You would think that after almost eight years of separation, the first thing I felt upon landing in China would be elation, or some sort of excitement that might drive me to kneel on the ground and kiss the earth of my motherland, with tears streaming down my face. At least that's how it happens in the movies. None of the above occurred. Instead, I felt like a tourist. "Hey, look, there are so many people!" was the first thought that popped into my head. The burst of affection for my birthplace would have to come along slowly.
As a tourist, of course I had to do some touristy things. The picture on the right is from the historic district of Fuzhou. It's the garden of a governmental official's house. The official, Lin Zexu, was hailed as a hero during the late Qing Dynasty's Opium War against Britain for flooding the Chinese market with opium.
I also couldn't resist taking this picture of cartoon Qing Dynasty dudes! They are just too cute!
Below left is a sculpture from a very rare (aka super expensive) stone. The sculpture on the right is carved from ivory.
the last two pictures look really familiar--especially the carved ivory. i think we studied those sculptures (or ones very similar) in my chinese class! :D haha i hope you took note of the feng shui in every building you visited.
ReplyDelete