Yang Guan Pass of China Great Wall, Gansu Yang Pass, Yangguan Pictures

Yang Guan Pass of China Great Wall, Gansu Yang Pass, Yangguan Pictures

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/picture/china_great_wall/gansu/dunhuang/yangguan/
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china_great_wall/scene/gansu/yangguan.htm
Located in Nanhu Village, along the Hexi Corridor and 43 miles southwest to Dunhuang City in Gansu Province, Yangguan Pass is one of the two important western passes (the other one is Yumenguan Pass) of Great Wall in Western Han Dynasty (206BC -24AD). The Emperor Wu ordered to build it in the purpose of consolidating the frontier defense as well as developing the remote western region.

In Chinese, Yang means the south. Because it is lying to the south of Yumenguan Pass, people gave its name - Yangguan Pass. Together with Yumenguan Pass, it has also witnessed the prosperity of Silk Road in the past times. In Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), it welcomed the glorious return of Xuan Zang, a great monk who pilgrimaged to the west in search of Buddhist scriptures. Many Chinese get to know this important pass mainly from the poem Farewell to Yuaner to Take Office in Anxi, written by Wang Wei, a famous poet in Tang Dynasty. From the last two lines "Oh, my friend, I sincerely entreat you to have another cup of wine; you will see no more friends west out of the Yangguan Pass.", we can see the Yanguan Pass has always been the place of desolation and sadness since ancient times. In the Song (960 - 1279) and Ming (1368 - 1644) Dynasty, because of the decline of the Silk Road, the Pass was generally forgotten by people.

Yangguan bricks in Yangguan Pass Museum

For years and years, the flowing dunes have eroded this Great Wall pass into a broken beacon tower, standing alone in the boundless desert. It measures 15.4 feet high and 8.7 yards wide. Around the relic, you cannot even see the dismantled walls, because they were all eroded by the wind and buried under earth. South to the pass, there is a "Curio Beach". It is a small valley where you can find lots of dynasties' tiles, coins, weapons, and decorations.

Today's Yangguan Pass is not only a historic place of recalling the remote past, but also a hometown of tasty grapes. Come here, appreciate the beauty of vicissitudes of the Great Wall, enjoy the natural view combined by oasis, desert and snow peaks, and taste the juicy fruits.

Shanxi Province...Yangquan

Shanxi (help·info) (Chinese: 山西; pinyin: Shānxī; Wade–Giles: Shan-hsi; Postal map spelling: Shansi) is a province in the northern part of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is Jin (晋 pinyin jìn), after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period.

The name Shanxi literally means "mountain's west", which refers to the province's location west of the Taihang Mountains.[1] Shanxi borders Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, and Inner Mongolia to the north. The capital of the province is Taiyuan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanxi

* Jinci in Taiyuan, famous for its temples and Song Dynasty paintings and architectures.

* Zuoquan County, famous for its China Communist Party battlefield sites.

* The Ancient City of Pingyao is a World Heritage Site near Taiyuan. Once a great financial center of China, it is noted for its preservation of many features of northern Han Chinese culture, architecture, and way of life during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

* The Yungang Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in Datong, consist of 252 caves noted for their collection of 5th and 6th century Buddhist grotto sculptures and reliefs.

* Mount Wutai (Wutai Shan) is the highest point in the province. It is known as the residence of the bodhisattva Manjusri, and as a result is also a major Buddhist pilgrimage destination, with many temples and natural sights. Points of interest include Tang Dynasty (618–907) era timber halls located at Nanchan Temple and Foguang Temple, as well as a giant white stupa at Tayuan Temple built during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

* Mount Hengshan (Heng Shan), in Hunyuan County, is one of the "Five Great Peaks" of China, and is also a major Taoist site. Not far from Heng Shan, the Hanging Temple is located on the side of a cliff and has survived for 1400 years despite earthquakes in the area.

* Pagoda of Fogong Temple, in Ying County, is a pagoda built in 1056 during the Liao Dynasty. It is octagonal with nine levels (five are visible from outside), and at 67 m (220 ft) in height, it is currently the tallest wooden pagoda in the world. It is also the oldest fully-wooden pagoda in China, although many no-longer-existing wooden pagodas have preceded it, and many existing stone and brick pagodas predate it by centuries.

