Even before we arrived in Hangzhou we were told to expect a beautiful city.  Several people mentioned that it was described by Marco Polo in the following terms,  “Above is Heaven, below are Suzhou and Hangzhou.” It is an attractive city, particularly around West Lake where we were taken for a walk and boat ride.  As our bus traveled past the lakeside residences we saw impressives houses surrounded by willows and gardens.  We saw the place where Chairman Mao had stayed forty times when he came to visit the city.  Our guide encouraged us to come again and again as Mao did.

It was hot and hazy as it was most days in China, but we did have the option of staying inside the airconditioned area.  To see the scenery though, you needed to be outside.  We saw many other barges like ours and on the shore and the islands we could see small and large pagodas.  After the ride was over we wandered through the park and admired the gardens, fish and peacocks.  What we really wanted to see though was the popsicle stand, which we found before boarding the bus and heading off to Longjing Tea plantation, where Dragon Well tea is made.

As we drove into the Dragon Well village our guide explained the transformation the village had undergone from being very poor and run down to being the successful and attractive village it is today.  We did not see very much of the tea plantation itself, we walked past a hillside of bushes, a man drying the tea in a huge wok over a burner and then into a room where we were given several types of tea and quite an elaborate sales pitch.

The tea is picked in spring, summer and fall, but only the small new leaves each time.  The spring tea is called daughter tea, the summer daughter-in-law tea, and the fall grandmother tea.  We tasted and smelled the different teas and watched as our hosts packed the tins of freshly made tea.  We were also told many tea customs and various used for tea and leaves.  Once again I saw the Yixing teapots but our guide suggested waiting once more until Shanghai where there would be more choices.

The afternoon was spent rehearsing for the evening’s concert after which we returned to our very comfortable hotel, perhaps the favourite for many people as it had a pool, lovely rooms and great meals.  Before our bus took us to Shanghai the next day we climbed the Pagoda of Six Harmonies.  It was steep but nothing like climbing the wall.  The view of Hangzhou was well worth the climb.  As we drove out of Hangzhou we watched as the city gave way to farmland and the style of dwelling changed once again.  I wish I had photos of the different styles we saw on the outskirts of each city; each one was unique in colour, shape and decoration.

From Beijing we flew to Huangshan, a small city of 1.5 million.  The contrast with Beijing was striking.  We were no longer driving along plant lined highways.  Roads clogged with buses, cars and bicycles were replaced by streets filled with motor bikes, scooters and motorised bicycles, many that did not stop, they just tooted their horns and kept on going.  From my seat on the bus I saw rice fields, water buffalo and  vegetables laid out on the ground for sale.   Our main reason we visited Huangshan was to climb up Yellow Mountain, which we did the morning after we arrived.  As we travelled we saw, on either side of the road, crops planted up the sides of steep hills.  Tea, corn and all kinds of vegetables were growing on the hillsides and occasionally we would see a farmer tending them,  balanced on the  seemingly impossible slope.

The closer we got to the mountain the wetter and foggier it became until, when climbing up via the gondola, we could see only about ten metres ahead of us.  The path up the mountain was busy despite the weather.  Along with the tourists, there were porters carrying loads on poles over their shoulders.  This is the only method used to carry goods to and from the hotels up the mountain.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch in one of these hotels before half  the group headed back out into the weather to see more of the mountain.

They had a wild and exhilarating experience as the wind and rain continued.  Although the view was very limited it was possible to see the shape of the trees and mountains which are featured in many Chinese paintings.  (The next day as we walked through an art gallery we saw many paintings of the scenery we had barely glimpsed through the fog.)   As we neared the city again, our guide, Ping, instructed us to go straight to the dining room where we would all drink a magic drink ordered to make sure none of us came down with a cold.  The magic drink was hot coke with ginger!  No one came down with a cold; I’ll have to remember that remedy.

In the evening we participated in a lengthy and detailed tea ceremony involving green tea, black tea, chrysanthemum tea, jasmine tea, and oolong tea.  I wish I could remember all the steps, including the different ways ladies and gentlemen drink their tea, but I can recall only parts of the process.  It was there that I first saw Yixing teapots Andrew had suggested I look for.  Our guide had informed me that the best place to find a wide range would be Hangzhou, so I held off, hoping I wouldn’t regret it.   From there we wandered up and down the ancient street of Tunxi.  On each side of the street there were shops selling silk goods, pottery, inks, brushes and paper, artwork, food and many other souvenirs.  Once again we were expected to bargain over the prices and I watched and encouraged A11 as she made her purchases.

