Sport Day

This past Friday I didn’t have teaching responsibilities/classes due to the students having Sport Day, which I think I called Field Day back in the States when I was in school.  Of course I was not informed of this until that morning so I arrived thinking I was going to teach.  Basically it’s an all-day event where students/classes perform various sports activities.  It was pretty nippy that morning, probably the first morning where I needed a jacket since I’ve been in China.  I stayed probably for an hour and a half watching their opening ceremony and the beginning of some of the sports activities before leaving.  Everything is in Chinese, so I’m not sure what was being said as they did have a PA system going.  The below pics are from the opening ceremonies and does not show all the students/classes that participated.  After watching this, I left for my apartment and went to a museum to spend the rest of the day which I’ll post shortly…

Minsk World

A couple weekends back, I went to Minsk World in Shenzhen. It’s the furthest I have traveled in Shenzhen. I had to take the subway to one of the last eastern-most stops, and then had to take a bus another 45 minutes east to get there. Approximately a two hour trip each way. It’s really an over-hyped military theme park located next to Dapeng Bay. It includes the Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk, which is now a tourist attraction. It opened in 2000.

The Minsk (built in 1972) was part of the Soviet Pacific Fleet. It had to be retired (after the Cold War) as a result of a major accident which could only be repaired at a facility in the newly-independent Ukraine. Russia decided to sell it to a South Korean businessman who then sold it to China for the purpose of creating a military-themed tourist destination.

The staff is dressed in mock military uniforms and for extra $ you can take a little motorboat to the outside starboard side. There are a number of dilapidated military aircraft and armaments on the flight deck and you can also visit the hangar deck as well as its living quarters, armaments, etc. There was also a short film you can watch about the Minsk.

I wanted to come here because, I thought, how many times will I be able to go onboard a Soviet aircraft carrier? The problem was (A) it was expensive for what you got and (B) besides the beautiful landscape; the whole place (meaning the theme park) is dilapidated, which was really unusual as far as I’m concerned when it comes to China’s tourist attractions. And maybe it’s because it’s privately-owned and not state-owned, though I’m not sure of that. But it feels like they just put the ship there and that’s it. You can see that a lot of the inside of the ship has been stripped of anything still valuable and you kind of just have a shell. Most of the equipment, dials, etc. have been stripped and/or broken and almost the entire ship is rusted with peeling paint. You do not feel as if there are any plan(s) for upkeep. It was not hard to imagine it springing a leak and sinking, right there at its berth. It’s been there since 2000 and she shows her age unfortunately. Where you by tickets is a dilapidated building and I couldn’t tell if they were doing renovations, construction work or something else. But the area right outside the ship is nice where you can walk along the banks of the Bay. Also, Minsk World is supposed to be made up of two parts: the Minsk Aircraft Carrier (at Sea) and Minsk Square (on land) but the Square was nowhere to be found. Either it doesn’t exist any longer or is undergoing construction and/or renovation. As you’ll notice everywhere in China, construction is a 24/7 thing and there was construction going on here as well. The other thing that was irritating was that throughout the ship, there are these little souvenir stands/stalls all selling the same Chinese stuff. The workers would ask you to buy stuff but there wouldn’t be anything different than the stall I passed just 30 seconds ago.

But despite all of that, I was still glad I went. The bay and mountains were beautiful and you got great views while standing on the ship. As you can see from the last pic below, they also were selling toy planes and I was surprised to see that you could buy a U.S. Air Force toy plane. And that’s when I thought, how times have changed? Here we have a Soviet ship, permanently berthed in China, and I can buy a USAF toy plane while on it. We have come a long way…

 

 

 

Yuexiu Park

Our last stop was Yuexiu Park. We took the subway here from Guangxiao Temple. It’s the largest park in downtown Guangzhou and was built in 1952. It’s made up of 3 artificial lakes as well as 7 hills of Yuexiu Mountain.

The Five-Ram Sculpture (though I’ve seen it called Five-Goats too) is the biggest attraction. You have to climb up a little hill/mountain to see it. It’s one of the most famous structures in Guangzhou. It has become the emblem of Guangzhou City. As you can also partly read in one of the pics below in Chinglish, legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, Guangzhou was a barren land with people, who despite hard work, were suffering from famine. One day five immortals in five-color garments came riding on five rams, playing their legendary music. The rams held sheaves of rice in their mouths. The immortals left the sheaves of rice for the Guangzhou people, gave blessings to the city, and left. The rams turned into stone and the city of Guangzhou became a rich and populous place. Guangzhou got the name The City of Rams (or Ram City) and The City of Ears.

People exercise here as well as play music. Kids can go on rides and others can paint, sketch, fish or barbeque. There is a museum, tower, and an ancient City Wall here. There’s arched bridges, pavilions, corridors, trails, a swimming pool, gymnasium, restaurants, & souvenir stalls. There are also lots of grasses, trees, bamboos, birds, flowers, and animal life. Fittingly, there are five gates to enter the park and admission is free! 

