Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha River

Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha River is north of Lijiang. It is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. In my book it is #1! All I can do is share a few pictures which do not do justice to the real beauty of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan Province

The past few days of the Spring Festival holiday period were spent in Lijiang in Yunnan Province about a 90-minute flight from Chengdu. The classic view of Lijiang is above. Taken in Black Dragon Pool Park, the source for the water that runs through the Old Town of Lijiang, it features the Deyue Pavilion (originally erected in the 17th century, restored and rebuilt in 1963) and the marble, five-arched bridge with Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background and reflected in the pool. I'll make several posts about different places in and around Lijiang.

Huan Hua Xi Park - The Everglade

A sign in the park says: Everglade means wetland, marsh or swamp land with immobile or flowing fresh water, brackish water or salt, including the area with a depth lower than six meters at the ebb. It does not matter if the wetland is natural or artificial, permanent or short-time. Below are some scenes from the Everglade section of Huan Hua Xi Park.

Huan Hua Xi Park

Huan Hua Xi Park is relatively new and is located in western Chengdu next to The Du Fu Thatched Cottage. Huan Hua Xi means Flower Washing Stream and it runs through the park. The map below appears on sign boards in the park. In the northeast corner of the park is the new Sichuan Province Museum which should open shortly. West of the museum is an area of wetlands known as the Everglade. In the section of the park directly south of The Du Fu Thatched Cottage is Cang Lang Lake and a walkway that leads to Poem Avenue. The southeast section of the park includes Poem Avenue, a reforested hilly area, a children's playground, an outdoor cafe and an underground parking garage.


Dr. Theodore Johnson, in his Sichuan English Guide [2005], tells the folk story related to the origin of Huan Hua Xi Park's name: "A long time ago, a pretty young lady lived near the stream. It is said that she had a kind heart and often did something good for her friends and local people. One day a monk arrived when a group of ladies were washing their clothes by the stream. The monk had serious ski disease. He scratched his skin as he walked towards the ladies. At the first sight of the monk, all the ladies ran away as quickly as possible. However, the pretty young lady stayed and continued her washing. The monk had some clothes in his hand. Those clothes looked very dirty. It seemed that they had not been washed for several months. The monk keep scratching. He said to the lady, 'Would you like to wash my clothes?' 'Yes, I will,' said the lady. She took the dirty clothes from the monk and put them into the stream. The young lady dipped the clothes into the water, and immediately lotus flowers appeared and blossomed. Lotus flowers were everywhere in the stream. 'It's amazing,' said the lady to herself. She turned to the monk, but there was no sign of the man. Upon hearing the wonder, local people came and saw the flowers. Since then, they have called the stream huanhuaxi or the Flower Washing Stream."

Separate posts on each section will give you a better view and understanding of Huan Hua Xi Park.

New! Sichuan Travel Guide Chronicles of the Shu Kingdom

The Sichuan Travel Guide is Chengdu's and Sichuan's newest English-language publication brought to you by iHotPot.com, Middle Kingdom Studios and the Sichuan Publishing Group. A fun and entertaining guide to Sichuan in a light-reading format (48 pages). It can be purchased (only 12 元) at several restaurants and the Foreign Language Bookstore.

Common Flowering Quince Chaenomeles Speciosa

With the Chinese New Year (February 18) and the Spring Festival, the trees and shrubs are beginning to blossom in Chengdu. The temperature now reaches the low 60s F most days. Among the first to blossom are the "Winter Red Flower," the plum trees and the common flowering quince. Today, I went to Tazishan Park to see the lantern display and found a grove of beautiful Common Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles Speciosa) with a label to confirm their identify. I hope my family and friends in Pennsylvania who are clearing snow can enjoy a touch of Chengdu's spring.

A Busy Time in Chengdu Chinese New Year & Spring Festival

Sorry I have not posted any new material for the past week. With the Chinese New Year & Spring Festival comes many special activities, a ten-day holiday for most people and travel for many during the holiday period. Prior to the Chinese New Year, I enjoyed the Chengdu YMCA's New Year's Dinner for staff and volunteers and the family New Year's Luncheon with my General Secretary and her family. Family, organizational and business luncheons and dinners are major events of the New Year's season. The Chengdu YMCA is closed for ten days (February 15-24). The YMCA arranged for me to go to Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province for four days including the Chinese New Year and to go to Lijiang in Yunnan Province for five days at the end of this week. During the three days between the trips, I have been visiting several parks in Chengdu which have special flower and/or lantern displays. Also, at the end of January, I spent five days in Guilin. A major event last week was the opening of the reconstructed Tianfu Square in the center of Chengdu. All of this activity has produced many, many photos, but I am not sure when I'll get time to post them to my blog. I think after I get home I will be adding to my blog for several months to complete the story of my stay in China.

