One Year Ago (V): China Trip - Hometown Xiangtan (湘潭)

Finally after the Shenzhen trip, Mama and I spent the rest of the vacation with Aiji, Jiujiu and Jiuma at Xiangtan （湘潭） home.

Xiangtan is located on the lower reaches of Xiang river (湘江) in Hunan Province.  In its name "Xiangtan", "Xiang" refers to the Xiang River, while "Tan" is a Chinese term that means "deep pool". It is a hometown of founders of the Chinese Communist Party, including Mao Zedong  (毛 泽东), Liu Shaoqi （刘少奇）and Peng Dehuai （彭德怀）, as well as hometowns of Qing Dynasty painter Qi Baishi （齐白石） and scholor-general Zeng Guofan （曾国藩）.

Xiangtan is famous for its production of Lotus seed and Soy sauce. People in Xiangtan are famous for chewing areca nut (槟榔）, though the area itself doesn't grow them. The history of consuming areca nut dates back to 400 years ago, when people chewing it for pandemic prevention [1]. One humor Minyan (民谚) summarizes the characteristics of Xiangtan:

 “龙牌酱油 (Dragon brand soy sauce) 灯芯糕 (wick cake can be lighted)，
槟榔果子 (areca nut fruit) 水上飘 (floating on water)，
十里荷塘 (ten miles pond of lotus flower) 百里香 (fragrance can be smelled hundreds of miles away) ，砣砣妹子 (cute plump sisters) 任你挑 (as you pick)”

Mama was born in Xiangtan, and grew up in Xiangtan. She went to Kinder garden, elementary school, middle school and high school in Xiantan and finished her BS (in Chemistry) and MS (in Polymer Chemistry & Physics) in Xiangtan University.  How did she end up in America? I do not know.

 Aiji and Jiujiu cooked delicious authentic home-made Hunan dishes for us. Jiujiu and Aiji wouldn't let Mama to feed me because they considered it was their privilege. They seemed to by very happy with no matter what I did.

 

 

Chatting with Grandma 

Playing with Jiujiu 

More fun with Grandma 

Aiji made comfortable bed for me and I had sound sleep in it every night.

We went out to eat occasionally. When we were eating at a noodle place in downtown Xiangtan, two young girls dressed up fashionable past by our table. One of the girls exclaimed when she saw me, "I want a baby like him"!

We visited our relatives in the countryside of Xiangtan.

They made a full table of dishes to welcome us. They were authentic home made countryside Hunan dishes. After we finished delicious lunch, we sit outside to have a tea. Mama took out her 777 nail clipper and started to trim my nails. My grant qiuqiu (zu jiu ye, use Chinese here) told Aiji in a surprising tone, "I have never seen a baby sit so quietly to let his mom to cut his finger nails ! " Is it hard?! I did not understand.

We also went to Hunan's capital, Changsha to visit Grand uncle and aunt, Mama's cousins and their families.

Mama's friends also came to visit us.

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangtan

One Year Ago (IV): China Trip - Shenzhen (深圳）

We flew from Shanghai to Changsha. My Jiujiu (舅舅) Zhijian and Jiuma (舅妈）Caixia picked us up at the Huanghua aiport and drove us to our home - Xiangtan (湘潭). We only rested in Xiangtan for one day and then we went on our three days trip to Shenzhen (深圳).  I would say that Shenzhen is officially my second stop in China.

How did we go to Shenzhen from Xiangtan? In old days, it would take more than eight hours when we take normal express train for 500 miles. Nowadays, we can take high-speed rail from Zhuzhou (a nearby city to Xiangtan) to Guangzhou in less than 3 hours, then one hour bus from Guangzhou to Shenzhen. (Since August 2011, there is high-speed rain directly connecting Zhuzhou to Shenzhen).

Here I was with Jiujiu in Zhuzhou high-speed rail station. 

We carried double missions to Shenzhen. One was to visit Weiwei jiejie (薇薇姐姐) and Shenzhen Jiujiu and Jiuma (they came to America to visit us before), and the other one was to explore Shenzhen city.

Shenzhen is a major city in the south of  Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. It is the China's first and the most successful Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Being a major financial center in the southern mainland China, Shenzhen is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies. Shenzhen is also the third-busiest container port in China, after Shanghai and Hong Kong. [1]

Weiwei Jiejie and Fang Rong Gege met us the second day we were in Shenzhen. We had a breakfast together with Shenzhen Jiuma Tina and her son, Xi Gege and then we headed to OCT East (东部华侨城).

 

OCT East is one large-scale comprehensive national eco-tourism demonstration area, including leisure resort, sightseeing, outdoor sports, science, education and eco-advanture.

We took a cable car to the summit of the mountain in OCT East.

Wow, we we're on the summit.

 

The ground of the bridge on the summit was built from glass, and you can see the scene right underneath it.

A bird's-eye view of the whole city of Shenzhen,

Let's relax a little after the hard work of climbing the mountain.

The next day we went to a park near where Shenzhen Jiujiu & Jiuma lives. It is actually a huge park named "Shenzhen International Garden and Flower Expo Park" (Garden Expo  园博园). It covers an area of 66 hectares and created the man-made beauty using the natural landscape.

Want a cup of tea from this gigantic tea pot?

Isn't that great to take a nap in the beauty of nature?

I want be a beauty in the painting too.

Shenzhen Jiuma was strolling me back from the Garden Expo.

The surrounding where Shenzhen Jiujiu & Jiuma lives was also gorgeous!

Xi Gege met us for dinner after his class.

 Want to have some durian (榴莲)?

When I stayed in Shenzhen Jiuma's house, I tried to learn at much as I can.

Learning Table Manners in China

Shenzhen Jiujiu also spent some time with us even he was extremely busy in charge of completing the new subways for the 26th Summer Universiade (世界大学生运动会） in Shenzhen.

On the way from Shenzhen to Xiangtan, we stopped at the Guangzhou high-speed rail station to wait for our train.

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen

One Year Ago (III): China Trip - ZhouZhuang: the Venice of China

My first stop in China was Shanghai. Mama's friend, Zhuang, welcomed us. She took us to ZhouZhuang (周庄古镇) for a day trip the second day after we arrived.

  

Zhouahuang lies at the middle of Shanghai and Suzhou, is an ancient town which has a history of more than 900 years.  “Small bridge, Flowing water, people” (小桥、流水、人家) is the special characteristics of Zhouzhuang.

In the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋战国时期, 770 ~ 221 B.C), Zhouzhuang was a part of the King of Wu and called Yaocheng (摇 城). During Song Dynasty (1086), it was named Zhouzhuang after Zhou Digong donated more than 200 acres to the local Quanfu Temple. By the mid-Yuan Dynasty, Zhouzhuang started to become a distribution center of food, silk, ceramics, arts and crafts in the south of China owning to the effort of business man Wanshan Shen taking advantage of its superior geographical advantage. [1]

Nowadays, Zhouzhang still remains the style and pattern of its ancient village. Overseas newspapers called Zhouzhuang as  "China's first water village".

On the way to Zhouzhang, we stopped at Dianshanhu (淀山湖）. We started to have a taste of the typical landscape in the south of the Yangze river.

Now we finally arrived at Zhouzhuang. However, from where we parked the car to the entrance of the town, there was still quite a distance. That was the reason we had to have a ride.

Am I in a painting?!
桥街相连，依河筑屋，小船轻摇，绿影婆娑.

 

“吴树依依吴水流，吴中舟辑好夷游”

Reference: 

[1]  http://wikitravel.org/en/Zhouzhuang