Correspondence from China

Where rice cookers come from

2009-10-11T12:00:00.000+11:00

Zhanjiang's architecture

2009-10-11T11:52:00.001+11:00

A baby lion

2009-10-11T11:48:00.002+11:00

For our protection

2009-10-11T11:44:00.001+11:00

At the local market

2009-10-11T11:35:00.001+11:00

The local diner

2009-10-11T11:14:00.000+11:00

The Museum's guard dogs

2009-08-04T13:09:00.006+10:00

A girl, and her baggage

2009-06-27T00:58:00.002+10:00

Chicken dinner

2009-02-11T20:15:00.006+11:00

An hour out of Zhanjiang, in the middle of nowhere, is a chicken restaurant. Wrapped in foil and mud, cooked in a clay oven, the chicken was succulent and delicious.

New things

2009-02-11T20:09:00.004+11:00

Our new apartment (fourth floor down and the three windows on the right), and my new folding bike (nearly 30 years since I last rode one).

Out now

2009-02-11T20:08:00.000+11:00

If the streets are not lined with palm trees they're often lined with bauhinia blakeana trees, the city flower for both Zhanjiang and Hong Kong.

Chinese New Year - The Year of the Ox

2009-01-26T14:27:00.065+11:00

Gong xi fa cai!
Wishing you happiness and prosperity!

Buying Spring Festival decorations.

Our apartment with our spring festival flowers.

Breakfast on New Year's Eve...... followed by dinner.

Red lion, yellow lion.

Frightening off the evil spirits on New Year's Day, and gathering an audience.

Windmills to mark the 'winds of change' for the new year.

On tour

2009-01-23T17:56:00.015+11:00

Travelling in South-east China with Catherine and Roger, and Catherine's brother, and Roger's sister, and Roger's sister's family.

Visiting Luo Jiangzhong and his family.

And with our friends Lynda (second from the left) and Suzie (far right).

In front of Moon Hill with our Yangshuo guide, Jack

(Click the pictures for a larger image.)

The Puppet Master of Zhangzhou

2009-01-23T17:51:00.007+11:00

On the move with 'Tour Guide' Lynda

2009-01-23T17:50:00.000+11:00

A street market in Xiamen

2009-01-23T17:47:00.002+11:00

In the hills

2009-01-23T17:45:00.001+11:00

West of Zhangzhou and Xiamen some ancestral halls have stone posts erected in the forecourt to mark the achievements of local citizens.

© Richard Evans

The things you see!

2009-01-23T17:42:00.002+11:00

'It's Mickey!!'

A cool night in Fuyu Tulou

2009-01-23T17:39:00.006+11:00

A warming brew

2009-01-23T17:38:00.004+11:00

Preparation of rice wine in Fuyu Tulou.

Citrus season

2009-01-23T17:37:00.006+11:00

Along the banks of the Li River, pomelos and oranges were being prepared for market.

Karst and cave

2009-01-23T17:24:00.004+11:00

The distinctive peaks and caverns of Guilin and Yangshu are formed through dissolving rock.

Cooking school

2009-01-23T15:42:00.021+11:00

Doors and alleys

2009-01-23T15:32:00.006+11:00

Rice cakes

2009-01-23T15:23:00.007+11:00

In the market of Fuli Town we discovered a sweet and chewy snack for Spring Festival.

Oil tea

2009-01-23T15:22:00.002+11:00

And then we discovered oil tea; a bitter cloudy brew with crunchy extras.

On the train

2009-01-23T15:21:00.000+11:00

'Hard sleeper' (left) and 'soft sleeper' (right) travel.

Going home - at 5.50am

2009-01-23T15:20:00.002+11:00

Moving

2008-12-17T20:22:00.017+11:00

Moving out.

Waiting at the train station.

On the train.

Moving in,
and the welcoming banquet.

Saying 'Goodbye'

2008-12-17T18:42:00.005+11:00

Drinks at the 'Empty Bottle'.
(Click on photo for a larger image.)

Roger's 'office'

2008-12-02T10:22:00.004+11:00

Before planting ................ and a little bit later.

(Click the pictures for a larger image.)

Tricycle deliveries

2008-10-24T13:15:00.003+11:00

Our local puppets

2008-10-24T11:56:00.013+11:00

Taipai, Taiwan: Puppets

2008-10-23T18:19:00.000+11:00

A florescent Taiwanese version of a Zhangzhou hand puppet.

