Zhejiang Province with Photography Club            

Before I leave China, I have always wanted to go to see the Graffiti Village which has street art on the buildings in this small quaint village.

I decided to take some members of my photography club there on a weekend excursion in which we stayed in an old small town, saw the village, went to a lake and walked around, went to a cave and to a very famous Buddhist Temple.

The town we stayed in called Hou’an which was a small village that had a rather quaint feel to it.  People selling snacks on the small streets, no big cars allowed, children helping with laundry in the local river, and fresh food being served were all things we witnessed.  The home stay was quite nice as we were able to relax and base out of this small village.

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Of course the meals here were outstanding with the freshest food coming from farms and fields all around the area…

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We were able to take a quick stop by Hanshan Lake which is a popular lake in the region, although it looked as if it was closed up for the winter with no people around.  A quick jaunt around the area to get some photos and it was off to the graffiti village…..

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Even though this is not close to being a tourist attraction in China, after seeing pictures of it, I have always wanted to go (probably because of my love of street art).  Walking around the area for a couple hours was more than enough as the village is not that big.  There was plenty of murals with different art on it that was more than pleasant to look at and photograph.  Some of them like all good art was hidden in small nooks and crannies, while others were in plain sight.  Most of the artists were Chinese, but I saw a few pieces from other artists in perhaps different parts of the world….

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We had a little extra time to kill so we went on a couple hour hike up a mountain to see a massive cave that had a hole in the top with water trickling down.  Standing under it was beautiful with not enough water coming down to give you a shower, but enough to sprinkle you….

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If any student from the 2022-2023 AP Comp Gov Class sees this, please email me immediately

One of the most famous Buddhist Temples in China and the initial site for the creation of the Tiantai school of Mahayana Buddhism is Guoqing Temple.  It was founded about 1500 years ago and has gone through a few different renovations since then and has lost some artifacts from the Cultural Revolution.  It is a very beautiful temple located on Mt. Tiantai in Taizhou.  You can walk around here and see how the people revere Buddha and the different ways they show their spirituality from lighting incense, to candles, to prostrating in front of the statues, etc.  It is really a quite relaxing place and one of the less crowded temples I have been to in Asia, yet being one of the most important…

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Terracotta Warriors and the best street food in China

Xian is one of the bucket list places that people visit while they are in China along with the Great Wall and Beijing sites, Shanghai, and Chengdu (among just a few major places. Among the sites to visit here are of course the Terracotta Warriors and the Muslim Quarters (among a few).

Being a history person, the Terracotta warriors have always amazed me and I have always wanted to see them (even in -8 weather). Constructed by the first Chinese Emperor Shi Huangdi during the Legalistic rule of the Qin Dynasty, these statues are one of the wonders of the world.

As the story goes, Shi Huangdi aka the man who unified China and ruled for only 15 years, had the soldiers built in an attempt that they would guard him in the afterlife (much like Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt had some of their personal effects buried with them). Each of the warriors was constructed to be almost human-like with weapons to guard him. After starting construction on the great wall, he had a tomb and necropolis area built for him with “rivers of mercury” flowing through them. The 9000 plus soldiers were put all around the area in order to guard him in the afterlife. When he died, much of the area was buried as the new dynasty came about and probably would want to wipe out traces of the old dynasty. When it was excavated, a lot of the soldiers were damaged and have since been put back together. Unfortunately we are unable to see into the tomb of Shi Huangdi, because it is buried under a huge hill and excavating it would be catastrophic. All we can do now is speculate from the ancient sources what is in there. What we do know is that now they are still uncovering and putting back together the famed Terracotta Army…..

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This is also a great place to do people watching and photography if that is what you are into….

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As the Terracotta Warriors are the main reason people will go to Xian, there is so many other things to do. Food, Food, Food, Food…… This place has some of the best street food in my opinion in all of Asia. On every block of any street, you can find people selling carts of local specialties. This is also a great place to do people watching and photography if that is what you are into….

The Muslim Quarter is an area in which most people to go shop for cheap items and to eat at street carts as well as small restaurants. The amount of people selling food here is amazing and the sheer amount of volume of people coming to eat is even more amazing. Some of the local dishes that I loved the most in no particular order were:

Beef on Skewers(you can use the stick as a weapon after), Spicy Pork or Lamb Burger (one of the best things I have ever tasted, Lamb Meat Soup Dumplings, Biang Biang Noodles, Lamb in soup with bread pieces, Pomegranate Juice, Friend Chicken (Han food), and so many others.

With the Chinese Muslims being on the Silk Road, they have incorporated Chinese dishes, plus spices from trading in this region for hundreds of years. Remember pictures are worth a thousand words

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