24 May 2015

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our recent visit to Nanjing.

Remember, all dollars are US$.

Trip to Nanjing

Friday 15 May was the University’s annual sports day – no classes to encourage students to participate and watch. So we decided to use the opportunity to visit Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, 1,450 km by rail south of Qingdao (and less than 2 hours by train from Shanghai).

Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province.  It is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangzte River.

A more detailed map of Jiangsu Province.  Shandong (our province) is to the north, while Shanghai is to the south.

Nanjing is steamy in summer and cold in winter, but the weather was lovely when we visited (mid 20s).

Nanjing has tasted greatness: it was China’s capital under the first two Ming Emperors (1368 – 1420) and then again under the Republic of China 1912 - 16; then later 1927-37 and 1945 – 49.

It became the capital of the Taiping rebellion 1850 – 1864.  The leader was Hong Xiu Quan who proclaimed himself the “younger brother of Jesus”. His motley crew was able to take over a large part of Southern China before the Qing Emperor’s armies were finally able to defeat him – ironically (because they had just lost the 2nd Opium War) the Chinese had to rely on help from the “Ever Victorious Army” first commanded by American soldier-of-fortune Frederick Townsend Ward (1831 – 62) who died in battle, and then by British officer Charles (‘Chinese’) Gordon (1833 – 1885) who later found fame in the Siege of Khartoum.

Nanjing seemed to have lots of parks.  Something that struck us was how green and lush vegetation was here, compared to Qingdao.  Lots of beautiful big trees.  Many of the streets are lined with old wutong trees – very attractive.

  

14 May 2015 (Thursday)	Afternoon 12 noon finished teaching my Graduate F2 class. Rushed home, changed. 12.30 pm caught the bus to Qingdao City. 2.30 pm fast train to the new Nanjing South Railway Station; arrived at 8pm (about 1,450 km; stops in Weifang, Zibo, Jinan; Taian; Xuzhou; cost $65 each).  Subway to city, then bus to the Jasmine Youth Hostel. The hostel was in a side-street off Shanghai Road.  Good location.  Cost $27.50 per night for a basic twin room with bathroom.
15 May 2015 (Friday)	Morning Visited the old Presidential Palace.  Sun Yat Sen (aka Sun Zhong Shan) had an office there during he short tenure as Provisional President of the Republic of China (1 January  - 10 March 1912).  Later Chiang Kai Shek (aka Jiang Jie Shi) and the Kuomintang Party used these offices (1927 – 37 and then again 1945 - 1949).  Lovely Ming Garden in the grounds. We then visited the Nanjing City Library, across the street from the Presidential Palace.  Impressive modern building.  If a city’s library is a reflection of its cultural depth, then Nanjing has it all. Afternoon We took the subway to the Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre.  If you think the War Memorial in Canberra is impressive, have a look at this stunning museum.  Brilliant architecture.  It was raining outside, dark & gloomy inside; it sets off perfectly gruesome scenes of killing, rape and looting. Over 300,000 civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered over a 6 week period after the conquest of Nanjing by Japanese Army in December 1937. When we visited Japan two years ago we found a highly-cultured, super-polite society; yet during WW2 they often exhibited incredible brutality.  How to explain this apparent contradiction?  Evening We met up with old friend Melanie who is managing the Goethe Institute in Nanjing.  Excellent dinner at Bellini’s Italian restaurant.
16 May 2015 (Saturday)	Morning Has a quick look at the campus of Nanjing Normal University (founded in 1922).  Beautiful big trees and gardens. Lots of old folk, and children – this is an ‘old style’ campus, but with a lot of character. Bus to the huge Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum located on the slopes of Purple Mountain overlooking Nanjing.  We got there early, to beat the crowds – a futile wish - all major attractions in China are always crowded! Bus to Zhong Hua Gate to look at the southern part of Nanjing City Wall.  An estimated 200,000 workers spent 20 years constructing this magnificent Wall (1368 – 1388; 12 m high, 7 m wide at the top; originally about 33 km).  All that effort meant little when the third Ming Emperor decided to re-locate the capital to Beijing!  Afternoon Taiping Museum (Taiping Tianguo = Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace).  Tells the story of the Taiping rebellion 1850 – 64.  The rebel leader was Hong Xiu Quan who proclaimed himself “younger brother of Jesus”. This whacko took on the Qing Dynasty and conquered a large part of southern China; he made Nanjing the capital of his Heavenly Kingdom.  He was finally defeated in 1864. Every city has temples to Confucius – here it is called the Fuzi Miao.  Interesting displays.  The area surrounding the Fuzi Temple is a lively pedestrian area; old-style architecture, lots of street food, souvenirs, boat rides. Good fun. Evening Dinner at Pisa Pizza.  Later met up with Melanie at Brewers Bar (where the Nanjing cricketers meet).
17 May 2015  (Sunday)	Morning Took the subway back to Nanjing South Railway Station.  Breakfast at KFC. Our fast train left right on time at 10.38am, and we arrived in Qingdao at 4.02pm. Bus back to Huangdao; we were in our apartment on campus by 5.15pm.  So ended our memorable trip to Nanjing.

