Or "Man, those Chinese sure can copy anything."
Well, sorry to inform you. I have more photos, better than ever, in fact, 200 over of them. Ho Ho... (am I trying to break the most photos ever posted in a single entry record or what?)
And this time, Chinese has done its best yet again...
By copying themselves.
Introducing.... China Folk Culture Villages.
Another theme park dedicated to reproducing all the best attractions in China, showcasing architectures and daily lives of the 56 ethnic groups in China.
I did wonder why they didn't name it Cultural Village instead of Culture Villages. Oh well, whatever they want it to be called.
Map 1
Map 2
Let's start with waking up really really early in the morning again.
Grumpy look
Ipod makes me happy
We arrived at the Culture Villages with sunshine moods.
It was Chinese New Year when we visited the park, hence the place was full of Chinese festivities.
Dragon at the entrance
Tang Long everywhere
When I went down the stairs, I was greeted with girls with their skirts up in my face.
It was the year of the OX, and a morning performance was going on.
Considering they're Oxes, they're pretty skinny to be one, or two.
And weird tall-ish guy dancing the finale away.
Shortly after the performance, we were given time to roam freely around.
Few things you could find here in a park that showcase all things Chinese.
First! You have, but none other than... Giant Size Chess.
Ok, so not all Chess are huge, but this one below is.
Chinese do love their chess. Soon there was crowds coming in splitting in two parties to play chess against each other.
The kid was the chess mover. lol. what a way to use your kids.
I sneakily stole a run to the centre of the Chess paper to take this photo.
Next, Calligraphy!
Another undeniably Chinese signature culture.
This guy was so amazing that to draw calligraphy, all he needed was water and a human size brush with sponge attached at one end.
Watch the video to see him in action.
Dragon.
Horse. (I do wonder how he ever draw such a perfect circle)
Third. Go game! Or also known as Wei Qi in Mandarin: 围棋
I learnt how to play this game from the comic: King of Wei Qi.
But know naught of the strategy of how to win it. -.-
Pretending to know how to play.
Then there's the famous Handmade Candy of Animals.
I don't know about you, but Chinese can do almost anything with their hands. Producing the most exquisite and delicate piece of art or food that would normally take ages for an average human to complete.
Here's a video of the making in process.
Amazing hand movement wasn't that?
Following that you place a stick on the dragon candy,
Tuck it in nicely.
Then peal it off with your spatula.
Voila! A fierce and fresh dragon candy done!
RMB 10 please.
I opted for candy floss instead.
Quite big don't you think?
Bigger than my head
Soon it was time for the afternoon performance. There are to be three performances that day. :D
The second performance was a showcase of all the costumes from different ethnicity around China.
Most of which were really pretty. Especially when they were worn by delicately picked beautiful Chinese women.
The final costume was a gown worn by the empress of a certain dynasty (which I am not sure).
If there was one documentary display of the beauty of China, this has to be it. Malaysia should learn such skill from China.
But then again, who could compete with China when it comes to showing off ones grand-ness. Beijing Olympics 2008 proved so.
Finally, now comes the Window of the World - China version.
On the right side of the park (according to the map) was a walk through on the replicas of China's most impressive attractions.
Not sure what this was though.
Phew, ok guys, let's start.
I know, long way to go!
First I want to bring you to Szechuan.
Where a great Buddha statue situates, called the Leshan Grand Buddha Statue.
Seeing that I've never been to the north of China, I can let imagination depicts the size of said statue.
Down in Yunnan, you will find the Dwellings of the Bai Nationality. (translation: white people)
Doesn't it make you wonder why these people are called so?
Then there was the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu in Chengdu, Szechuan.
Why it was translated as Cottage I have no idea, because the place looks nothing like the size of a cottage, nor a large cottage at that.
It looks more like a mansion on its own.
Halfway walking, I spotted a tree which has this sign next to it.
Now for people how read my blog religiously enough would know that I love Osmanthus tea. Especially after my visit to Shanghai.
But never have I known how the tree looks like.
I always thought it would be more of a bush than such a big tree. I tried smelling the leaves but it doesn't smell anything like that it tasted after it's dried and soaked in hot water.
