To make a log story short, Jimgdezhen, Jiangxi, has been the center of Chinese ceramics for over 700 years, and a major place for ceramics manufacture for hundreds of years before that. This is because of the unique clay which is found there. All of the good Ming dynasty vases and other royal ceramics were made there. Above is a Ming vase, made in the 15th century. I know, I’ll ever get a job as a National Geographic photographer. This was a place my photos will do no justice to, but I loved going aound and lookig at the old and new stuff. It is so beautiful.
This hosting site’s photo plug in still pixilates photos if I rotate them, but this sideways shot gives you some idea of the delicacy some of these pieces have. This one was made in the Qing dynasty, about 150 or so years ago. The picture above is the top part of the picture below, with the woman raesing a plate of flowers.
We are in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, now. Basically, we are just hanging out till Tuesday when we will take the night train to Shenzhen. Our visas expire this weekend, so we’ll go over the bridge from Shenzhen to Hong Kong for fresh ones. We were going to go to a couple of places in Fujian, but the times for the trains were very inconvenient. Hangzhou seems alright for a big Chinese city. It’s mostly a export center, so there is a lot of activity. There are hills to break up the monotony and a big lake in the middle of town. The hostel we are staying in is in a park right on the lake. Sweet. I have a new hat, too. Spring is in full bloom, the sun is out, and it’s warming up.
I’ve uploaded several pictures of a couple of old towns in Anhui. I’m going to post this blog now and another if and when I can, maybe even today. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a a common sight. I’ve said how China has a long way to go until they’ve built out their infrastructure. One thing they are sell on the way to completing is the “unterstae” highway system. What they don’t have yet is the personal wealth to fell the roads they’ve built. Sometimes there are stretches of six lane highway with no or only a few cars. We had the front seat on a bus that day when I took this.
Be well, all of you.
