What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

Our journey through Henan (河南), the Middle Province (天地之中) in the Middle Kingdom took us from the once-a-year Luoyang Peony Flower Festivals (洛陽 牡丹節), witnessing first hand the ancient Chinese Oracle scripts from 4,000 years ago (殷墟 甲骨文) to the modern day theme park along the Mother River - Huanghe (鄭州 黃河風景區); the ancient capital of Kaifeng (開封), one of the governing centres in the Three Kingdoms era (許昌) by the famous premier/general (曹操) and not forgetting that Henan Province had long been known as a goldmine for dinosaur fossils (perhaps thus making us the legendary Descendants of Dragons - 龍的傳人, hee hee ... ) as well as super-rich in minerals such as copper, iron and other color-metals; we also came across a few special / peculiar / interesting / beautiful / artistic photo opportunities - enjoy !

 

 

After the "serious" business of admiring Peony flowers and inspecting the marvelous achievement of ancient writings on the Oracle bones by our ancestors, it's time for a few fun days out -Theme Parks time ! First on the menu was the Huanghe (黃河) Scenic Park In Zhengzhou (鄭州) where we hailed a one hour taxi ride from a polite young man and spent a whole day at this massive park - complete with a twice-a-day Kung-Fu performance set in the Three Kingdoms era. We took our time to visit the different parts of this spacious park - ogling at the beautiful birds in the peacock garden, strolling along the shores of the Huanghe River, climbing the giant statues modelled on long-ago Emperors (炎帝,黃帝), visiting the extremely informative on-site Geological Museum and learnt about the formation and accumulation of the loess (黄土) in China and the importance of these loess in determining the ancient farming and military practices and their geo-political consequences.
Next up was a 20 minutes ride by the High Speed Railways from Zhengzhou to the ancient capital of Kaifeng (開封) where we took a boat trip on The Sung Dynasty Royal Canals (大宋御河) and experienced what it was like to be Royalties 1,000 years back - well, it was most pleasant on this sunny Spring day and especially, by sheer chance, having the boat all to ourselves ! We did visit this famous city almost ten years ago and could recognise the different landmarks (開封府, 包公祠, 大相國寺 包公湖) around this famous city. At the end of both trips, the non-stop walking and sight-seeing left us with a huge appetite and we consumed a big bowl (each) of the famous and delicious Zhengzhou braised noodles (鄭州 燴麵) when we arrived back in Zhengzhou !

China's history could be traced back in an un-broken fashion through the millennia because Chinese writing played an important, key fundamental role in helping to achieve this feat. The Chinese writing not only helped keep historical accounts but also all manners of documents, book-keeping, royal summons, diplomatic records, literature, poems as well as translation of religious learnings and all because some cool dudes over 4,000 years ago, had the bright idea of engraving the initial, embryonic characters onto tortoise shells and animal bones and voila (!) - the birth of the famous ancient Chinese Oracle scripts. The main site where thousands of such engravings could be found was in Yin Xu (殷墟), popularly known as "The Cradle Of Chinese Writing", in the northern part of Henan Province and we took a day trip from our base in Zhengzhou (鄭州) where it was a quick journey on the high speed railway of just under 45 minutes. The site did not disappoint as the museum was full of spectacular artifact from the Shang Dynasty (商朝) over 4,000 years, including the famous massive brass/copper tripod/cauldron weighing 900 Kg (!) and I could relate how these writings and engravings talking and telling their stories of political intrigues, religious proceedings as well as records of hunting parties, court matters and commercial dealings. Coming face to face with these ancient Oracle bones was very satisfying and rewarding as I could appreciate how our present Chinese writing came about - through the development and growth of symbols, pictographs, emblems and surrounding sights. Yeh - the Chinese writing had come a long way !

The Annual Peony Festivals (牡丹節) hold a special place in the flora calendar in China as Peony had been groomed and admired by the Chinese people since the days of the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago. Luoyang (洛陽) in the province of Henan (河南) would be the place to be to attend these festivals (between early April to early May) as there were numerous parks opened to the public where thousands of Peony were decked out in all their full glory. Peony, with its dazzling beautiful colors, complex petals structures and wholesomeness had long been associated with prosperity, fortune and wealth. We visited the two main sites in Luoyang : 神州牡丹園 and  隋唐城遺址植物園 and found the crowds to be not too overwhelming, perhaps the flowering season was coming towards the end and we felt fortunate to have glimpsed, perhaps the last crops of these beautiful flowers standing proudly for our admiration - think glamorous ladies in their evening couture, strutting their stuff on the red carpet and posing in their over-the-top dramatic gestures, all for our flashing cameras !