China Cultural Chronicles October 15, 2012

  • UN: Sustainable tourism in vibrant Chengdu

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    Left to right: Night view of the Tianfu Bridge in Chengdu, the provincial capital. Gateway to the Qingcheng Mountains, birthplace of Taoism. Renowned Sichuan hotpot is one of the city's signature dishes.

    Home of the giant panda, ancient wonders and renowned cuisine, Li Fusheng reports.

    The UN World Tourism Organization unveiled an agency to observe tourism development on Oct 12 in Chengdu, the capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan province, as part of its Global Observatory on Sustainable Tourism program.

    The Chengdu observatory, the organization's fifth in China, will collect data for scientific studies on sustainable tourism development by monitoring local tourism and environmental protection as well as social, cultural and economic developments.

    The UNWTO also plans to hold a summit on world sustainable tourism development in Chengdu early next year.

    The moves are expected to help enhance the city's reputation as major tourism city in China, said local tourism officials.

    Chengdu has abundant tourism attractions including the nation's giant panda breeding research center.

    Ten kilometers from downtown Chengdu, the center is home to about 70 of the highly endangered species, which number fewer than 2,000 worldwide. About 75 percent are found in Sichuan.

    The facility has been created to resemble the natural habitat of the giant panda, with large open spaces for them to roam free and providing the best venue to see the iconic animals up close.

    The center also breeds other endangered species such as the red panda and the black-necked crane.

    Places of interest

    While the panda center tends to attract kids and animal lovers, what impresses many other visitors to Chengdu is the ancient Dujiangyan irrigation system.

    Built in 256 BC by local official Li Bing to tame frequent flooding of the Minjiang River, it is probably the oldest functioning water-control project in the world.

    The Dujiangyan system, which has stood for nearly 2,300 years, silently diverts water to irrigate nearly 70,000 hectares of farmland that produce almost a third of the province's grain. It survived the disastrous Wenchuan Earthquake almost unscathed in 2008.

    Together with Chengdu's Qingcheng Mountains, the Dujiangyan irrigation system was included on the list of UNESCO world heritage sites in 2000.

    Offering unique attractions on its 36 peaks, the Qingcheng Mountains have long been recognized as the birthplace of Taoism, China's ancient indigenous religion.

    Chengdu is also home to 3,000-year-old remains of the Jinsha settlement, which is widely believed to have been the capital of the ancient Shu state.

    Located in the city's western suburbs, the 5-square-kilometer Jinsha site has been hailed as one of the major archeological discoveries in China in the 21st century, according to local historians.

    About 50 kilometers from the famed Sanxingdui remains in Sichuan province, Jinsha rose to prominence around 1000 BC and shares similar origins with Sanxingdui, as can be seen from similar burial objects, historians said, although Jinsha had no city wall.

    More than 800 tombs have been excavated in the Jinsha ruins dating from the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century - 771 BC) to the early Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC). Artifacts made from ivory, jade, bronze, gold and stone have been found at the site.

    Delicious cuisine

    In addition to places of historical and natural interest, Sichuan's noted cuisine is a big part of the city's charm.

    As the provincial capital, Chengdu is an obvious choice to try out authentic Sichuan cooking, one of eight major regional cuisines in China.

    With a range spanning some 6,000 dishes, Sichuan cuisine features bold flavors, particularly spiciness from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers as well as the unique flavor of the Sichuan pepper.

    One dish recommended by almost all is Sichuan hotpot.

    As the metal pot starts to simmer, typical ingredients including thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, and seafood are added. The result is usually eaten with a dipping sauce.

    Visitors to Chengdu can enjoy the dish at countless hotpot restaurants operating throughout the city.

    Another signature dish of Sichuan cuisine is mapo tofu - soft bean curd served up with a fiery meat sauce.

    In addition, Zongfu Road, Chunxi Road and Jinli Street are places to taste delicious local snacks in Chengdu.

    Due to the sophistication of its cooking, UNESCO declared Chengdu to be a city of gastronomy in 2010, the first in Asia.

    Local bar streets, including Jinli Street and Lan Kwai Fong, offer the chance to sample authentic nightlife.

    Visitors can talk or play mahjong at local teahouses to help immerse themselves in the city's famous pastimes.

    Intangible culture heritage

    Chengdu is also renowned across China for its intangible cultural heritage.

    With 17 items listed as national heritage - including Shu embroidery and Chengdu lacquer painting - Chengdu is the designated host city of the biennial International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival, a cultural gala co-sponsored by UNESCO and the Chinese government.

