As a side trip our tour guild in Shandong Province took us to Tai'erzhuang, he described it as an amusement park. My first thoughts were, oh great what does he think I am a small child! Only wanting to ride rides all day. But, when we arrived I was incredibly surprised at what we going to visit.
These are the first glimpses as we got off the bus
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| Here is one of our professors pointing at the entrance of the walled city of Tai'erzhuang |
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| an old map in front of the main gate showing the city/village |
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| The Village was next to the Grand Canal! |
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| The water in the canal was crystal clear |
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| The main gate to Tai'erzhuang ancient town |
Then we walked inside...
I was totally blown away by the authentic feel this rebuily city had. Of course, a lot of the construction did look new and fresh but, there was enough of the old that had been salvaged that it blended well together. You could see the craftsmanship put into the buildings and you could feel the desire to bring justice to this city that had been such a vibrant part of the area for so long. The battle of Tai'erzhuang in 1938, between the Chinese Guomindang (aka Kuomintang) and the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War destroyed this beautiful trading city on the Grand Canal. The City had stood unviolated for centuries.
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| Walking through the main gate. LOOK how thick the wall was built! |
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| koi ponds in abundance |
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| I guy selling traditional hats |
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| entryway to a courtyard |
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| The air was mild enough I was able to have a rare hair down moment. |
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| The canals reminded me of Venice, so beautiful |
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| Even the entry way to this building caught my attention |
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| Everything was beautiful and ornate at Tai'erzhuang. This was the entryway to a very common store. Look at the intricacy of the wood carving! |
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| This was a children's play area that looked like a dragon boat, couldnt resist a pic with the dragon water fountain |
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| A beautiful Chinese gateway known commonly as a paifang |
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| Found a play being put on at a small pavillion. Pretty interesting to see the actors in period clothes. |
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| The entryway to a beautiful courtyard |
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| A lion dance tiered platform for another presentation. This village was totally geared for the common tourist exhibiting a variety of arts, crafts and performances. |
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| An interesting temple festooned with red ribbon. People would write their names and prayers on the ribbons and then tie them to something of religious significance in hopes that their prayers would be answered. |
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| prayer festooning |
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| I liked this little guy because he was so studious. I think I probably would have tied my ribbon on him too...just for good measure for my studies! |
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| LOOK I FOUND A TERRA COTTA WARRIOR FINALLY! OK not really but, they had some interesting statues scattered all over the city, so if you go...keep an eye out for a replica of something historical. |
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| The weather eventually got muggy and I had to put my hair up again... |
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| found this interesting setup in the courtyard of a little house |
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| an interesting wall relief nearly hidden by trees and shrubs |
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| another live performance about the emperor, these were happening all over the city |
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| beautiful |
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| so peaceful |
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| I love the round doorways also called moongate |
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| One of the other students photo bombed me |
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| on the other side of the moongate was this gorgeous courtyard and pond |
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| Our boatsman, well...woman. She is wearing a modified outfit from the Tang dynasty, she even sang to us as we were floating along and explained the history of the city (in Chinese of course). |
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| no words to describe how beautiful and peaceful everything was |
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| Another boat on the waterway with other students from our group. We should have stayed with them, turns out our boat was going the wrong direction...we ended up being late to lunch. But, we still had a great time:) |
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| One of the other students on the boat with me |
One of the most interesting things I found about Tai'erzhuang was its attention to detail about everything, from the ornate architecture to the traveling performers. I really felt as though I had stepped back in time. Our groups tour guide had been right, it was like an amusement park. But, for geeky history nerds like me!! I was told later by another student that there was actually rides at the back of the city. I personally had no desire to find that, what I discovered was exactly what I had wanted to see.
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