Here are some photos.

Our carriage in the fast train. Very comfortable.  Food trolley and also a dining car - but difficult to find a seat there. The journey of 1,450 km took 5.5 hours.  Five stops going down, six on the return.  The countryside is fully cultivated - hardly a vacant patch of land the whole way.

Our top speed was 310 km/hour.  Amazingly smooth. It cost $65 one way, second class.  90% full.

The new Nanjing South Railway Station.  Enormous - everything is built to cater for big numbers.

Lots of beautiful trees in Nanjing, such as these old wutong trees.

Presidential Palace

main entrance to the old Presidential Palace (see notes above).

Sun Yat Sen is widely respected.

This diorama showed Chiang Kai Shek with the three famous Soong sisters - Sun Yat Sen married Soong ching Ling (who later became a Vice President of the PRC) and Chiang married the youngest sister, Soong Mei Ling.

Nanjing Public Library

The impressive Nanjing City Public Library.

One of the public reading areas in the Library.

Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum

400 stairs led up to the Mausoleum.  It was already crowded at 9.30am on a Saturday morning.

Inside the Mausoleum, a big statue of Sun Yat Sen.  The walls are inscribed with his writings (shades of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC).

Nanjing City Wall

Vera looking at a map of the magnificent Nanjing City Wall.  It was originally 33 km, but some parts have been knocked down.

The Wall is 7 meters wide on the top.

Taiping Museum

Main entrance to the Taiping Museum (see text above).

A picture of Hong Xiu Quan, leader of the Taiping rebellion. A whacko, but a genius. 

The Taiping rebellion started in the south (Guanxi and Guangdong) and moved up. At their height, the Taiping controlled a large part of southern China. 

A more detailed map showing the route of the Taiping armies.  The Qing armies finally defeated the Taiping in 1864 after a seven month siege of Nanjing.  

American adventurer-extraordinaire Frederick Ward  (photographed in 1861) fought with the Qing armies. He was wounded 14 times in various battles and developed a reputation for indestructibility. But his luck finally ran out and  he died in the Battle of Cixi in 1862. A real "Indiana Jones" type character.

British officer Charles Gordon took command of the Ever Victorious Army after Ward's death.  The Qing Emperor honored him as a "Tidu Captain-General" for his role in defeating the Taiping - here he is shown in ceremonial dress. 

Charles Gordon went on to serve in Egypt and the Sudan (siege of Khartoum)

A model posing for pictures in the lovely garden of the Taiping Museum.

Another model, in Ming Dynasty dress.

Confucius Temple (Fuzi Miao)

Main entrance to the Confucius Temple.

Pedestrian zone

A pedestrian zone, near the Confucius Temple.  Popular, crowded.  Old style new buildings. Lots of shops, snacks, etc.

A way to get around the new "Old city". 

Tour boats on the river near the Confucius Temple.

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Well, folks, that's all for this post.

Hope you enjoyed exploring Nanjing with us.

This is the beginning of Week 12 of this semester, so only four weeks to go before the start of the final exams.  We are now in the 'home straight'.

Best wishes, stay well and keep smiling.

Vera & Alex Olah

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn

Sunday 24 May 2015

14 May 2015

Gentlefolk,

I thought I'd get another post in before our trip to Nanjing (we leave this afternoon).

This is Week 10 of the semester, so we have now passed the half-way mark.  Time flies when you're having fun.

Teaching has gone OK.  Just completed British Culture, and will now start on Australia.  For the past 4 years I've focussed on American Culture, so it has been interesting to discuss new countries.

