28th July 2013
Stupidly, I seem to hurt the a tendon in my left leg, and this has meant that I have been hobbling around Shanghai for these final two days of our holiday. We have nonetheless been up a very tall building, visited a famous ‘fakes’ market, seen a lot of skyscrapers, marvelled at the Pudong business district across the river from the Bund, and generally lived much closer to European life than anywhere we have been for the past three weeks. We can have a croissant for breakfast and hear as much English spoken in the street as Chinese. It’s all a bit like a cultural airlock preparing us for an easy re-entry into London. read more »
24th July 2013
If I push the point a bit I can make this post a tale of two movies. Monday night we watched White House Down in a state-of-the-art cinema in Hangzhou, while last night we saw part of a classic black-and-white drama from perhaps the 1950s being projected from a 16mm print on an outside wall in Wenzhu. Of both of which, more follows. Sunday morning we took the a bullet train from Ningbo to Hangzhou. During the hour-plus ride, the sign informing us of our speed hovered tantalisingly around 295 km/hr, then 297, even 298, but it refused to reach the magic figure of 300. And we had left the luxury of a major hotel chain behind in Ningbo, being booked in here to one of the many often-excellent youth hostels across China. read more »
22nd July 2013
Saturday we spent in Ningbo, another major city in southern China that very few tourists visit. We came here because our son Nicholas has been studying here over the past year for a MA in International Business. He has been enrolled at the University of Nottingham at Ningbo, one of two international outposts for the British university (the other is in Malaysia). Nick has had a great time here and has found the course very rewarding, and we wanted to see him here before he finishes in a week or so (although he still has his dissertation to complete). We had a really interesting time, and taking half a dozen of his friends to dinner and doing a couple of hours of karaoke with them seemed an appropriate way to celebrate the end of his studies. read more »
20th July 2013
Thursday afternoon we flew from Xi’an to Wenzhou, which is a southern port city that’s not on most tourist itineraries. Indeed it does not even rate so much as a mention in the Rough Guide to China, but it has a population roughly the size of London and is a major centre of manufacturing and business. We have spent two nights here at the invitation of one of our son Nick’s close friends, Eddy, whose family run a thriving men’s shoe business here. And it has been completely fascinating to see another side of modern China as well as having the chance to visit the extraordinary Yandang Mountain. read more »
18th July 2013
We spent Wednesday in Xi’an, partly because we wanted a quieter day with less travelling than we have enjoyed over the past week. I’m also struggling with a head cold which seems a bit unfair, but nonetheless our time continues of course to be fascinating. We decided that our main outing of the day would be the Shaanxi History Museum, said to be one of the finest of China’s museums, and we had been warned to get there early as only a limited number of tickets are made available each day. So we aimed to be there by 8.30am, but first we elected to treat ourselves to a breakfast in Starbucks. read more »
17th July 2013
So is it permitted to acknowledge that one is just a teensy bit underwhelmed by what is reputed to be one of the great sites – and sights – of the ancient world? We have been in Xi’an since Monday evening, where we have been joined by our son Nick who is finishing up his studies at Nottingham University at Ningbo. He too flew here on Monday, in part to meet us after a year of Skype and Whatsapp, but also to go with us to see the Terracotta Warriors which were discovered in 1974 just outside Xi’an. Don’t get me wrong, these tomb companions of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who died in 210 BCE, are definitely worth seeing, but perhaps it’s hard for anything to live up to the hype they have attracted, especially when the crowds are relentless, the sun is broiling and you are suffering from a head cold. read more »
14th July 2013
Since Saturday afternoon we have been in Pingyao, from where we leave on Monday morning to fly to Xi’an. Pingyao is quite wonderful and like nowhere else I have been before, as is the Yide Hotel where we are staying. This is a former townhouse built in the mid-18th century around a linked group of courtyards. In the early 19th century it was the home of the manager of the first bank in Pingyao, which was a key institution in establishing modern systems of credit and savings in China. The house has been beautifully preserved and yet it also has a messiness and a real-world quality that keeps it from feeling unreal. It’s like a stage set for a historical drama, but with enough that is raw and slightly rough to give a rare sense of authenticity. Which can also be said about the town itself. read more »
14th July 2013
Friday afternoon, towards the end of the first week of our China holiday. We are in Datong in the north of the country, not so far from Beijing. In the late fifth century CE (around the time of the last stages in the disintegration of Rome’s empire in the West) Datong was the site of the prosperous capital of the Northern Wei dynasty, one of the three competing states across China in these years. Around 460CE the rulers commissioned a major Buddhist cave temple complex, and this is our destination today. The surviving statues are deeply impressive but the visit as a whole is, like so much on our trip so far a puzzling and even a touch disconcerting experience. read more »
13th July 2013
I’m a little uncertain about whether to contribute this post. After all, I’m off on a family holiday and not travelling for Illuminations. Mostly when I have done Postcards from foreign climes before I have been filming or researching or at a festival. But the present trip is simply and solely for pleasure. My eldest son Nick has been studying for the past year at the University of Nottingham at Ningbo, and before his time here comes to an end my wife Clare, my daughter Kate and I decided we should visit the country where he has spent the last year. So we are here for three weeks, the first of which is drawing to a close – and I’m going to offer some what-I’m-doing-on-my-hols notes from time to time. Normal service will be resumed here after 28 July. read more »
6th July 2013
Today I fly with my family to Beijing for a three week holiday (which I hope partly explains the lack of posts during this past week). I have no sense of how easy or difficult it will be to blog from China but I’ll do my best. PS. Despite my best efforts I have failed to use my iPad to upload an image for this entry.
: After a week here I find it is possible to access my WordPress accounts, and so I have been able to put up two blog posts so far, albeit so far without images. But Facebook and Twitter are both firmly blocked by the great firewall of China.