Before leaving Huangshan the next day we visited the Abacus museum, the ink factory and a city museum.  At each place we saw techniques, artifacts, art and architecture which were hundreds, or sometimes thousands of years old.  Our guides gave us loads of information, often explaining which dynasty the buildings, customs or items came from.  With so many details to take in it was impossible to retain it all but, the intricate detail and painstaking nature of much of the decoration impressed me again and again.

Some familiar faces at the Great Wall of China (click to enlarge)

As I expected I didn’t end up having time to write about our much while I was in China.  It was my job to keep the posts coming for the Stellae Boreales blog and post new photos whenever possible.  Hopefully many of you dropped in to read the many perspectives posted there as musicians, parents and coaches wrote about our travels.

After our trip to the Great Wall we stopped off at a Cloisonne Factory and were able to see each step involved in creating the beautiful pieces made using this technique.  Each item is made from copper onto which is marked an elaborate design.  The craftsman then attaches wire to the item along the lines of the design making compartments into which coloured enamel will be dropped. The item is heated and the enamel process repeated until there is enough to fill each compartment.  Each item is fired, polished and then gilded along the original wire lines.  As you can see the process is time consuming and the prices reflect that.  We had a chance to try dropping colour into the compartments on copper saucers and quickly saw that a steady hand and an accurate eye was needed.

That evening those of us who could keep awake enjoyed the Peking Opera,  it was like nothing we had ever seen or heard!  The elaborate costumes and makeup combined with the carefully choreographed fight scenes made it interesting to watch.  The story lines, taken from ancient Chinese legends were a little hard to follow at times but when I think about it, the “separated lovers” tale and the “renegade warrior fighting off all attempts to quell him” are familiar story lines in any culture.

On the morning of our last full day in Beijing we were taken to a hutong, an old Chinese settlement, where we travelled by rickshaw and visited a Chinese family’s home.  L13 wrote about this here.  It was great to see the style of living once enjoyed by many Chinese extended families, which I had read about just before leaving Canada in Moying Li’s book Snow Falling in Spring.

One thing that struck me about Beijing was the neat and manicured look of the city.  There were people sweeping streets and picking up garbage everywhere we went.  All the freeways and main roads were lined with plants and each plant was covered in healthy green leaves.  From the bus we saw gardens everywhere usually featuring hedges clipped into the shape of Olympic or Chinese symbols.  Considering the amount of pollution in the air we were amazed at how healthy everything seemed.  Although the roads we drove down were always busy they were wide and the city appeared spacious despite its population of 17 million.  As we drove down the main streets we could see glimpses down alleys where the view was quite different, but we had no chance to wander there.

I am sitting in the bus on our last day in Beijing.  Our plan today is to walk up Coal Hill, see the pandas at the zoo and visit a Lama temple before we head to the airport to check in. As we are in a traffic jam is not looking likely that we will be able to do all of that.

Since I last wrote we have seen some amazing sights.  The Great Wall was spectacular and it was a thrill to see the group perform there.  We had a hot sunny day which meant that we could see for miles and our photos are beautiful.  Before we started climbing the group gave a concert at the entry.  They were able to set up and play in the shade of a pavillion.  Understandably our presence there drew in the tourists and we had an audience of young and old, Chinese and foreigners.  The response was positive throughout but the particular reacton to the Butterfly Concerto was lovely to see.  As soon as the musicians started it, there was applause and then more several times throughout the piece.

Then we climbed!  The steps are very steep and the sun was very warm so it wasn’t long before the group divided into smaller groups:  the serious, the deadly serious and not quite so serious.  Which ever group you were in it was still a thrill to be on the wall and see what a massive task it must have been to construct it.  I was a mildly serious climber going only as far as I could on the limited sleep I had had at that point.  All the surrounding hills were covered in different tress, some of them planted in formation creating a green tapestry on all sides.  The wall itself snaked off in two directions over hills and out of sight.