Temple of Heaven

We visited the Temple of Heaven soon after arriving in Beijing on a day that sometimes rained.

The red ceilings and blue/green supports of the walkways leading to the temple were gorgeous.

This complex of multiple buildings dates back to the early 15th century in southeastern Beijing.  It is surrounded by pine woods. 

 According to UNESCO,  "In its overall layout and that of its individual buildings, it symbolizes the relationship between earth and heaven – the human world and God's world – which stands at the heart of Chinese cosmogony, and also the special role played by the emperors within that relationship. "

Numerous young women posed in traditional dress.

Two girls posed for their mother.

Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show

 Before leaving Xi'an, we attended a Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show.

The show was colorful, with excellent dancers and musicians.

Thank you.  We enjoyed the show.

Terracotta Warriors

 The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. They were buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC to protect him in his afterlife.

The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates are that the Terracotta Army holds more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses.

The Terracotta Warriors are lifelike and at least life-size.  Each face is different.  Scholars believe that they were modeled after specific soldiers in Qin Shi Huang's army.  Soldiers of different ranks have different hair styles and headpieces consistent with those worn in the emperor's time.

The Terracotta Warriors are in three pits, with Pit 1 being the biggest.  It is about the size of two soccer fields and is covered by a roof like a quonset hut.

I was there first thing on a workday and was told that the crowds were unusually small.  Still, people stood close together in about six tightly packed rows.  Chinese people are adept at throwing elbows to gain position.  We were counseled not to be shy about pushing our way through the crowds to see better.

In Pit 1, the Terracotta Warriors are in close formations separated by walls.  In Pit 3, a half dozen soldiers that were especially well preserved had been pulled out and put on display in glass cages.

Xi'an

 Xi'an (pronounced shee-AHN' and meaning "Peace in the West" in English) is a Chinese city in the middle of the country on the central plateau.  It is China's oldest city and its first capital.  

An ancient city wall surrounds the original part of the city.  It was built under the rule of the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang,  the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), as a military defense system.

In 1974 farmers in the countryside outside Xi'an were digging for a well.  They struck big terra cotta objects.  The farmers reported them to the government, which sent in archaeologists, who discovered a huge group of buried terracotta figures.  Come back tomorrow for more about the Terracotta Warriors.  

Acrobats

 We went to an acrobat show.  It was dazzling.  Because of the darkness and the fast movement, I tried only a few iPhone photographs.  They barely scratch the surface of the talent of the acrobats. 

A man on a trapeze performed many moves with a woman before lowering her into the water.  She swam for a bit, then he picked her up and they continued the performance together.

A dancer performed at first with two white birds.  By the end she had eight birds .

Capturing the action was too blurry, but their final line-up is clear enough to show.

Two acrobats balanced and performed a variety of leaps on flexible boards, each held by a pair of big men.  In this image, one of the acrobats was propelled into the air from one board, where he completed a forward roll before successfully landing on the other board.

Six acrobats rolled and threw rings and dived through them in increasingly difficult maneuvers.  

Those images were blurred by the fast action, so I am showing their stances as they took applause.

Thank you.  Great show.

Zhujiajiao Canals

 

Zhuijiajiao is maybe 45 minutes out of Shanghai.  It is an old town with many winding stone pathways and bridges, and homes, cafes, and shops lined up on the riverbanks.  We took a boat ride with a man who propelled us by pushing a long pole.

Zhujiajiao dates back about 1700 years.

Many of the old residences have been converted to shops, which we explored after the boat ride.  

Before the boat ride, we visited a garden created a long time ago by a wealthy resident of Zhujiajiao.

After lunch, we visited the site of a former opera house.

Sailing the South China Sea

 Sailing last week off Guangdong Province between Hong Kong and Xiamen on a cloudy day, the horizon was lined for miles with dozens of windmills between the ship and the shore.  These are just a few.

Later in the same day, we moved on from the wind farms.  The sun poked through a bit and the clouds were more interesting.

The theme for October for City Daily Photo participants is "Blue."  Click here to see other interpretations.