    Not only a tourist destination, Chengdu is also an ideal starting point to tour other cities in southwestern China, said local tourism officials.

    "Go southward and you can visit the Emei Mountain and the Leshan Giant Buddha, go northward you can visit Jiuzhaigou, and go westward you can reach Tibet," one official said.

    It is also convenient for visitors to begin their travels outside China from Chengdu, he added.

    As the country's fourth largest airport hub, Chengdu has flights to 49 countries and regions worldwide.

    It is also home to consulates from nine countries including the United States, Germany, France, Singapore and Sri Lanka, making it more convenient for local people to get visas.

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  • Tourists take bamboo rafting on Jiuqu River of Wuyi Mountain

    Tourists take the bamboo rafting on the Jiuqu River of Wuyi Mountain, southeast China's Fujian Province, Oct. 13, 2012. The tourism revenue of Wuyi Mountain during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday reached 524 million yuan (about 83.58 million U.S. dollars), up 37.74 percent year on year. [Xinhua]

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  • Nanji Island in E China's Zhejiang Province

    A tourist plays on the beach of the Nanji Island, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 14, 2012. The 7.64-square kilometer Nanji Island, as the largest island of the Nanji Islands, was named for its muntjac shape. The archipelago were listed as China's first level-five marine nature reserve in 1990. [Xinhua]

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  • Young panda gets a taste of the wild life

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    Tao Tao seems to realize that his days of creature comforts are over as he, almost reluctantly, trudges off into the wild at the Liziping Nature Reserve in Sichuan province on Thursday.

    A young panda, trained to survive in the wild, was released into the Liziping Nature Reserve in Southwest China on Thursday almost six years after a similar project ended in tragedy.

    Two-year-old Tao Tao was reared in captivity since birth at the Wolong National Nature Reserve. He was set free during a morning ceremony hosted by the State Forestry Administration and the Sichuan provincial government. The event drew global media interest.

    His release "signifies a new stage of development in China's protection of giant pandas and another important milestone in wildlife protection", said Yin Hong, deputy director of the administration.

    Tao Tao was reluctant to leave his cage at first, despite a handler's offer of bamboo stalks. He was eventually coaxed out, and after a few minutes walked down a mountain path, crossed a stream and disappeared into the dense bamboo forest.

    For the last two years the cub has received training in surviving in the wild from handlers dressed in panda costumes, and his mother, Cao Cao.

    "In September, the State Forestry Administration held a meeting for panda experts who agreed that Tao Tao, who now weighs 42 kg, could be released into the wild," Zhang Hemin, director of administration at Wolong National Nature Reserve, told China Daily. "He's healthy, has the necessary survival skills and a strong sense of self-protection."

    Pandas are being released into the wild in an effort to boost their numbers.

    China has succeeded in releasing more than 20 species of animals into the wild, including the crested ibis, Chinese alligator, elk, wild horses, Tarim red deer and yellow-bellied tragopan.

    "But it's far more difficult to release pandas into the wild due to their low birth rate, uniform diet and fragmented habitat," Zhang added.

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  • A place where billboards create landscapes

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    Colorful advertisement billboards make the night in Guangzhou even more vibrant.

    The very first impression I had of Guangzhou was of the chockablock billboards that lined up the road leading from the old railway station.

    At a time when most of urban China was blanketed in drabness, the density of advertising here must have been a huge shock.

    "It looked just a Western metropolis," I, who had never been out of my own province, told my classmates, in 1982, after my first trip to Guangzhou for the interview for my graduate exam.

    In those early years of reform, Guangzhou was a beacon of commercial vitality.

    Goods were plenty, and stores were filled with shoppers, many from northern parts of the country.

    It was not exactly like the current waves of mainlanders who flock to Hong Kong on shopping sprees.

    Even though it did not require a special permit to travel from Zhejiang province, for example, to Guangzhou, the train ride was excruciatingly long and expensive, measured by the average income of that era.

    As the train was pulling into the Guangzhou station, it was palpable that I was arriving in a different place.

    The walls were increasingly painted with commercial messages.

    But the street outside the station was a sight to marvel for a youngster accustomed to empty store shelves. The billboards were huge and colorful, and they touted gadgets that seemed out of reach to people like me.

    While the rest of the country was agonizing over the ideological nature of private business, Guangzhou - actually, the Pearl River Delta in general - did not show any qualms about it.