The next attraction was familiar to me. I didn't need a sign to tell me what it was for I have seen the actual thing myself.
It's the Elephant Rock in Guilin.
Not this kind of elephant rock.
Next, we'll fly to Chong Qing, Hu Bei to cruise along the Yangtze River Gorges.
Three gorges combined forming a picturesque view,
even as a replica.
From the Tang Dynasty comes the Yue Yang Tower.
A historical tower that lasted through Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties till this day.
It was also once compiled into an essay by famous poet Fan Zhong Yan which made its existence famous.
The next building was a significant one.
Maybe even legendary. One I will definitely want to visit one day, even if I have to transform into a boy.
The Shaolin Temple of Henan province.
Is there really a 18 bronze men inside the temple? Is there really legendary wise beyond human's wisdom monk inside? No one knows. We only ever heard it from movies and stories.
This is probably the closest I've ever gotten to the temple.
Wa cha!
Next is the Yellow Crane Tower, another famous-appeared-in-poems (and stories) tower. Located in Hubei.
Yawn.
The next icon they conveniently transformed it into a public toilet.
Introducing, Huang Shan (directly translated to Yellow Mountain). Another historical and legendary icon in China (what is not in China *roll eyes*).
I was more excited about this mountain than the rest of the river and buildings because coming from a Chinese school, I read about the said mountain in a lot of poems and historical documentary I came across during high school.
They even replicated the stone on top.
And even the famous tree on the Huang Shan.
There's even a small waterfall next to it. Awee...
Looks like long-kang to me.
Nearby I was playing hide-and-seek with some flowers. :D
The next icon I happened to come across before too, but never explored much.
The West Lake in Hangzhou.
A lake so big it looks like a sea.
That's how the proverb "Autumn Moon on Calm Lake" come about.
Man I can't stop laughing every time I read that. How they translate things. haha.
The ZheJiang is a long river that passed through West Lake, on another location you find a water village on ShaoXing.
Coming to Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, you will come to see the Hanshan (Cold Mountain) Temple.
I read about this place in the poem written by Zhang Xu.
It does bring a lot of high school memories, seeing actual places from stories you've only read about when you were young. No wonder my mom loves visiting China, it reminded her a lot of when she was a kid.
If you know a Chinese proverb or two, you might heard of "Wen Ru Tai Shan" (or "As steady as the Mount Tai").
The proverb was due to its sheer size, ranked first among all the sacred mountains in China, Taishan has been used by many emperors of the past as a sacred place to pray to the gods.
Now the next one, even if you are a Chinese culture noob, you will hear of it anyway.
Because people stereotype him with Chinese. He is so popular, even Peter Russell made jokes about him.
The temple (or monastery) of Confucius.
The man sure had made it.
Just look how big his place is. Though the temple was constructed over his original residence.
The guide pointed out an edge on the roof of Confucius temple which was famous for a proverb.
Which I forgot about it. Does anyone know what proverb is it?
When taking this photo, I saw a little cute Chinese girl with her cute outfit walked by the temple.
Seriously, why are all Chinese babies all dressed so adorably.
Rushing off to the next location, I passed by the Minng Tombs.
Which I shall skip quickly and let you read the sign yourself instead.
We paid a visit to the Summer Palace next to the Minng Tombs.
It seems to be located on a lake, accessible via a bridge.
Too bad we couldn't get anywhere nearer than watching it from the other side of the lake, or pond in this case.
If you've realized, we've come to Beijing. And in Beijing, you find a lot of famous historical monument, royal architecture and garden, popular poet's houses. A large amount of reproductions originated from this city.
The Temple of Heaven for one. A sacred place where the Emporers of Ming and Qing Dynasties prayed to gods, which, btw, was a very grand and sacred event.
Hence a very, very, very big place.
My brother's been there. And he said it was a really long walk in spite of it being just a place for praying.
This circular wall is called a Hui Yin Qiang, if you place your ear to one side of the wall, you can hear other people speak on the other end of the wall. No one can hide any secret here, so they say.
Then we reached the actual praying platform
There you see a mini emperor carrying out his prayer.
It's a long walk in from the entrance.
Then you'll find the Mausoleum of Li Bai (famous poet) next to the temple.