Taiwan: Taipei 101

2008-10-23T18:18:00.011+11:00

Currently the world's tallest building with 101 floors, details influenced by traditional architecture, and a swinging damper to subdue movement due to typhoons.

Taipai, Taiwan: Qingshan Temple

2008-10-23T17:58:00.006+11:00

Japan: Other visitors

2008-10-17T12:38:00.001+11:00

Kanazawa, Japan: Kenroku-en and 21C Museum of Contemporary Art

2008-10-17T12:36:00.002+11:00

Kanazawa, Japan: Shopping opportunities

2008-10-17T12:35:00.000+11:00

Japan: Dinner and Breakfast at the Onsen

2008-10-17T11:18:00.005+11:00

Japan: Bar snacks

2008-10-17T11:17:00.000+11:00

Kyoto, Japan: Ginkaka-ji or 'Silver Pavilion'

2008-10-17T11:15:00.000+11:00

Kyoto and Nikko, Japan: Buddhas in bibs and beanies

2008-10-16T18:38:00.020+11:00

Nikko, Japan: Taiyuin-Byo Buddhist temple and mausoleum

2008-10-16T17:55:00.007+11:00

Takayama, Japan: Sake merchant's house

2008-10-16T17:06:00.016+11:00

Tokyo, Japan

2008-10-16T11:58:00.000+11:00

Where do light bulbs come from?

2008-09-17T16:09:00.007+10:00

'Snail Pit' Village Tulou

2008-09-12T09:27:00.001+10:00

Yuchang Tulou

2008-09-10T10:56:00.016+10:00

(Click the picture for a larger image.)

Talking trees

2008-09-10T09:29:00.003+10:00

People movers

2008-07-25T12:03:00.006+10:00

The tricycle taxi is great in hot weather.

They are know as a sān lún chē, which translates literally as three wheeled vehicle.

Heavy haulage

2008-07-22T13:23:00.004+10:00

The flatbed tricycle is a key element of Zhangzhou's distribution system.

Street trees

2008-07-22T13:10:00.006+10:00

And the street are lined with mangos.

Reporting to the police

2008-07-15T15:22:00.014+10:00

As an foreigner or outsider (lǎowài or wàiguórén) we have to register our residence at the local police station every time we re-enter China.

The office staff now know me, and try to deal with my application quickly even when overrun by locals applying for and collecting their new identity cards, which are being reissued right across the country.

Landscapes

2008-07-14T15:50:00.008+10:00

'Cutting edge' apartment design

2008-07-14T15:02:00.006+10:00

Phoning home at the electrical shop

2008-07-14T14:36:00.004+10:00

Tea at the urban fishing pond

2008-07-14T13:41:00.006+10:00

A local breakfast bar

2008-07-14T12:50:00.002+10:00

Maximising transport efficiency

2008-07-04T15:49:00.005+10:00

Transporting the whole family can be a squeeze.

The 3 children are all girls and possibly the result of the quest for a son.

Street-side altars

2008-06-25T19:59:00.012+10:00

Taiping Qingjiao, a festival on Cheung Chau island

2008-06-18T22:05:00.012+10:00

Cheung Chau island is known for its festival of buns. Said to give thanks for deliverance from the plague and placate the ghosts of pirates, the festival involves a parade and building towers of buns and temporary temples with paper gods.

Lion dancing - Hong Kong style

2008-06-18T21:54:00.005+10:00

Goddess of Seafarers - Tin Hau Temple

2008-06-18T19:54:00.014+10:00

Three monkeys

2008-06-18T17:12:00.001+10:00

Duanwu or Dragon Boat Festival

2008-06-17T12:10:00.003+10:00

A Chinese friend took us to a branch of the river just outside Zhangzhou where we found the locals energetically participating in and watching dragon boat races.

The courtyard outside the local temple was packed with people and their parked bikes and scooters. People were selling snacks and trinkets, and a stage was set up for opera performances. Further down the river we saw a performance of the famous Zhangzhou hand puppets.

Coffee - Chinese style

2008-06-17T11:09:00.007+10:00

Coffee is a luxury here, even instant coffee. Where it is made well it is often brewed in elaborate percolators.

Blokes and their birds

2008-06-15T21:43:00.009+10:00

Roger's nursery

2008-06-03T16:25:00.012+10:00

Summer's here

2008-05-26T18:57:00.002+10:00

Baking in China

2008-05-04T14:22:00.006+10:00

Baking? Not possible! Our kitchen has a couple of gas burners, a microwave, a sink with no plumbed-in hot water, a sterilizer, and very low benches. There is no oven.