    Cantonese simply embraced it. Self-promotion has always been natural to them. You can almost say it is in their genetic code.

    Even in the most draconian age, the 1960s, Guangzhou newspapers dared to carry advertisements, albeit for innocuous merchandise such as stationeries and politicized products like movies.

    In 1979, Guangzhou broadcast a pure commercial message on its radio station, a first for the country in the post-"cultural revolution" (1966-76) era.

    It was for a foreign watch brand, and it was in the local Cantonese dialect. It was catchy and miles from the pompous political slogans of yore.

    The first newspaper ad was also for a foreign watch, albeit a different brand. It appeared on Southern Daily, the Party propaganda organ, which was the most circulated paper of the day in the province.

    Due to the proximity to - and influence from - Hong Kong, many brands from the Pearl River Delta were among the first to use advertising to launch from Guangzhou into the national market.

    In 1990, Guangzhou raked in a total advertising revenue of 225 million yuan ($36 million), the highest for a provincial capital.

    The year 1993 became a watershed for the advertising industry, with the emergence of private firms as a force to be reckoned with. The monopoly of state ownership became a thing of the past. Some of the companies that grew out of that crop have grown to be the strongest in the country.

    Guangzhou also has the nation's most vibrant print media, and behind its success lies one of the most solid advertising businesses in the country. The thickness of many of the newspapers is the envy of peers up north.

    I still gawk at posters and billboards when I'm in Guangzhou. They display a sensibility different from those seen elsewhere in the country.

    Maybe it's the dialectic words that add a local flavor. But, subconsciously, they epitomize the spirit of the freewheeling city and its commerce-loving people.

  • Mother and daughter

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    Mother and daughter

    Taken in Muye village, belonging to the Dong minority
    Guangxi - China

  • In china - Lushan

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    In china - Lushan

  • Sunset - Jingxi (靖西) 5 China

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    Sunset - Jingxi (靖西) 5 China

    Leica Summicron-M 35mm f2 ASPH + M9

  • Sunset - Jingxi (靖西) 4 China

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    Sunset - Jingxi (靖西) 4 China

    Leica Summicron-M 35mm f2 ASPH + M9

  • Cow & Farmer - Jingxi (靖西) 3 China

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    Cow & Farmer - Jingxi (靖西) 3 China

    Leica Summicron-M 35mm f2 ASPH + M9

  • Workers - Jingxi (靖西) 2 China

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    Workers - Jingxi (靖西) 2 China

    Leica Summicron-M 35mm f2 ASPH + M9

  • Jingxi (靖西) 1 China

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    Jingxi (靖西) 1 China

    Leica Summicron-M 35mm f2 ASPH + M9

  • Wuhan

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    Wuhan

    Someone says that the Chinese are superstitions, what do you say for the poor number 4........??..also for 13...

  • Trip inside the jungle

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    Trip inside the jungle

    Monkeys'attacks - believe me scare

  • The Tibetan long horn "Dung Chen", Tibet 2012

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    The Tibetan long horn "Dung Chen", Tibet 2012

    Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...

    The Dung Chen are always played in pairs, and usually measure around ten to twelve feet in length. For portability they are fashioned of five or six separate sections which telescope into each other. When they are played in stationary position a vertical wooden frame supports their trumpet ends. When they are played in procession, their ends are usually physically supported by the shoulders of a pair of monks who walk in front of the musicians.
    Photo: These monks where playing on the roof of the monastery of Kumbum Jampa Ling at the Dharma festival.
    www.shambhala.com/the-encyclopedia-of-tibetan-symbols-and...

  • The Tibetan long horn "Dung Chen", Tibet 2012

    reurinkjan has added a photo to the pool:

    The Tibetan long horn "Dung Chen", Tibet 2012

    Like to see the pictures as LARGE as your screen? Just click on this Slideshow : www.flickr.com/photos/reurinkjan/sets/72157630983897338/s...

    The Dung Chen are always played in pairs, and usually measure around ten to twelve feet in length. For portability they are fashioned of five or six separate sections which telescope into each other. When they are played in stationary position a vertical wooden frame supports their trumpet ends. When they are played in procession, their ends are usually physically supported by the shoulders of a pair of monks who walk in front of the musicians.
    Photo: These monks where playing on the roof of the monastery of Kumbum Jampa Ling at the Dharma festival.
    www.shambhala.com/the-encyclopedia-of-tibetan-symbols-and...



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