Shanghai Harbor

The colorful skyline of Shanghai from the balcony of my stateroom.  Pretty, isn't it?

Daishan Performances

 

We watched a segment of a Chinese opera.  A woman in a yellow dress was the protagonist.  She was very loud and seemed angry.

The most fun was watching a one woman puppet show.

As we left, three men performed to music in front of large rectangles with blue digital displays.

The local people had not seen Westerners in years.  We were only the second group to pass through since China partially re-opened to tourism after the pandemic, so locals stood on the side of roads and took cellphone photos of us.  I asked this man if I could photograph him, and he kindly consented.

Daishan

 Zhoushan is the largest island in an archipelago with nearly 1400 islands.  Daishan is a smaller island connected to Zhoushan by long bridges and tunnels.  Daishan is a major fishing port in the East China Sea.

We were greeted by red lion dancers.  After a while we were invited to join the dance, which I did.  (Fortunately, there is no photographic record.)

We visited a museum displaying some fish and marine mammals found offshore.  A sturgeon and a seal.

Walking from the museum to our next destination, we passed some streets with red lanterns above, then we passed a building with a mural illustrating a night scene with red lanterns.  

Donghai Beidiao Art Museum

 When we reached the post of Dongtou, an island off Wenzhou, China, on the South China Sea, it had been raining for two days.  I was glad to be inside, visiting the Donghai Shell Carving Art Museum.  It turned out to be a fun and fascinating place.

 The museum displays a variety of objects with shell carvings, objects using mother of pearl for inlays, and objects with other materials as inlays.  This very big and intricately carved shell shows five fierce  dragons around the perimeter and another inside.  Zoom in to enjoy it up close.

Here is a second intricately carved shell of similar size.  Both are at least two feet wide.

Isn't this a gorgeous piece?

How about this one?

This is a smaller round piece with lovely iridescent inlay.

There are four or five large rooms displaying classical wood furniture with wonderful inlays.

When the museum tour ended, we went into an adjoining workshop.  On the tables there were small black boxes with line patterns already etched, with flower shapes carved out, and with small pre-cut shell pieces.  We brushed gold paint into the lines and hunted the shell pieces to glue into the flower patterns.  We then rubbed the surface carefully with alcohol to remove the excess.  This is my box.  How did I do?

Haitan Not-So-Ancient City

 Pingtan Island is on the far eastern edge of Fujian Province, projecting into the South China Sea.  It is the closest point to Taiwan on the mainland.  Settled back in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), it had an important military and maritime role for China in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912).

We visited Haitan Ancient City outside Pingtan expecting, oddly enough, an ancient city.  Wrong.  It was constructed in 2015 as a tourist destination.   Admittedly, some elements like this main gate are attractive and impressive.

As is a tower at the end of a long walkway past shops.

But, all was not lost.  There is a good museum -- the Haitan Coastal Defense Museum -- with artifacts relating to Pingtan's role as an important base for the Chinese navy.  This huge replica warship occupies three floors in the center of the museum.

Departing Xiamen

The port of Xiamen at night is wonderfully colorful.  The bridge is lit.  Excursion boats compete for color.  

The buildings along the way are brilliantly lit with changing scenes of birds, trees, balloons, Chinese characters or just brilliant colors.

Small still photographs can't convey how exciting and jazzy the constantly moving color displays were.

Flower Girls

 In Quanzhou, there were many young woman with big floral headbands and traditional Chinese dresses.

I asked the guide about it.  He said they were having their pictures taken for social media.

Quanzhou

Quanzhou is about 90 minutes (57 miles) east of the major port city of Xiamen, China.  We went to Quanzhou to visit temples -- Buddhist, Taoist, a Muslim Mosque, and maybe another.

When you visit one temple after another on a very hot and unbearably humid day, and you didn't have a pen to write things down, it is hard to keep the details straight.  How about if I just show some photographs without trying to tell which is which?

Motor bikes

 

You know how prevalent bicycles are in Amsterdam?  Well, electric motor bikes are similarly popular in China.  I wish I had the motor bike franchise.

One thing I liked seeing was mom or dad driving a little one, though helmets seem optional for both.

I have been impressed about how patient and courteous motor bike riders are.  They wait patiently for lights to change.  Riders in the USA could learn from them.

Guangzhou

 Visiting China for a couple of weeks.  Guangzhou (formerly Canton) is one of four "Tier One" cities in China, along with Beijing, Shanghai and more recently Shenzen.

The Four Rams statue references an old Guangzhou fable.  The people were starving during a drought.  A god sent five rams bearing rice.  The people planted the rice and the famine ended.

A pair of lions guards many entrances.

Purple flowers decorate a square.

A cute little boy whose mother was pleased I asked to photograph him.

Guangzhou Folk Museum occupies part of the huge, decorative and colorful Chen Clan Ancestral Hall.

And a ceramic artist at the Folk Museum practiced his trade.