous to adapt to the daily life.
I couldn’t change the environment which I lived at all, instead, I had to face the complicated personnel relationship, noisy streets, driving pronto cars and the skyscrapers made of steels and concretes. However, I had the right to change the way of my life. Traveling around, closing to the nature, enjoying the rivers and hills. Maybe our teacher understood us well, or may be everyone of my class had the strong willing to travel, our class, more than sixty people organized a trip of visiting Sichuan Hill.
Sichuan Hill. is always the tourist best summer resort. Hillwood remote and quiet there, birds Youqu, the ancient paths are curving, flowers at two sides of the path aromatic and the pavilions are the best place for recitation. That’s why Sichuan Hill have a good reputation “secret world saying”.
As soon as the bus went to the foot of the mountain, we felt cool at once that rarely felt in summer. The cool and moist air flowed through our body, and finally to the lung. It seemed to wash away our human nature dirtiness and the soul blot. Everyone appeared less sophisticated but pure. What turned out on the face was pure happiness. Our bus drove slowly on the curving ancient path, sometimes came the other bus in the way. Even though the turning cross was too sharp, we always safely passed in the danger. The drivers always self-effacing and smile friendly to each others. The trees at the two sides of the path were very tall and thick. Even if it was midsummer, the forest always covered the sky. And only the birds voice reminded us the summer. Road outlook, Hell Hole, Kings Temple were full of kinds of legends。
Nearly at noon, we took our break at Hill hotel. And a kind of feeling going out of the town rose up. A famous written Qian Zhongshu said: people outside of the town want to go into the town, while the town people want to go out. In and out is a life style that the world round return perhaps. It includes adjustment and adaption. And this is perhaps a method that modern people pursue perfection, and perhaps the driftage and return. The scenery out of the town can’t be seen forever in the town.
After arranged our package, we looked carefully around. Behind our building was a thick bush outside, sequestered and somber. On occasion passed the unknown sound, it made us scared suddenly. We asked the servant what it was, she replied it was the sound of cicada. We doubted. So, I was afraid that I had to take time to get used to the environment, after all there was a scared maladjustment from the noisy city to the quietude house. I stood in the front of my room, looked ahead: mountain far away arrayed looks like a town profile, green and thick, made us feel comfortable. Such charming scenery I had to love, and had to miss it. A sweet laugh came over, I look along, nothing I saw except the river, the sound was come upriver I thought.
Unwithstand the attraction of the laugh, I went to the river with my friends. The river water was pure and transparent, children were enjoying in the river, the joyful fish, various stones in the river and the boating people, all consisted of a vivid picture. Human, fish and river then was harmonious at that time and cooled our hairbrained mind slowly with the coming cool breeze.
It is because of the hill and the river, is there the human being, and the lively life, then the most beautiful picture of the world. The green hill is loved, and the love is endless.

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"Shangri-la" is a name that has worked its way into the English language. Synonymous with "utopia"，the word was first used in 1933, coined by the English author James Hilton in his novel "Lost Horizon."
Shangri-la was a fictitious paradise, characterized by towering snow-capped mountains, lush forests, vast gorges and idyllic lakes. The beautiful scenery described by Hilton makes the name stick in popular memory and arouses a certain curiosity and mystery whenever it is heard.
Bearing the longing to the “Utopia” portrayed in the “Lost Horizon”, I came to the Shangri-la County located in the Diqing prefecture in Yunnan Province, in hope of finding the fairyland I dreamed. The unique scenery and traditions in the splendid Shangri-la indeed brought me extremely great spiritual enjoyment.
Shangri-la's peaceful atmosphere could be described as spiritual, and with the amount of religious heritage, that seems quite a fitting description. Only about three kilometers from the downtown area, Songzanlin Monastery, or "Little Potala" as it is affectionately known, is a spiritual hub for people to discover the mystery and traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Though it can’t match the resplendent and magnificent of the Potala Palace, I was still shocked by its grandeur and solemnness.
Being a mountain resort, Songzanlin Monastery is the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhism complex in Yunnan. It is said that with the approval of Kangxi emperor, the Fifth Dalai Lama divined and chose the place in body to build it, which gave the Songzanlin Monastery a special mystery. Imaging what a resplendence scenery when the first wave bundle of sunshine converging on it, and who will doubt that it is a place congregated with thearchy? No wonder there is always a dense peace and serenity.
Bitahai Lake, which is also close to Shangri-la, is regarded as a "holy lake". In Tibetan, "bita" means "piece of land as soft as cattle hair" and the locals often call the lake "hai", or "sea" in Chinese. I was endlessly marveled at the unexpected view on small meadow on the way from Shangri-la County to the Bitahai Lake. On the vast grass carpet, diverse nameless small yellow flowers were blooming, flocks and herds were lowering their heads and browsing. Besides, there were streamlets flowing gently on hills, golden rape blooming, and smoke from kitchen chimneys wreathing. Among the farmhouses, I was totally fascinated by the wonderful view before I reached the Bitahai Lake. I was on the scoop by the lush forests around the Bitahai Lake and the bright-colored floweret spread all over the lakefront. With leisureliness and serenity there, people all believed that it was the best place that jinn inhabit.
It was a bright day, the lake was surrounded by spruce-covered mountains, and the water was tranquil and clear. Schools of fish were swimming deeply below the surface. The surrounding mountains are also spotted with fields of azaleas. Each year, in late spring and early summer, the flowers bloom. The wind carries the petals down into the lake and the fish rise to the top, vying with each other to eat them. These petals are slightly poisonous and fish become lethargic and slothfully, intoxicated by the flower's chemicals. It was really an enchanting scene, from the guide we learned it is known as "fish drunk by azalea."
The live beauty in Shangri-la is much more unforgettable. The fetching dance, loud and clear singing voice of the native people of Zang nationality, together with the ghee tea and qingke spirit(spirit made from highland barley)brought to the table by the beauties with graceful dance, overflowed the unique rhythm and flame on the highland. Our complicated love and hate, unhappiness and irritancy completely vanished. No wonder people love to come and stay here, cure and purify their hurt in the long land of living as well as their hearts that have changed knowing and cold, till they’ve been in harmony with the beautiful scenery here.
Facing this piece of tranquil, free and human-nature harmonious Holy Land, we hold many sighs of emotion. It is a helpless reality that we only can temporarily be intoxicated with the beautiful scenery of lakes and mountains, but we are not able to leave this chaotic and complicated reality, no matter how reluctant to depart from Shangri-la. People living in this world are always in such a hurry to set out. Occasionally, they find a “Shangri-la” to have a rest, but just like an injured lamb licking its wound in the secluded corner, after that, they must set out again and fight back into the fiercely competing life. However, we have the reason to believe that once we hold a belief, guard our innermost “Shangri-la”, desert the inordinate ambitious, ceaselessly improve oneself and don’t go swim with the tide. We can equally find the life oasis that belongs to us and achieve the highest state of life.
“Zha-xi-de-le”( Good luck ), Shangri-la！

beijing shanghai xi'an tibet lijiang yunnan guilin yangshuo anshun yangtze river cruises

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