Yufeng and its Five-Hundred Year Old Camellia

Insectarians would find Lijiang a treat. How about some fried cockroaches and maggots for a snack?

Unfortunately we never acquired a taste for these members of the animal kingdom and stuck to a mixture of European and Chinese breakfast which includes delicious dumplings and a lot of soup. One thing is certain we were never spoilt for choice in our cuisine and discovered how truly limited many so-called Chinese restaurants in the west are.

Here were our first views on stepping outside our hotel in Lijiang. First, however, we joined a trip to explore the surrounding country around a town first made famous last century by those mythical travellers, British Bruce Chatwin. Russian Peter Goullart and American Joseph Rock.

Some roadside sights were very familiar to anyone who has lived in our part of the Lucchesia for some time.

We headed for a remote temple which has the oldest Camelia tree in the world.

As you’ll know tea is a species of camellia. We love the camellia festival in the Compitese area of the Pisan hills and regularly attend it. (For more on that see my posts at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/03/20/the-ravishing-camellias-of-compitese/ and https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/la-traviatas-favourite-flower/  and https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/one-hundred-roman-farms-and-one-thousand-camellias/ and https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/thankyou-camellia/ .

We’ve even inherited our own camellia tree when we bought our little house in 2005. We were thus very keen to visit the ancient lamasery of Yufeng. We were now in a border country where Confucianism, animism, and both Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism coexist. Indeed, the ethnic minorities of this area count well over twenty different groups. The Yufeng lamasery belongs to the Scarlet sect (as distinct from the yellow hat – more of that when we enter Tibet) and dates back to 1756 (the year of Mozart’s birth…) during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (Qing dynasty).

We were welcomed by a chorus of Nakhi grandmothers:

It’s a miracle that this temple, like so many others we visited in the orient, has survived one of the three great misdirected vicissitudes (yes, today the Chinese government recognizes the fact that they were indeed misdirected…) namely the great famine, the great leap forwards and the Cultural Revolution.

It was thanks to a wonderful Nakhi man, Nadu Lama that the ancient camellia tree was saved from the destructive forces of the country’s equivalent of what’s still happening to the cultural heritage of Syria and Iraq. Sadly, we were too late to meet Nadu as he died last year but we regard him as one of the great unsung heroes of modern-day China.

My knowledge of architectural styles in this part of the world is sorely lacking but I gather Yufeng temple is an amalgam of Han (majority Chinese), Tibetan, Taoist and the local Nakhi (or Naxi) Dingba animist religion.

Unfortunately, we arrived at the wrong time of year to enjoy the wonderful blossoms of the camellia which are best appreciated in the spring and early summer.

The intimate atmosphere, the incredible convolutions of the camellia and the wonderful views, however, more than compensated for that and we did see a photograph of a blossoming shrub which has changed not only Chinese drinking habits but that of so many other countries including, of course, our own UK and has extended well into politics as well.

The camellia itself was planted by Emperor Chenghua of the Ming dynasty over five hundred years ago. It’s thus rather older than the temple itself. The flowers bloom for around a hundred days and the tree has over twenty thousand (!) blossoms). Incredibly, it’s two camellias in one: the pink camellia and the white. They seem to have bonded together like passionate lovers.

No wonder Nadu Lama devoted his entire life to protecting this one plant. Would you risk your life to protect one of earth’s natural glories in such a devoted fashion?

The whole area is indescribably beautiful but be warned, after recent rains, the temple steps (each temple must have its, usually steep, steps as it’s built on a hill, and you have to pay a little penance to get to its holy of holies) can get a little slippery!

PS In case your knowledge of Chinese dynasties is slim (as is mine) here is a chart to help you along when I describe later episodes in our eastern odyssey:

