JOURNEYS IN CHINA. By Ruby Tsao April, 2016 G

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1 F E A T U R E JOURNEYS IN CHINA By Ruby Tsao April, 2016 G eorge was invited to visit a food company in Shantong, Jining. It is a good size city with a population of 8 million+ (2010), but arrangements were made to take us to Qufu by high speed train. Qufu, Confucius hometown, is now a national, if not international, destination with visitors coming from all over the country and the world even though it s a smaller city of 600,000. It took only a little over 2 hours from Beijing South Station to arrive in Qufu station. Along the way, we saw rows and rows of neatly planted trees separating good size farms. We hardly saw any farm houses like the mud-huts in the old days. Apparently agriculture is entering large scale operations to replace the small plots of yore. Jining is a prefecture-level city bordering Lake Nanyang in southwest Shantong Province. Qufu is located in the southwest of Shantong Province. It covers an area of 896 sq km. And it has a population of 630,000 It is the northernmost city on the Grand Canal of China, a part of the South to North Water Transfer project to deliver water to Beijing, Tianjin and nearby areas. Liangshan, a county of Jining, is the famous setting of the Chinese Classic Water Margin. Upon conclusion of business, the company boss sent his aides to accompany us to visit Mencius home nearby and the next day, Confucius Temple and Confucius home in Qufu before returning to Beijing. We visited Qufu about 20 years ago, a much more modest place then. On our way to Confucius Temple, we saw a new cultural park and a new museum bearing his name. With over 500 Confucius Institutes established around the world, it s obvious that Confucius has been placed on the high pedestal once more. Among residents of 600,000, 1/5 of

2 Located in Qufu, China, Confucius' hometown, the temple of Confucius was originally just his house. the population, or 120,000 bear the last name Kong. In 1996, we visited the Confucius Temple and the Kong Forest the family burial ground. This time, we got to see also the Confucius Home- Kong Fu. This is a good size compound occupying mu (6 mu=1 acre) with palatial buildings and a beautiful garden. The three components of Confucius Temple, Kong Fu and the Kong Forest grew over the years to be one of three palatial building groups in China, the other two being the Forbidden City and Chengde Summer Palace. Confucius never lived in Kong Fu. A simple cottage was built by his students the year after Confucius died. During the Song Dynasty, a hereditary title of honor was established for Confucius direct descendants of first son s lineage. Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang of the Ming Dynasty started the buildings as a place to conduct memorial services and as the residence of Kong family. Subsequent emperors tried to outdo previous emperors by adding more and more splendid buildings to show their reverence. We spent three days in Shandong. The round trip on the high speed train was the Numismatic Museum

3 the raising of flag at Tiananmen Square at 5.25 AM every morning comfortable. We were served drinks and snacks in the spacious luxury cabins. The company has an office in Beijing. A representative picked us up at the station to take us to the People s Congress Hotel in the heart of Tiananmen. This hotel is right next to the People s Congress Hall, to accommodate people s representatives when the Congress is in session. It s very convenient to visit the Palace Museum, Zhong-Shan Park, the Historical Museum, etc. The Palace Museum is so big with so much to see that it always deserves another visit. It s a long walk from the front gate to the back and up and down the stairs of buildings. You must see whatever displays on the way because it takes too much time to back track. Bring your passports for half price admission for seniors. shops and restaurants in Dashilar One afternoon, I went in the Numismatic Museum next door (free admission for seniors) to see the 4 floors of exhibits. As I remembered the super-inflation of the paper currency in 1948, I looked for the highest denomination

4 Tiananmen Square at night of paper money used during that time: 6 billion yuan (they did not bother to print out the zeroesthe paper was not wide enough to fit that many zeroes; just the words :6 billion were displayed). I can say, as a child, I was already a billionaire. The next morning at the crack of dawn, I heard music playing and voices of people rushing by the hotel window. Later I inquired at the desk. The hotel clerk told me about the raising of flag at Tiananmen Square at 5.25 AM every morning. Since I wake up early, I decided to join the crowd the next day for the flag raising ceremony. I figured this was the only chance for it. (Sleep was more important to George.) I allowed more time to walk the distance in the largest square in the world. When I walked out the hotel at 4.30 AM next day, long lines of people already waited at the gate for security check. A street vendor was allowed to do business to serve breakfast to the crowd. There were tour groups following tour guides flags. People were rushing from all directions. The ceremony lasted less than 3 minutes. There were at least 10 rows of people filed behind the fences surrounding the vast Tiananmen Square. I could see only from the view of people s cell phones on hand-held poles. The hotel is convenient for sight-seeing, but meal prices are high. We did not see restaurants or shops near Tiananmen. After a little investigation, we saw to the right is Qian Men, to the left is Wangfujin, both within walking distance. Our hotel is closer to Qian Men. Nearby there are shops and restaurants in Dashilar, a favorite tourist spot. As we strolled along the street, we discovered a rotisserie stand selling freshly-roasted Peking duck for 29 yuan a fraction of the cost at a fancy restaurant and no waiting. It was still hot when we got back to the hotel. Normally we do not have a chance to see how beautiful Tiananmen Square is at night. Blooming flowers and sculptured shrubs line the streets. At dusk, buildings are all lit up to show the beauty of architecture; long rows of street lights with clusters of globes illuminate the magnificent Chang An Street. Lots of tourists from all corners of China came to visit. Vendors were showing off toys or flying kites to attract

5 children to buy. This is indeed a people s square, a place to welcome people from all walks of life, young and old, rich and poor, to have fun at the nation s capital. ### Ruby Tsao, born in China, went to Taiwan with family in 1949; received BA from National Taiwan University; awarded full scholarship from an international education foundation to study in the US, received MS from the University of Michigan. She has served as President of General Resource Technology, Inc. and treasurer of Tsao Foundation -both organizations to promote utilization and research of renewable resources technology developed by her husband Professor George Tsao. Her interests include travel and writing. She writes on history and culture in the hopes to promote understanding of China for better US-China relations.