Zhejiang Province

Inside the home of Daili  

Wall outside of Daili's home, reads "Former home of Daili"

Nianbadu's water mill  

Moss and stone make a green yinyang pattern in the ground in Nianbadu.  

Street in Nianbadu

Painted wall in Nianbadu

Not the funniest, but possibly the poorest translation job I've ever seen in China -- the trash can on the left reads "non-recyclable waste" in Chinese, and "No rubbish receptacle" in English. The trash can on the right reads "recyclable waste" in Chinese and "rubbish receptacle" in English. I guess this means a non-Chinese speaker would put trash in the recycling bin and nothing in the trash bin! 

Jianglang Mountain in the background, lovely tree in the middle ground 

Jianglang Moutain 

In between two parts of Jianglang Mountain -- on either side of us are huge slabs of rock 

L-R: tour guide, me, Gogo's mom, Gogo's dad, Gogo's uncle 

Pretty green mountains (even in December) behind Jianglang Mountian

Apologies for not posting in such a long time. Late December brought 5 finals due on Dec 13, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the day after Christmas, and Jan 2. Needless to say, I did not have much time to blog. I am now on an 8 week break for the Chinese New Year and am soon departing for Hunan province, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. Frank's visit is coming to an end, and we are planning to spend his last day here cafe hopping in Beijing's well-known art district, 798. Before I get ahead of myself, this blog will be about my trip to Zhejiang (浙江) province, accompanying the parent's of my good friend Gogo to Gogo's cousin's wedding. The wedding took place in the small city of Jiangshan (江山), which is about 3 hours southwest of Hangzhou (杭州) and near the border of Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. Jiangshan has a population of around 100,000 people from what I gathered. It is known for green tea, the production of badminton birdies, and the historic and scenic places surrounding it. On our first day there (before the wedding), we drove to the old home Daili (戴笠), a famous member of and spy for the Guomindang (he has been called "Chiang Kai-shek's claws and teeth"); Jianglang Mountain (江郎山), a Unesco world heritage site; Nianbadu Ancient Cultural Village (廿八度), a renovated village with 900 years of history (now with very few actual residents); and finally, the ancestral home of Mao Zedong.

The home of Daili was interesting in that it was built with many nooks and secret passageways/staircases because of Daili's paranoia that he would be ambushed in his own home. There is a very interesting book written on him (in English) entitled Spymaster: Daili and the Chinese Secret Service, for anyone interested.

Jianglang mountian was quite a sight, as can be seen in the photos. It's most unique characteristic was that the three huge rocks it consisted of did not touch one another. We actually hiked in between the huge slabs in a narrow space only a few meters wide. At the base of the mountain sat a particularly lovely tree, which I took photos next to. It seemed very well situated and had a full, ovular shape.

The ancient town of Nianbadu, as I mentioned above, has been renovated in order to let tourists see an exemplary ancient village. Interestingly, as part of the renovation, almost all of the actual residents were kicked out and given new homes elsewhere. Only a few grannies and grandpas remained. A couple of the most interesting features of the village were the water mill and Confucius temple, all excellently maintained.

By the time we arrived at the ancestral home of Mao Zedong, it was closing and all the tour guides were getting ready to go home. We rushed through one museum set in a hutong style home, and left as it was getting dark. As a result, I cannot say much about it!

The last thing I'll mention was the difference in air quality between Beijing and Jiangshan. When we stepped off the plane in Zhejiang, the air smelled sweet to me. Perhaps there were flowers growing nearby, but I suspect my lungs have just become so accustomed to abominable Beijing air that I now detect a pleasant scent in more decent quality air. Pathetic.