News class

The News class has been 'up & down', but I think I've finally figured out a suitable format, as follows:

Each class I nominate 5 students to present news articles the following week. The first 50 minutes is taken up by these presentations; the second 50 minutes is me presenting five news articles I have selected/prepared.

We show each article on the computer, and describe the main points.  Then show a 'summary' based on the "five Ws": Who; When; Where; Why; What.

For the first few weeks the presenters basically read the article they had chosen.  That didn't go over too well - I could sense that the other 59 students in the class often got bored and just switched off.   So now I have asked all presenters to only outline the main points in their article, and then explain their 5W Summary.

Following each introduction I go around the class and ask five or six students for their opinions on the subject of the article just presented.

Most articles are about something topical or controversial, so students usually have opinions about the issue involved.  Getting comments from other students means there is much more inter-action and interest.

Key - keep things moving, so there is not enough time for the class to get bored and switch off!

I try to limit each article to about 10 minutes: roughly 5 minutes for the presenter to describe the article, and then 5 minutes of comments by students.

The following outlines will give you an idea of the kinds of articles we have discussed:

• Pranks by tech companies on April Fools Day.  The article described this year's pranks by Google, Tesla, Twitter, Tencent, Samsung, and HTC.  My favourite was Tencent (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter).  The company announced that their Headquarters will be relocated from Beijing to Antarctica - much cheaper real estate, and better cooling for their servers!

• Lin Dan, World #1 and arguably the best badminton player ever, has become a "brand ambassador" for Dolce & Gabbana.  To mark the occasion, D & G published a glossy coffee-table book of portraits of Lin (retails for $100).

• A company in Beijing sells fruit and vegetables via the internet.  People place their order and pay online; and must pick up their orders within 24 hours.  The company (xuxian.com) now has 19 "shops" around Beijing, mainly located near universities.

• To preserve precious farmland and water, in 2011 the government prohibited the construction of new golf courses.  But enforcement was lax.  Now they have cracked down, and 66 developers have been ordered to close unapproved golf courses.

• A young man in Changsha, Hunan Province was involved in a car accident and rushed to hospital. The medical staff managed to open his smartphone and sent an alert to all his contacts. Imagine the surprise and anger when 17 "girlfriends" turned up at his bedside!

An interesting range of articles, don't you think?



Here are some recent photos.

Vera hosted lunch for some of the International Students who are studying Chinese with her.  From left: Luciana (Brazil); Lee (US); Clara (Indonesia); Sandy (US); Andi (Hungary); Vera

The view of Tang Dao Wan Bay from our apartment.  What a wonderful view to wake up to every day!

View from our balcony. We are intrigued by the construction on the shore of the Bay.  The further buildings (with cranes) seem to be shops; and the building in front has something to do with the subway extension from Qingdao City.

A week later, this is the end result.  It has changed the view from our windows, but luckily not too drastically. It must have something to do with the extension of the subway from Qingdao City.  

In Brisbane in February 2015, with grandsons Nate (7), Kurt (9) and Sid (5).

Our 4th grandson Little Eddie, one year old, in Hong Kong. 

Andrew , Caroline & Eddie visited Beijing over the May Day holiday.  Little Eddie is surrounded by admirers.  

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That's it for now.  Hope to do a post next week about our visit to Nanjing.

Best wishes, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah
English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao
www.upc.edu.cn
Thursday 14 May 2015

11 May 2015

Gentlefolk,

I've finally compiled a post on our trip to Xian over the May Day long-weekend.

As part of our work-contracts, the University arranges a special trip once a year.  Last year we went to Chengdu in Sichuan Province (see post #12 of 8 May 2014); this year to Xian in Shaanxi Province.

Xian, first capital of a united China.

Xian, about 1,200 km west of Qingdao (on the coast of Shandong Province).

Emperor Qin Shi Huang picked off, one-by-one, the other six Kingdoms, and finally ruled an area that became the basis of the Chinese nation. He standardised measurements, money, and most importantly the written language.

Highlights

The food was great - we had many wonderful meals.

Everyone liked cycling on Xian Wall, and also the visit to the Yuan Village.  Isn't it interesting - we were surrounded by so much history yet the things the group enjoyed most were active, modern activities.

All in all, a most enjoyable break from our normal routine.