Dynasty				Rulers	Ruling house or clan of houses	From	To	Length
Name	Chinese		Meaning
Confederacy dynasties
Xia dynasty	夏	Xià	Tribe name	(list)	Sì (姒)	2070 BC	1600 BC	470 years
Shang dynasty	商	Shāng	Toponym	(list)	Zǐ (子)	1600 BC	1046 BC	554 years
Western Zhou dynasty	西周	Xī Zhōu	Toponym	(list)	Jī (姬)	1046 BC	771 BC	275 years
Eastern Zhou dynasty	東周 / 东周	Dōng Zhōu	Toponym	(list)	Jī (姬)	770 BC	256 BC	515 years
Spring and Autumn period	春秋	Chūn Qiū	As English			770 BC	476 BC	295 years
Warring States period	戰國 / 战国	Zhàn Guó	As English			476 BC	221 BC	255 years
Imperial dynasties
Qin dynasty	秦	Qín	Toponym	(list)	Yíng (嬴)	221 BC	206 BC	15 years
Western Han dynasty	西漢 / 西汉	Xī Hàn	Toponym	(list)	Liú (劉)	206 BC or 202 BC	9 AD	215 years
Xin dynasty	新	Xīn	“New”	(list)	Wáng (王)	9 AD	23 AD	14 years
Eastern Han dynasty	東漢 / 东汉	Dōng Hàn	Toponym	(list)	Liú (劉)	25 AD	220 AD	195 years
Three Kingdoms	三國 / 三国	Sān Guó	As English	(list)	Cáo (曹) Liú (劉 / 刘) Sūn (孫 / 孙)	220 AD	280 AD	60 years
Western Jin dynasty	西晉 / 西晋	Xī Jìn	Toponym	(list)	Sīmǎ (司馬)	265 AD	317 AD	52 years
Eastern Jin dynasty	東晉 / 东晋	Dōng Jìn	Toponym	(list)	Sīmǎ (司馬)	317 AD	420 AD	103 years
Southern and Northern dynasties	南北朝	Nán Běi Cháo	As English	(list)	various	420 AD	589 AD	169 years
Sui dynasty	隋	Suí	Ducal title (随 homophone)	(list)	Yáng (楊)	581 AD	618 AD	37 years
Tang dynasty	唐	Táng	Ducal title	(list)	Lǐ (李)	618 AD	907 AD	289 years
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms	五代十國 / 五代十国	Wǔ Dài Shí Guó	As English	(list)	various	907 AD	960 AD	53 years
Kingdom of Dali	大理國 / 大理国	Dà Lǐ Guó	Toponym	(list)	Duan (段)	937 AD	1253 AD	316 years
Northern Song dynasty	北宋	Běi Sòng	Toponym	(list)	Zhào (趙)	960 AD	1127 AD	167 years
Southern Song dynasty	南宋	Nán Sòng	Toponym	(list)	Zhào (趙)	1127 AD	1279 AD	152 years
Liao dynasty	遼 / 辽	Liáo	“Vast” or “Iron” (Khitan homophone)	(list)	Yelü (; 耶律)	907 AD or 916 AD	1125 AD	209 years
Jin dynasty	金	Jīn	“Gold”	(list)	Wanggiya (; 完顏)	1115 AD	1234 AD	119 years
Western Xia	西夏	Xī Xià	Toponym	(list)	Li (𘝾; 李)	1038 AD	1227 AD	189 years
Western Liao	西遼	Xī Liáo	“Vast” or “Iron” (Khitan homophone)	(list)	Yelü (; 耶律)	1124 AD	1218 AD	94 years
Yuan dynasty	元	Yuán	“Great” or “Primacy”	(list)	Borjigin (ᠪᠣᠷᠵᠢᠭᠢᠨ; 孛兒只斤)	1271 AD	1368 AD	97 years
Ming dynasty	明	Míng	“Bright”	(list)	Zhū (朱)	1368 AD	1644 AD or 1662 AD	276 years
Qing dynasty	清	Qīng	“Pure”	(list)	Aisin Gioro ( ᠠᡳᠰᡳᠨ ᡤᡳᠣᡵᠣ; 愛新覺羅)	1636 AD or 1644 AD	1912 AD	268 years

PPS Don’t worry if you can’t place them as easily as such terms as ‘mediaeval,’, ‘renaissance’, ‘rococo, or even ‘baroque’. The most important dynasties to remember are clearly the last two: the Ming and Qing.

 

Towards Yunnan

We flew to Lijiang across over half of China. Looking through a somewhat clouded landscape at my Eastern Chinese airline window I could see that the flood plains were being left behind for hillier country. We were now entering Yunnan province, described by many as the most varied and the most enticing of all China.

Our destination was Lijiang, a town with a history going back over a thousand years and a former trade centre for both silk and tea. It’s often been described as the most beautiful place in China with its complex system of streets and waterways. Lijiang’s elegant architecture, its inimitable atmosphere, its melting pot of local ethnic groups has earnt it a UNESCO accolade on the world heritage list.