So, oven-less, and with a gluten-free eater who has a hankering for muffins, we remember all the steamed bread we see sold on the street corners.

Armed with a bag of imported gluten-free flour, a bamboo steamer, some very ripe bananas and small paper cups, I make my first batch of steamed muffins. They work; they taste okay and because of the brown sugar they look like baked goods too.

Street music

2008-04-17T17:00:00.000+10:00

I heard some music drifting down the cobbled street, and found a singer, about 7 or 8 elderly musicians, and an even older audience sitting by an old stone gateway. They were performing and listening to Chinese opera (not my favourite, but, if you steel yourself to the high notes, still enjoyable) while drinking tea, chatting and gossiping. The locals insisted I sit and join them, offering me tea, and we held a very fragmented conversation; 'where are you from', 'when did you come to Zhangzhou', 'are you a teacher', 'that women over there is 80'. And that is about as far as my Chinese will take me!

Tulou

2008-04-16T10:43:00.015+10:00

Up in the mountains, a couple of hours drive from home, are the defensive earth buildings constructed by the Hakka people. Each time we visit the different tulou clusters I find myself mesmerised; they are fascinating. One building was constructed only about 50 years ago but others are 300 years old. They can house up to a 100 people, and their poultry, and are, for the moment, still inhabited.

Tulou clusters in Dadi Village, Xiandu Town, Hua'an and Tian Luo Keng, or 'Snail Pit', village, Nanjing

Modernisation

2008-04-15T20:25:00.006+10:00

As fast as we can explore the old part of Zhangzhou it is being demolished for modernisation.

Tea and dumplings

2008-04-15T18:59:00.012+10:00

A favourite place for tea and vegetarian dim sum is Lock Cha Teashop. Mr Ip's passion for tea and tea culture pervades all aspects of this charming and calming refuge in Hong Kong.

'Oil sticks'

2008-04-15T18:39:00.005+10:00

Set up in a lane, not far from a school, were a couple preparing and deep frying dough sticks. The long ones are savoury and often dunked in rice porridge, while the short ones are slightly sweet and a good mid afternoon snack.

Pandas, and other animals

2008-04-14T17:40:00.011+10:00

It has taken three trips to Fuzhou (the capital of Fujian Province) to get to 'Panda World', but finally we made it.

This 5 year old panda was being put through her paces as 'Miss Panda World 2008'. A keeper was coaxing her in and out of various poses with carrots, bamboo and 'panda cake', while another staff member took photos. Perfect, as all the other pandas just lay around digesting bamboo!

In comparison the red pandas were positively manic, and pretty cute!

The monkeys we saw later that day, wild in a National Park, were mischievously intent on getting peanuts from the visitors, sold to them by the opportunistic locals - a symbiotic relationship!

A Local Festival

2007-12-20T13:30:00.025+11:00

The marching ‘girls’ had hit the streets the day before, but it was the people carrying complicated paper constructions that lured me to the local temple.

The scene at the temple was overwhelming.

There were 12 large tables covered with food, paper decorations and flowers, and beside each table stood a dead pig, and in many cases a dead goat too!

I was told it was in honour of their ancestors and only occurs once every 6 years. There were people everywhere; people decorating tables, people preparing the temple, people applying makeup on the opera stage, people applying makeup to the pigs and goats, people gossiping, gawping and comparing the offerings.

It was spectacular.

Xiamen

2007-05-25T13:56:00.000+10:00

Xiamen is the major city about an hour's drive from Zhang Zhou.
It sometimes appears as Amoy on older maps.

We visited the temple one weekend, and were taken aback by the number of visitors, most of who seemed to be there to worship rather than just sight see like us. It is set on the side of a hill looking towards the sea (good Feng Shui).

A five minute ferry ride takes you to Gulang Yu, which, in the 1800s, was a foreign enclave. It has no cars or bikes, and the colonial architecture and beaches makes it a great day trip.

Changsha, Hunan Province

2007-05-25T10:57:00.000+10:00

A couple of weekends ago we made it to the capital of Hunan Province (2 provinces west from Fujian).

Here is Roger outside the Hunan Provincial Museum. Its section on the wonderfully preserved contents of a 3000 year old tomb was compelling.

We undertook a favourite Chinese pastime; 'climbing a mountain' at Yuelu Park.
The red pavilion, overlooking a lovely still pond (with gold fish), is said a place the young Mao Zedong discussed politics with his friends. The circular gate way is part of the monastery in the park,and the tile detail from Yuelu Academy.