Lowlights

Our flights there and back were both delayed by more than an hour.  Annoying, but normal for China.  A recent survey found that China had the worst record (30% of flights on time) while Japan had the best (90% on time). Strange, because trains and buses are very punctual here. The root problem seems to be that the Chinese Air Force must approve all flights - a difficult task these days with many hundreds of flights every day.  Recently the government announced that "air corridors" will be designated and only flights outside those corridors will need prior approval - bring it on!

It rarely rains in Xian, but guess what?  On our first day there, it rained steadily from about 8am to 3pm.  Fortunately the Warriors are entombed in three covered "pits", but we had to walk quite a long way to get there and got soaked. (But rain in China also has an up-side: it clears the pollution, so the next day (Saturday) was fresh & bright, with clear blue skies.)

The worst thing that happened was Lina's husband's smartphone was stolen.  They were getting on a local bus, he was carrying their daughter, there was pushing & shoving, and he was pick-pocketed.  He is a lecturer at our university (in satellite communication) and had a lot of work and personal material on his phone.  Nasty experience.

Schedule of trip to Xian

Liu Li Na (Lina) – group leader (from UPC’s International Office). Her husband, Dr Sun Gang Yun, and daughter, Sun Yi, also came along.

Michael Christensen (US); Paul Finkbeiner (US); Steven & Amy McCune (US / China); Alex & Vera Olah (Australia); Lidiya Pescova (Russia); Gautier Plassais (France).

30 April 2015 (Thursday)	Afternoon Fly from Qingdao to Xian; 2 hours; flight late, arrived at 7pm. Met at Xian Airport by Verno, our local guide.  Transfer to hotel (3 star) near Old Train Station. Xian was the capital of China for 1,100 years, during which 73 Emperors reigned in 6 Dynasties, including the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD).
1 May 2015 (Friday)	Morning Terracotta Warriors The Army of Terracotta Warriors which guard the Tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇). His actual tomb, 2km away, has not been excavated - the official line is that the tomb is booby-trapped and dangerous, but rumour has it that grave-robbers got in years ago and cleaned the place out. Emperor Qin ruled 247 – 210 BC.  He is honored as the “First Emperor” because he conquered six rival Kingdoms to create the crux of what became China. He was obsessed by power, both in this life and the next.  He was a man of ambition and big ideas – as shown by the construction of the Great Wall and the creation of the Terracotta Army to continue his conquests in After-life. Qin’s paranoia grew with age.  To stop people pining for “the good old days” he had many traditional scholars killed, and books burnt ... his would be the only truth/reality known to his subjects! The Emperor of the next Dynasty (Liu Bang, first emperor of the Han Dynasty) wanted to deny Qin access to his celestial army, so he had all the Terracotta Warriors smashed.  The ones on display now have been painstakingly re-assembled over years since the discovery of the site in 1974. Afternoon Hua Qing Palace (aka Hua Qing Hot Springs). Said to have been built by Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuan Zong (reigned 712 – 756 AD) for his favourite concubine, Yang Gui Fei (aka Yang Yu Huan, lived 719 – 756 AD). When she was 14 Yang married the Emperor’s son.  The Emperor became infatuated and was determined to make her his own.  He arranged for her to become a Taoist nun and found a replacement wife for his son.  After a suitable interlude Yang left the monastery and joined the Emperor’s court (she was 26, he 56).  Emperor Xuan Zong reputedly had thousands of concubines (he fathered at least 23 sons and 29 daughters), so Yang must have been very special to be #1.  Her beauty was said to be such that even flowers wilted in her presence. But she came to a bitter end. In 1756 the An Lu Shan revolt forced the Emperor to flee the capital.  His military commanders accused relatives of Yang Gui Fei for causing the unrest, and insisted that the whole family be killed.  The Emperor had to acquiesce, and his trusted eunuch, Gao Li Shi, is said to have strangled her. Yang is the source of several idioms, such as “Hongyag huoshui = a beautiful face that causes catastrophe”. Their tragic love story has inspired many poems, ballads, films and TV series. Hua Qing Palace was the site of a more recent historical event.  On 12 December 1936 President Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek (pinyin: Jiang Jie Shi) was staying there when he was “kidnapped” by some of his own supporters in what is known as “The Xian Incident”.  He was held captive for 12 days, until he agreed to cease pursuing Mao’s Communists and instead form a united front with them against the Japanese invaders.
2 May 2015 (Saturday)	Morning Yuan Village. This was a “re-created Old Village”, about an hour’s drive north of Xian.  A maze of narrow alleys, mainly lined with food stalls.  Many local dishes on offer, and local souvenirs/handicrafts. It was a lovely clear day after yesterday’s rain, and we sent an enjoyable 2 hours wandering around and sampling local snacks.  Afternoon Famen Buddhist Temple. A long drive from the Yuan Village.  We had lunch in a small restaurant out in the countryside – delicious food. The focal point of the original Famen Temple was a 12- storey pagoda said to be about 800 years old.  The basement of the pagoda houses sacred objects, including a finger bone believed to Buddha’s, and was crowded with visitors. About 5 years ago a huge modern section was added and the whole complex now seems to be an active Buddhist monastery.  Our guide explained that the site actually belongs to the local government, which decided to undertake this massive development to make it a more prominent tourist attraction. Evening Dinner & show at the extravagantly-named Grand Opera House (Y300 each).  The 18-course dinner of different dumplings was disappointing, but the wonderful cultural performance (Tang Dynasty music, dances) made up for it.
3 May 2015 (Sunday)	Morning Tour of the impressive Shaanxi History Museum. Viewed the musical fountain show near Big Goose Pagoda. Afternoon Xian City Wall. Xian is one of the few cities whose walls remain intact. Actually, the original Tang walls enclosed a much larger area.  The current walls, restored or rebuilt, date from 1370 (Ming Dynasty). This magnificent structure is 12 meters high and 14 km long. We all hired bicycles, and spent a most enjoyable time riding around the walls.  For most of us, this was the highlight of our time in Xian. Muslim Quarter. Xian was the beginning (or end?) of the so-called Silk Road, which was a trading route linking ancient China with the Middle East and Europe.  Islam was introduced to China and many people in the western regions (particularly Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia) are Muslims (they are called "Hui").  Xian has always had a significant Hui community; these days all large cities in China have Hui residents. It was fascinating to walk around the Muslim Quarter and look at all the street food stalls and shops.
4 May 2015 (Monday)	Morning We visited a re-created Old Town in Xian.  Variety of snacks and also many small stalls selling ‘antiques’. Afternoon Flight back to Qingdao.  We got back to the campus at about 7.30pm. And so ended a most enjoyable trip to the ancient capital of Xian.