China's Life Expectancy to Jump

From Reuters, February 12, 2007:

BEIJING (Reuters) - Average life expectancy in China will jump 13 years to 85 years and all households will be lifted out of poverty by the middle of the century, Chinese academics forecast in a report issued in state media on Monday.

The number of years a Chinese child spends in school will almost double to 14 years and an increasingly affluent population will spend a far smaller proportion of their income on food, the official China Daily said, citing a 20-volume report called an Outline for China's Sustainable Development.

But the weighty report, put together by 184 academics and policy makers mainly from the influential Chinese Academy of Sciences, warned a growing population and environmental problems posed risks to China's sustainable development, the Chinese News Service said.

Poor use of energy, social inequality, the country's rural woes and a lack of creativity and innovation were also risks, it added.

"The United Nations says current life expectancy in China is around 72 years, compared with around 82 years in Japan. About 200 million people in China live below the poverty line while a child spends, on average, just over eight years in school.

Large swathes of China are affected by chronic air pollution from factories, vehicles and coal-burning power plants. Water and land pollution have poisoned many other parts of the country.

Last month the China Modernization Report 2007 said that China had failed to make any progress in protecting the environment in the past three years, despite government pledges to put the issue at the top of its agenda.

China ranked 100 out of 118 countries in terms of environmental protection -- the same level as in 2004, the modernization report said.

But it said that by 2015, China's social and economic indicators should be on par with developed countries in the 1960s, by which stage China would have moved from an agrarian economy to an industrial one.

Chengdu - Rated Best Tourism City in China

Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan, was rated as the Best Tourism City in China (BTCC) by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

The BTCC project aims to develop the tourism capacities of Chinese cities by meeting a number of standards and guidelines and to set a benchmark for other cities to follow. There are only three cities rated as BTCCs in 2006. Besides Chengdu, the other two cities are Dalian, a coastal city in Northeast China and Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang province. Chengdu is the only BTCC from central and western China.

With the nation’s rising standard of living, and as the Chinese government is making efforts to turn its economy to a more consumption driven one, tourism has become a fast growing industry. In 2006, Chengdu raked in RMB 34 billion from its tourism industry, 18.7% higher than in 2005. -- From CHENGDUONLINE, February 11, 2007.

The Little Birch Tree Dance Troupe from Russia -- Beriozka

Last night I saw The Little Birch Tree Dance Troupe from Russia (Beriozka) at the Jinsha International Theater of the Chengdu Art Center.

The troupe, recently named as the Traditional Cultural Heritage of Russia, presented a colorful display of Russian folk songs and dances. The program included a girls' round dance "Beriozka" (a birch tree) to the music of the folk song, Vo Pole Beriozonka Stoyala (There was a birch tree in the field.).

The round dance Beriozka, now acclaimed as a national treasure in Russia, marked the birth of a new style of performance in the Russian stage choreography, featuring the wonderful "floating" steps, which has delighted spectators all over the world.

Being the representaives of Russian folk dances, the troupe has become the symbol of Russian folk arts. In the past 59 years, the LIttle Birch has visited more than 60 countries in the world. Their visit to Chengdu was part of the troupe's tour to eight cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Shenzhen. -- From the Chengdu Weekly, February 4, 2007. Below are a series of scenes from their performance last evening.

BatesApex - First Foreign-Funded Advertising Agency in Chengdu

The top advertising agency Apex recently established a partnership with the world's leading communications service group WPP. Both companies announced their marriage Thursday in Chengdu and the inauguration of the BatesApex Integrated Marketing Co., Ltd. which is viewed by WPP as a significant investment in entering the western China market. Insiders believe BatesApex is a good example for other domestic and international communications companies seeking cooperation in expanding the Chinese market. WPP is made up of leading companies in advertising, media, information and insight consultancy, public relations and public affairs, branding and identity, direct mail, promotions, relationship marketing, and many other disciplines. Its clients include 300 of the Fortune 500 and over half of the NASDAQ top 100. -- From the Chengdu Weekly, February 11, 2007. [Note: The husband of the Chengdu YMCA's public relations director is CFO of ApexBates.]

Chengdu Population Rises to 11.03 Million

By midnight of December 31 last year, Chengdu recorded a total population of 11.03 million, a figure based on the number of permanent residence registrations. That is a population increase of over 210,000 compared to the beginning of 2006. According to the Chengdu Population and Family Planning Commission, there were about 73,000 newborn babies last year, which continued to demonstrate a low birth rate level. It is predicted that the city will face the fourth baby boom as children from the third baby boom period (1985-1990) reach the marriage age. From the Chengdu Weekly, February 11, 2007.

The Beautiful Roof Lines of the Historic Chengdu YMCA Building

Yesterday, while looking out from the Fitness Center on the fourth floor of the New YMCA Building, I again realized how beautiful the roof lines are on the historic Chengdu YMCA Building.