Changsha, food and street life

2007-05-25T08:39:00.001+10:00

Hunan is know for it's spicy food, but we found lots of fabulous fruit too.

We joined the locals (and their dogs) chatting and drinking tea in a little park. Street sellers wandered between the tables offering savoury snacks, a semi-set tofu drink, as well as seated massages.

While exploring the little lanes around our hotel, we heard a loud bang.

No, not fireworks, though we saw lots being sold,

but a man 'popping' corn and rice in a medieval, and ingenuous, looking contraption.

Early in the morning the public spaces fill with Tai Chi and Gongfu proponents.
But we also saw people dancing and writing calligraphy, in water, on the ground.

First haircut

2007-05-25T08:30:00.000+10:00

It has taken a while (3 months), and an emergency dash to Hong Kong in the interim,

but I now am the proud possessor of my first Chinese haircut!

Climbing a mountain

2007-05-02T15:04:00.000+10:00

A while ago, while Roger was travelling for work, I climbed Yun Dong Yan, or 'Mist Cave Rock', with some of his colleagues. It is on the edge of Zhang Zhou, has many caves and quite a few visitors!

Boating off the Xiamen coast

2007-05-02T14:57:00.000+10:00

On the May Day holiday a motley group of local Westerners hired 2 boats to cruise the coast. We passed oyster farms on the way north, anchored in a lovely inlet and had an on-board BBQ.

Architectural influences

2007-04-29T14:55:00.000+10:00

The old Christian church shows Western influences, while the form of the new church has more than a passing reference to European architecture.

Zhang Zhou's church and Sacré Coeur, Montmartre.

But the Parisian version doesn't have a pool hall directly underneath!

Work

2007-04-29T14:07:00.002+10:00

Roger's office is walking distance from our apartment.
But he spends a lot of time in the field; apparently this tree is 'OK'.

He claims it is all work; lots of people to see and rivers to cross!

This is one of the kindergartens I teach at,

and the view from the company's office into the courtyard and onto one of the main shopping street in town.

And now for a subject dear to my heart; food

2007-04-14T11:39:00.000+10:00

The local market provides fabulous produce,
while Wal Mart supplies comfort food, and English labelling.

And here are some meals I prepared earlier.

But there are lots of options for eating out, and hot pot is a favourite with a large group of people. Or you can find BBQ spiced skewers by the local fishing pond.

And Roger gets to try many interesting things on his travels, from bamboo to bees.

Yes, deep fried bees.

And after food there is tea.

Mostly we drink the local variety of green tea; tieguanyin.
A red tea is also available called pu-er. It is aged and comes compressed, sometimes in beautiful tablets.

Zhangzhou, Fujian Province

2007-03-14T05:00:00.000+11:00

One of the lanes in the older section of town,
and a newer street flowing round a banyan tree.

Changes in Zhangzhou

2007-03-13T23:54:00.000+11:00

The old lane ways in the centre of town are facinating to walk down,

however there is an extraordinary amount of new construction,
and the old buildings are disappearing fast.

But this section of town that is heritage listed by UNESCO.

Street cleaners

2007-03-13T23:47:00.000+11:00

We see all sorts of interesting things from our apartment windows. Street cleaning has never been so fascinating.

Our apartment

2007-03-09T05:00:00.000+11:00

Our apartment complex in reality,

and the marketer's mind!

And here is the interior of our home,
with furniture that has an eerie Franco Cozzo feel!

Local temples

2007-03-09T04:45:00.001+11:00

Roger can see this temple from his office window. It doesn't appear on our map so I don't know its name. I recall it being Buddhist. Behind it's back wall is a tiny temple of a different religion.

Over the river is a large Buddhist temple called Nan Shan Si (South Mountain Temple). Its atmosphere is calm and reflective, and it has beautiful carving and sculpture.

Spring Festival

2007-03-09T03:50:00.000+11:00

Spring Festival and Chinese New Year are the major celebration for the year. In 2007 Chinese New Year fell on the 18th of February, but there were preparations well before that, and the final day of the festival was not until the 4th of March. People travel home to be with their families, the streets are decorated, and, in Zhangzhou, it ended with a huge firework display.

Zhangzhou wildlife

2007-03-09T03:30:00.000+11:00

Excuse the fuzzy photo, but here is a local resident. He was a good 200mm long not counting the tail.

At least he looks healthy!

And then, of course, there is dinner!