Here are some photos of our trip.

Going from the university to Qingdao Airport the bus went via the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge - the longest cross-water bridge in the world (40 km).  There's something wonderful (& crazy) about such a large bridge. Always a thrill.

A birds-eye view of Pit #1.  What an army, to continue the Emperor's conquests in the After-life..

Huge "Pit #1" at the Terracotta Warriors site.

Silent sentenials.

A close-up of some to the life-size Warriors, in the Museum shop.  Emperor Qin is in the center (rotund, longer beard). Amazing that craftsmen could achieve such fine detail 2,000 years ago.

A fountain at Hua Qing Palace featuring the alluring Yang Gui Fei. By all accounts she was a buxom wench!

This enormous Mao statue at the entrance to Yuan Village made us wonder what we had let ourselves in for, but it just got better and better from here.

Crowds in Yuan Village.  Good fun, delicious snacks.

The main walk-way in the new section of the Famen Buddhist Temple.  

The Famen Temple is now a vast Buddhist complex.

The original pagoda in the Famen Temple, featuring Buddha's finger bone in the basement. Lots of visitors and pilgrims.

Our group in front of the Shaanxi Historical Museum.  From left: Gautier, Alex, Vera, Michael, Steven, Feny (friend of Gautier, who joined us for the day), Paul, Lidiya, Lina. 

Xian's magnificent City Wall. This photo shows the moat around the outside of the Wall.

Another photo of the Xian City Wall, this time from inside the Old City.

Vera & Lidiya on the magnificent Xian City Wall.  The highlight of our trip was cycling around the Wall (14 km). 

Gautier and Paul riding bikes on the Xian City Wall.  The Wall is 12 meters high, and very broad at the top. 

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Well, that's it for this post.

We are off to Nanjing next weekend.  As much as I don't want to turn this blog into a travelogue, I guess I have to record the special places we visit in China.

Best wishes, and keep smiling.

Alex & Vera Olah

English teachers at the China University of Petroleum, Qingdao

www.upc.edu.cn

Monday, 11 May 2015