Lijiang is primarily the centre of Nakhi culture and preserves aspects of Chinese art which have vanished from so many other areas. Their wood-carving is second to none and I have never seen such elaborately finished windows. Nakhi people also preserve ancient Chinese music learnt from an influx of players from Nanjing, which I was very keen to hear. They also preserve a pictographic writing system somewhat similar to that of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Lijiang also has the reputed finest view in all China looking toward the famed Jade Dragon Mountain. It’s indeed a crossroad of different cultures and a transitional point towards Tibet.

We arrived in the evening and were only able to catch the town in the twilight. Enough was there to entice us to explore its wonders next morning. We could hardly sleep with anticipation.

As ever our hotel was atmospheric and our multi-plated supper superb.

 

 

Venice in China

I’m now able to make more sense of our epic journey to China and Tibet on my return to Longoio. Perhaps my blog should, as a result, be renamed ‘From London to Longoio to Lhasa and beyond…’

We’ve seen a country which totally amazed Italian traveller Marco Polo in the thirteenth century and continually surprises first time visitors (like us) today. If you haven’t been to China then I can safely say your world view is unacceptably incomplete.

It’s easy to get away from the high rise and urban bustle of Shanghai. This megalopolis, the largest city in the world with a population of over 24,000,000 (almost three times the population of London), does have some very beautiful gardens (which we discovered on our return visit), China’s best fine arts museum and noodles more. It’s also situated in a flood plain which is intersected by canals and rivers bordering some of the most attractive ‘water’ villages’ in China.

One village we visited was Zhujiajiao. Placed on a tributary of the Yangtze, its waterways and lagoons make it a sort of an oriental version of one of the smaller islands of the Venetian lagoon.  Zhujiajiao’s main activities have been fishing and rice growing but increasingly it’s become a popular week-end venue for Shanghai city-dwellers and many of its inhabitants live off the tourist trade. There is a wide variety of shops selling everything from fish to silks to handicrafts and umpteen scrumptious eating places.

Despite this, Zhujiajiao still conserves its traditional charm. The river town’s architecture is truly what one imagines picture-book Chinese villages should look like and Zhujiajiao also has some beautiful temples and civic buildings. In some respects it reminded me of Hội An in Vietnam which I’d visited in February 2014. Both towns have a rich past stretching back almost two thousand years and are definitely must-see places in their respective countries.

As with Venice one of the graceful features of Zhujiajiao are its bridges, the most well-known one of which is Fangsheng Bridge (Setting-fish-free Bridge). It is also the longest, largest and tallest stone bridge, with five openings in the Shanghai region and dates back to 1571. It somehow reminded me of a bridge familiar to anyone who travels to Lucca from the upper Serchio valley:

The combination of canals, bridges and buildings is to my mind irresistible. I loved Zhujiajiao and, walking its enticing streets, realised that China does now care for its immensely rich heritage as much as its incredible economic changes and modernisation.

Let a small selection of our pics speak for themselves:

Shanghaied

On floor twenty four of the Jin Jiang hotel tower in Puxu, the west bank and original centre of the world’s most populous city (twenty million plus), the view of China’s financial centre and showcase city is pretty spectacular.

We arrived here after a twelve-hour flight on Chinese Eastern airlines followed by an excellent meal in downtown Shanghai. As we drove down the bund, the old colonial concession quarter, I was able to spot some wonderful examples of art deco buildings several built by that great Hungarian-slovak architect, Laszlo Hudec.

These contrasted radically with what was on the opposite side of the wide river, the Liujiazu quarter with its amazing night skyline and Shanghai’s fastest developing area which includes the world’s second tallest building at over 2000 feet in height and the iconic pearl communication tower so fabulously lit up at night. It’s amazing to think that in 1990 Pudong was an area of paddy fields and villages.

The move to cities has been of exodic proportion in China and over half of the city’s population have migrated here from the countryside.

This is our first time to this country. There is so much to learn but there is hope that at the end of our mystery journey we shall return a little wiser.

Already I have discovered that my old school, Dulwich College, has a branch here, complete with red brick buildings and campanile! But with our limited and tight schedule I doubt I shall visit it.

One other connection I have with the city is through my bank: my old Midland bank became the HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai banking corporation.)
What will the Shanghai morning bring? No doubt many more astounding insights into a city which has just been a visionary name until now.