Bai Ta Shan and Guo Xue Guan Videos!

(Before I start this post, I just want to apologize...I've been the perfect combination of busy and lazy these past couple of weeks, so I haven't done anything. My bad. I'll try to catch up on my posts and updates.)

October 1st was the Chinese National Day - the day China celebrates its being a country. As I'm writing this post right now, I'm surprised that there really hasn't been much celebration.....this is supposed to be a really important holiday, right? How come there's no fireworks, no celebration, and all that? In America, we go nuts during that holiday. I don't want to speculate about China's population's feelings towards their government, but it might have something to do with it.

As you (might) know, a couple of weeks ago, I went to Lanzhou's Bai Ta Shan (White Tower Pagoda) for an afternoon. Here is the video for that afternoon. I'll also add it to my post, which you can read here.



A couple of days ago, I went to another place in Lanzhou called 九州台山 (Jiu Zhou Tai Mountain), which is located in the northern part of the city. On the mountain, there's a Confucian-style temple called the 国学馆 (Guo Xue Guan). Here's the video for that one:

Well, this was a very interesting place - distinctly Chinese, which is what I like. There are lots of different places on the top of this mountain, but the place I was headed to was the "Guo Xue Guan," a Confucian-style temple dedicated to thinkers and writers of Chinese history.

It's in a classic place for a temple - on top of a mountain!

Like I've said in the videos, I like going to mountains for a number of reasons. My hometown doesn't have any mountains, so it's still a new experience to live in a place full of them.

I also love getting above the noise and craziness of the city and see just how big the city is. I'm not Chinese, so I think this is a big city....they keep insisting this city of 4 million people is a small town. Crazy Chinese people.

Going to temples is a serious thing for me - it's a place to pay respect to those who have gone before me and to learn about what they did during their lifetime and how they contributed to this place that I'm living in.

These places are always very interesting for me - it just highlights the differences between America and China. America just doesn't have this kind of history and culture. It's not America's fault or anything - it just hasn't been around for long enough.

I don't really get into the offering of incense and ritual worship and stuff like that, but I definitely understand the respect that's behind it. The temple centers around Confucius, who you see right here. In front of him, you can see where they light the incense and make donations to the temple.

While I understand the respect being paid to Confucius, I have to say, I am always pretty confused about the offering of incense to him. He always said that he was just a teacher and just a man. When did he become somebody to be worshiped?  I get confused about that with Buddha too.....but anyway, the place is still very interesting!

(This is the Dao de Jing by Lao Zi written out in its entirety. The whole other side of the stone is filled up as well.)

As you can see, getting to this place is no easy task. The stairs are really steep, and this is a real mountain....not just a hill.

Me and my friends Nick and Xia Fei took a cab to the top of the mountain to see everything on top of the mountains, but we climbed down on our way back home.

It's insanity - all we did was climb down, and we still all had shaking and sore legs by the time we got the street at the bottom. Man, it was crazy.

But again, the location adds to the mystique and mystery of the place - mountaintops are classic places to put temples in China. It seems like almost every mountain here in China has a temple dedicated to someone.

All in all, it was a good day with some friends - I got to learn about some traditional Chinese culture and history, see the city, and hang out with some people I hadn't seen in a long time.

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A few days after that, I went with some other friends to climb a couple of mountains. I have lots of pictures and a few videos from that day, so I'm gonna be posting that when I can. This week is a bit crazy because it's the first week back from vacation, so I can't promise anything, but I will really try to do another post in the next 7 days.

Until next time,

Austin Guidry

About Huan, China (Videos and More)

Today, these videos come from Huan County, Gansu Province. This is the hometown of my best friend, Benjamin Xi.

It is a really great little town nestled in the mountains of southeastern Gansu.

As you can see on this map, it's in that weird little fin that borders Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in the southeast of Gansu.

Huan is one of my favorite places because it's one of the places that is pretty much untouched by Western influence, or at least as untouched as it can be. There are no McDonald's, no KFCs, no Pizza Huts, Starbucks, foreign investors, foreign teachers, foreign firms or anything like that. It's a completely Chinese city, and that's cool. Lanzhou is pretty much a Chinese-only city, but the number of foreigners in the city has definitely increased in the past few years. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing - I'm just saying it's a trend. I'm not one to really make that kind of call.

I visited Huan last year as well, and it's still pretty much exactly as I remembered it.  It's still a great place that's way out of the way of most foreigners.

Huan is a very old city, with parts of it dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) and before, including this wall.

Amazing, yeah?

 It's crazy, nothing this old stands in America and as someone who studied and has a degree in History, it's beyond amazing to be able to see and touch something that's been around for so long. 

I'm not knocking America for being too young or anything - it just hasn't had the chance to stick around for that long yet.

Seriously though, how cool is that?!