* Hukou Waterfall is located in the Yellow River on the Shanxi-Shaanxi border. At 50 meters high it is the second highest waterfall in China.

* Dazhai is a village in Xiyang County. Situated in hilly, difficult terrain, it was a holy site during the Cultural Revolution, when it was set out to the entire nation as exemplary of the hardiness of the proletariat, especially peasants.

* The Cloud Ridge Caves are shallow caves near Datong. There are over 50,000 carved images and statues of Buddhas and Boddhisatvas within these grottoes, ranging from 4 centimeters to 7 meters tall.

Chaohu China

 Chaohu Farm: April 5th 2008...the Rapeseed is in full flower and the fields from Hefei to Chaohu were golden with the flowers.It was very beautiful.Here is King as we walk through the fields of Flowers on Saturday at Chaohu
I have just returned from the most wonderful weekend, staying on a farm, in the small Rural village at Chaohu, where I stayed with King and his family in a beautiful white brick home in the middle of picturesque rice fields with Rapeseed in full golden flower. Here I enjoyed the most generous hospitality and friendship, and experienced real Rural China for the first time.
His father is a school teacher and his mother works the farm which produces a crop of Rapeseed, some wheat and rice. Rapeseed  is used to make vegetable oil, and they also produce  all the vegetables needed by the family, as well as eggs, chickens and ducks. Their farm is one of many small farms in a small Community where the people work together as a community and share the fields and community life. I also visited a Chicken farm and saw how the chickens are grown for commercial sale in large quantities in warmed huts where they simply eat and grow ready for the market.
The neighbours came to meet me, and it was wonderful sharing their lives and smiles, for this weekend.
This was a special weekend, as it was Qingming, a Public Holiday for cleaning the tombs of the Ancestors. The tombs were decorated with shining streams of colored tinsel after the family visited it with Prayer Paper, symbolic money and fireworks to scare away bad spirits. The most meaningful part was the paying of respect to the ancestor with a small prayer. The tombs were all visible because of the decoration.
King's Mother is a quality cook, and the meals were fantastic. I saw the duck being defeathered and cleaned, and then enjoyed it in a delectable dish alongside chicken, pork, waterlily, mushroom, broadbeans, bok choi, fresh fish, salted fish and salted duck, preserved eggs, even shrimps in a tangy sauce. Every meal was a gourmet delight, and accompanied by beer in tiny glasses, friendly toasts and much good spirits.
On Saturday we went to climb the mountain. Somehow we wandered across fields passing geese, and ducks, and one barking dog, an ox ploughing the rice field, and beekeepers collecting the honey from the hives. We climbed straight up the mountain following a very small track that led us past women picking wild tea on the slopes, and boys walking up rock faces. It was a very hard climb to the top to see Tiger Mountain and the scenery down below in every direction. I was scared because of the slippery track and the prickly thorn bushes we had to find our way through.
Then came the hardest part, winding our way back through the unknown on almost vertical slopes until we eventually came to the lake, after four hours of walking...straight up and then straight down a mountain.
It was quite a relief to see tombs of ancestors as that meant the village was not far away, and as we crossed the lake in the gathering evening light, we saw the hives and the Honey factory where we purchased some of the sweetest, most delectable and pure, golden honey, direct from the bees you can say, as the workers were draining the honey from the wax laden hivs, as we waited. 
The whole walk was very beautiful, and we enjoyed the experience. As we started back, the rain came, and so did King's father with a huge black umbrella, and we made it back home without getting too soaked.
The morning was spent walking over the fields listening to bird songs, watching the tadpoles and the tiny green frogs, and walking through fields of golden rapeseed in full tonings of gold with small pods forming below the flowers. The paths were rich in wildflowers...tiny violets, small wild orchids, small white daisies, buttercup, pink clover flowers, and purple lilac like creepers that poured out of the earth. The rice fields were rich with seed for the chickens, as it is ploughing and preparing time now in Spring. The vegetables were green and healthy, and there was spinach, potatoes, celery, and wheat growing green and rich. We even saw a snake, and King caught it and held it for us to view before sending it into the water to swim away smoothly out of sight. There were Magpies, and sparrows, and holes where the weasels lived. It was such a glorious adventure following King as he showed us his home. The ponds were spindly with new reeds budding in the mud, and the peach trees shed pink blossom on the waters of the small streams that ran through the homes and was the base for washing and cleaning.
There is a small rocky, fast river crossing the property and we saw large, smooth, wash stones, where the villagers wash their clothes and rinse them in the clear running water. It is a very beautiful life, but there is also a lot of hard work. Workers were constantly on the fields, with spades and hoes, and digging forks preparing the soil for the next planting. Everyone was very friendly and were very happy to stop for a smile and a short chat, and pose for a photograph.
I came back with over 500 photos, over 30 videos of birds and music and outdoor sounds, and some Local music played on the Chinese one stringed violin by Kings Father, as we played Snap and Memory with cards after dinner.
Coming back was another adventure, as the train had no seats because of the Holiday, and we could not get on the bus as it was too full. We took a three wheeler to the bus station, then back to the second bus station, and a bus to Sanghe, and took the fourth bus from there back to Hefei. It was a very bumpy trip and quite rough in places, but we did arrive here safely.
It was a wonderful weekend, and I really enjoyed the Experience and the Outing.
Thank you King and Mary for this wonderful weekend. I especially liked waking up to the birds singing in the trees, and looking out of the window at the sun rising over the rice fields, and reflected in the water, and I loved the walk up the mountains and the walk through the beautiful fields of golden Flowers with wildflowers on every side.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Ladymaggic/ChaohuChina5April#