 

We stayed for a couple of hours before two of us decided to head back to Shenzhen. A couple people stayed another night in Guangzhou. A friend and I headed back to the subway to go to the train station to take the hour train ride back to Shenzhen. It was a long day and we saw a lot in one day (Qingping Market, Huangsha Market, Shamian Island, Guangxiao Temple, & Yuexiu Park). The park was great. I may have liked that the best. We decided to leave the park around 5pm and we would eat dinner once arriving in Shenzhen. We thought we would eat near Shenzhen’s train station because even after arriving at the train station in Shenzhen, it would still be another hour by subway and bus before we would actually get to our apartments. China is big! But of course, we were in China, and the train back to Shenzhen was late for some unknown reason. Actually, more than one was late. People were 50-deep anxiously waiting to get on the platform but they wouldn’t allow anyone to exit the station waiting area. Then, all of a sudden, the crowd started to push forward and we pushed with them. Of course, being in China again, our train # was nowhere to be found. We were trying to ask a lady that was working outside another train about our train (along with 20 others trying to ask this poor lady questions at the same time) and she didn’t know when our train would be available. The train she was working on was going to Shenzhen too and was supposed to leave after ours, so we were not sure where our train was or what was really going on. The lady said that we could get on this one but would have to stand. We were deciding what to do when a Chinese man in English told us to get on this train or we would be waiting for a long time. That was good enough for me. We left, standing…

We left the Guangzhou train station around 7:30 I would say and arrived an hour later. We found an Indian restaurant and had a nice dinner. After that, we left for home.

Guangzhou was nice. Not sure though I would go back unless I come across something new I want to see.

Guangxiao Temple

After visiting Shamian Island, we hopped on the subway headed for Guangxiao Temple (in English, it means Bright Filial Temple).  It’s the largest Buddhist monastery complex in Guangdong Province with a long history and with great influence.  It was originally a palace of a Prince during the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.).  In the Three Kingdoms Period, it became a teaching academy of Yu Fan, an official as well as scholar of the I-Ching, who came here in exile.  During the Longan Reign of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (397-401), a Buddhist hall was built on site by a monk.  The current name of Guangxiao Temple was established during the Shaoxing Reign of the Song Dynasty (1151).  The Temple was severely damaged as the Manchurian soldiers marched southward and the city was bombarded.  Under the rule of Emperors Shunzhi and Kangxi, it was somehow restored, but damage was done to it during the period from the late Qing to the Republic of China as it had long been occupied by cultural, educational, and military organizations.  Due emphasis was attached to the development of the Temple after the Republic’s founding.  In 1986, it was approved to resume religious activities and opened to the public.  The statutes and buildings were restored and expansion took fold.  It’s the Home Temple of Chinese Zen Tradition and holds a significant history of Chinese Buddhism.

The above was just a snapshot of information I took out of a pamphlet they provided us.  I have also read that this Temple/complex is older than the city itself.  The complex is laid out in typical Chinese fashion, facing south on a north-south axis.  There was also a vegetarian restaurant on site but we didn’t eat there.  We thought it was a little too expensive, so we ate lunch at a little noodle restaurant on the road that leads/ends at the Temple.  Outside the Temple, there are Chinese begging for money all over the place though the police/guards will shoo them away if the beggars get too close to the Temple.  But it was a cool place and was a gorgeous day.  You certainly do not come to these Temples in China if you do not like the smell of incense.  We spent about an hour here and then headed back to the subway to go to a park…

Shamian Island

After visiting Qingping and Huangsha Markets, we walked over to Shamian Island which is a sandbank island.  It’s more quiet here than the city (as traffic is limited by the government) and has a touch of the European colonial period.  There are historical buildings here as well as churches, hotels, restaurants, and souvenir stores.  The island borders the Pearl River and is separated from the mainland by a canal.  This island was an important port for Guangzhou’s foreign trade from the Song to Qing dynasty.  Foreigners lived and did business here.  The U.S. Consulate is here but they wouldn’t allow you to take photos of even the outside of the place.  In the sixth pic below, the people are singing.  I also took a photo of a married couple.  It’s a nice area with trees and surprisingly clean air.  We walked around for a few and then left to take the subway to go see a temple…

Huangsha Seafood Market

After going to Qingping Market, we walked to the nearby outdoor Huangsha Wholesale Seafood Market.  It’s the largest wholesale seafood market in Guangdong Province.  This is a place where you can bargain for seafood.  Trucks are always coming and going with water dripping down its sides and rear with fresh seafood.  In fact, the whole street is wet.  I noticed some blood as well as fish guts on the streets.  The market itself has no eateries but there are some nearby.  Lots of fish here come from the Pearl River valley.  I didn’t recognize a lot of it.  For example, I have no clue what that thing is in the fifth pic.  It moves really slowly and it’s out of water?  They’re also on the right side of picture six.  Weird!  Seafood is a common ingredient in Cantonese food.  It was a cool little place.