One of the things Huan is famous for is its embroidery, particularly its handmade insoles. It may not be famous abroad, but in China, Gansu is the home of artful embroidery. This photo on the left is an example of it, although not a great one. Unfortunately I am away from the pair I was given by Ben's mom -- it's much more beautiful than this one. This one's only so-so.

The amazing thing about these is that they're totally made by hand. The firm inside is basically extremely hardened dough (that will never cook again), and the outside white cover is handsewn.

Then the fun begins.

It's all done by needle and thread. One needlestick and colored thread at a time. Ben told me that the pair I was given took about 300 hours of solid work. Wow. 300 hours - imagine putting that kind of time and energy into something that you'll walk on and ruin.

I didn't wear mine. They're too beautiful.

I can't wait to go back again - the people of Huan are hard-working, friendly, very hospitable people. The only complaint I have is that their dialect is hard to understand, but maybe that's because I'm just a white boy who can't speak enough Chinese to understand......

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That's about all I have to say about Huan County at the moment - maybe when my friend Benjamin comes to the States, he can write something about his hometown for you guys! Until next time! My comment section is always open for you!

The Foolish Old Man Moves The Mountains

This is a Chinese folktale that I really love. It's a wonderful (and short) tale coming from the Han Dynasty. It is about Old Man Yu whose dream was to literally move mountains. Enjoy!

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Once upon a time, there were two mountains that stood right beside each other. Both were more than 10,000 feet high, and together, they were four-hundred miles wide.

Facing the mountains lived Old Man Yu, who was over eighty-years-old and also known throughout the county for his foolishness. Every morning, as Old Man Yu walked to the village, his wife would shake her head as she saw him make yet another detour around the two mountains. As the years went by, he found it a great inconvenience to make these daily detours. So one day, Old Man Yu finally decided that the twin mountains would have to be moved.

He then called a family meeting and told his wife, sons, daughters, and their families of his intentions. He will move these two mountains, Old Man Yu cried, and you will all help me do it!? Old Man Yu's sons and grandsons thought it was a terrific idea. They encouraged him and gave them their unyielding support. 

Old Man Yu's wife sneered. "You are a foolish old man indeed! Just how would you go about moving those mountains? Never mind the mountains, I don't think you can even move two piles of cow manure! And even if you could move the mountains, just where would you dispose of the dirt and rocks from the mountains?"

The old man thought for a moment, and without backing down, answered that he would throw the dirt and rocks into a place far away. "I will throw them into the Bohai sea." (off the east coast of China)

Once again, Old Man Yu's sons and grandsons thought that it was a wonderful idea to throw the dirt into the sea. They cheered a second time and pledged to him their unyielding support. Even the neighbour's son, Little Turnip Boy, gave the old man his support even though he was only 8 years old. 

Old Man Yu, his three sons, his many, countless grandsons, and Little Turnip Boy went to work on removing the two mountains. It was such grueling work that in a year's time, Little Turnip Boy was only able to make one trip to the sea to dispose of the dirt and rocks. Nonetheless, no one lost their enthusiasm. They were all steadfast to Old Man Yu's dream.

On one of their trips to the sea, they met a man who lived along the Yellow River, who was known throughout the county for his cleverness and arrogance. He mocked Old Man Yu saying, "You foolish old man! I have seen you, your three sons, your many, countless grandsons, and even Little Turnip Boy making trips to the sea to dispose of the dirt and rocks from the mountains. Do you think that you can actually move two whole mountains? And you; you must be over ninety-years-old and closer to the grave as each day passes! You cannot possibly expect to move two mountains in your lifetime.

Old Man Yu looked upon the Yellow River Man with pity. 

"You are known throughout the entire country as a clever man. Yet, you are a man lacking in vision. Regarding this matter, even Little Turnip Boy has more wisdom than you.? Old Man Yu continued, you are correct in saying that I am an old man who is closer to the grave as each day passes. But I have three sons, and many, countless grandsons." 

"In time, my grandsons will bear their own children, who, in turn, will bear even more children. So in time, my dream of removing these two mountains will become a reality. As each day passes, my dream can only increase, as these two mountains can only decrease."

What a great story, huh? I thought it was pretty cool! Ancient China hummed with stories of will, determination, wisdom, and what is really foolish versus what people think is foolish. It's one of the things I love about ancient China.

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Not So Hot

Hey guys, I have not been feeling well these past few days, so....sorry about that. I won't be putting up anything substantial today.

Today's post was going to be about "seeing the elephant," which is something that combat veterans talk about when they first see the sights of war. They say that "unless you've seen the elephant, you can't understand what we've been through." I wanted to draw a parallel between that and living in China.

I'm not so good, so I'll just point you to some interesting stories until I can recover. I'll try again tomorrow.

Farmer Finds Ancient Treasure
Traditional Boots and Hats (Picture story)
Panda Birthday!

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