Great Wall China 2008

A three hour bus from Beijing to Jinshanling, and then a 3 hour hike over 30 Towers to Simatai.
Next Day I went from Simatai up to the very top...Tower 10

http://M-carstairs.com/travel

http://www.squidoo.com/GreatWallChina

 

The Great Wall stands as a symbol of the dauntlessly indomitable spirit of the Chinese people in Ancient Times. Today it is a tourist Attraction that draws adventurers and sightseers to experience this awesome Wonder of the World.

The Towers were sturdy and strongly built of thick stone. Five thousand kilometers like a gigantic dragon winding its way across China, with many of its sections and passes now designated as Key national Cultural Sites.

Each main area divided into smaller areas with a turret window in each section, which would have been manned by soldiers in the past. A small staircase led up steep steps, to the parapet, from which one could get a 360 degree view over the land.

There were steps up to the tower and down from the tower.

The walking path ran alongside the wall in most places, and you can see it quite clearly. The tour guide told us there were 1000 steps from where we started, to the wall, when he suggested we take the chair lift to the top, at the beginning of the tour. Because of the weather in January, and also the time element of the tour, we chose the faster pulley up to the Wall, so we could spend the entire time walking the wall.

There are many stories written about the Great Wall, but the one that I like best is the fact that it was called the Wall of Tears, as so many lost their lives in the creation of this World Wonder. The faith and heart of the Chinese is very strong here. They considered it an honor to die in the course of serving their Emperor. Many died from the hard life they left, and were just buried under the wall itself making this the "Wall of Tears".

When you stand and marvel at the feat of construction, spare a thought for the workers who toiled so hard to build this Fantasy.

Yes, it is a very memorable wall and if walls tell stories, there is a story here with each stone.
It is a wonderful Physical and Spiritual Experience to Walk the Wall.

Maggi Carstairs 2006

China...Sanzu Temple Tianzhu

http://www.ebrochures.com/ebrochures/eBooks/Travel/Sanzu_Temple_Tianzhu_Mountain_China

From Temple Tianzhu Tianzhu Mountain or Mount Tianzhu (Chinese: 天柱山; pinyin: Tiān Zhù Shān; literally Heaven pillar mount) is a mountain in Anhui, China. Tianzhu Mountain has 45 peaks which are 1000 meters above sea level. There are two paths to reach the top, either from the east or from the west; Dalong will try the west path first because it is the easier one. One of the famous sites is the Mystery Valley. It is a maze-like valley formed by the rocks falling from the mountain. The valley has 53 caves, which form a very complicated maze. From Temple Tianzhu