Located on a hill. To get there, you will need to climb a lot of stairs.
And I mean a lot.
Skipping Beijing for a bit, we walked past Ying Country, there you find a Pagoda called YingXian Wooden Pagoda.
Then also in Shanxi province, you should know about the famous Terra Cotta warriors in Xi'an.
Buried in the Qin Xi Huang Mausoleum.
It's amazing how they had carved out every single warrior and horse and reproduced the entire mausoleum.
No matter how small, it is amazing.
Here are a few photos of me camwhoring with a human size Terra Cotta Warrior.
Back to Beijing.
The content is getting better now.
Tell me. What else is famous in Beijing?
Heard of Tian An Men? (Gate of Heavenly Peace)
It's located on the southern part of Forbidden City. A gate actually.
Existing over 5 centuries and is one of the most substantial architecture ever.
Now what is Beijing without the Imperial Palace. The very one you see in every Qing Dynasty based Chinese TV series (or drama, or movie), though the palace was built in the Ming Dynasty.
If you do watch any TV, you should know more of the interior of this palace than viewing it from here.
At the back lies the Imperial Garden, also built in the Ming Dynasty.
We're almost coming to an end.
Now the last final thing you have to see and experience in China, is the great wall of China.
And yes damn well they reproduce it.
Or sections of it.
These are the The JuYongGuan and Badaling sections.
If I didn't know better, I thought this photo was pretty realistic.
Until I came into the picture.
Hehe...
Ok. Done with the most part of China. Now let's get off course of China. Like the Mongolia.
Here you find the Mausoleum of Chenghis Khan, the ever ferocious ruler who founded Yuan Dynasty. (most also like to refer to him as Gengkhis Khan)
I managed to spot a broken wall on the replica. Haha.. so funny. Wonder if the real thing is also broken :p
A typical Nadam Fair in Mongolia.
See the jubilee people on the road?
Yep, they sure looked happy alright.
Someone must've stepped on these guys' heads.
In XinQiang, you will find a Great Islamic Mosque.
So don't say China doesn't have great mosques. :)
Have anyone of you watched the movie Huan Zu Ge Ge?
When you heard Xin Qiang, did it remind you of the Fragrance Concubine that Emporer Qian Long once fell head over heels for?
Well, here is her Mausoleum.
All the way out in Gansu, stood a Jiayu Pass (a wall, or gate),
which was famous by its archictect. Why? Because some say such was his accuracy in design and calculation of such a perfect outpost, that by the time building was done, he count of bricks of over estimated by ONE.
ONE BRICK! can you believe it?!
Finally!! Our last building!
This one is located alllll the up in the mountains.
Where? Tibet of course.
The Potala Palace in Lhasa. (I thought I read Potato palace at first :p)
To get up there, you need days of trackings, and if you're not fit, don't even think about reaching your destination. Because air is thin up there and you might it difficult to breath, least to stay up there.
So I stayed below to take photos with a few Tibetans.
But who knows, one day. One day I might have the chance to go up there. :D
See the horses running in the wilderness.
Done! We've finished the park!
Let's have a family photo.
I know, we're a tall family. Mom being the shortest. 5ft 5. Hehe.
But wait, aren't we forgetting something.
Oh right! The evening performance.
Haha. don't think I forget that.
Told you it's going to be a long entry. It's meant to tire you out.
As it is tiring me out now to type these. La la la...
But since most of you like photos. I shall go through this very quickly with just photos k?
Introduction: Little girls in nude costumes
Natives dancing
Person doing hip hop move
started to rain
Emperor and his war carriage
flamboyant costumes
beautiful girls doing synchronized dance
dragon and kids doing synchronized dance
more beautiful girls
This time yellow beautiful girls
oh look, pink butterflies join in the yellow and white butterflies
almost finishing
almost there
Finale!!!
What a great show. Everyone clap hand please.
The show, I would like to summarize, was really worth watching. I thoroughly enjoyed every piece of it. Especially the rain on the stage. It's real water, with real artificial river.
And now, god, it's time to sleep. I think my hands are going to wither from typing.
Night night everyone! Visit Shenzhen soon k!
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