A Busy Weekend (10-27)

This was an unusually busy weekend. Saturday was camera-buying day. Yang agreed to meet April and me at a digital shopping center in Chengdu. Dale decided to join us for the day, since he had arranged for us to meet Wang Chen later. I knew what I wanted, since I had scouted it out on Tuesday when I had stopped by for a preview of what was available. The Canon stall had the new version of my old camera; so I decided to stick with what is familiar, since I liked the old one a lot. The price was $40 to $90 more than in the U.S, depending on the online store, and $40 more than prices I found on Chinese websites. Yang wasn’t able to negotiate a lower price, since the woman said the price was already reduced. But she did offer an extra battery (a necessity, as Canons are notorious for using lots of battery power), an 8G memory card, and a nice case. I figure all those are worth about $40; so the deal was OK. Besides, I needed a camera and had to pay for what was available. Although April decided not to buy a camera, since the cost is the same as in the UK, she and Dale both made purchases. So it was a successful shopping trip. Yang told Dale she wasn’t able to get more of a discount for his item because he has the wrong face. (In other words, a white, not Chinese, face.) I suggested that, in the future, we scout out what we want and then send her in to buy it.

We had planned to take Yang to lunch, but she was meeting a friend. So we went to Kuanzhai Alleys. These are old streets that have been rebuilt in the old style and are full of shops. We enjoyed walking around and looking at the buildings. 

I especially enjoyed the artistic walls. Some have background pictures with a 3D element. 

Some have objects embedded in the wall. They were really fun to look at.

It was a good opportunity to initiate my new camera. I like it a lot. It was really nice to pick it up and be able to use it comfortably immediately. The zoom moves more smoothly, and it’s lighter because it doesn’t have AA batteries. The new batteries charge much faster—2 hours instead of 8. So I’m happy with my purchase.

After a couple hours at Kuanzhai Alleys, we went to People’s Park, since April and Dale hadn’t been there. Although I’d just been there on Tuesday, it was fun to see it on the weekend. Many more people were there. There was a chrysanthemum festival, which is why I had seen so many chrysanthemums on Tuesday. Inside the entrance there was a new display with many chrysanthemums, including very large ones—the kind for Homecoming flowers—I haven’t seen often.

At 3:30 we met Wang Cheng at the park entrance. After picking up his son at school, where he had his robot-making class (They make robots from Legos kits.), we went to an entertainment center. It turned out to be an interesting place. It used to be a big movie studio where movies were produced and people lived while making the movies. Now it’s an entertainment center. One building has snacks and drinks. Another, that was a kitchen and dining hall, is now a restaurant. The housing building is KTV studios. There are twelve movie theaters. After having drinks and snacks that his wife had brought, we had dinner. Frank, our driver when we went to Jieza, joined us for dinner. 

It was another wonderful Chinese dinner. The feature dish was a huge fish covered with garlic and peanuts. After dinner, Wang Cheng drove us home, which was really nice of him.

Wang Cheng’s son, Wang Ji, is twelve years old. His English is quite good, and he enjoyed chatting with us. He knows a lot, is able to express himself in English well, and has a good sense of humor. When I explained that Nebraska is between New York and California, he thought for a while and then imitated the Statue of Liberty and asked what it is called. He knew it came from France, which made me wonder how many American children his age know that.

I spent Sunday with Julia, a teacher in my class, and her husband and daughter. She had told me that she would take me out with her sometime and would take me anywhere I want to go. Then she showed me a book about tourist sites in Sichuan, and, when I saw Sanxingdui, I mentioned that I would like to go there. So “sometime” turned into Sunday. They picked me up at 9:00. Her husband, Pinghua, works for a foreign company and speaks some English, although his pronunciation is sometime difficult to understand. Their daughter, Ziyu, is ten months old. Julia was off for about ten months—the last two terms—for maternal leave. This term she teaches only four classes—eight hours—a week. They are a delightful family, and I enjoyed the day with them very much. I was introduced to Ziyu as “grandma."

It took almost two hours to arrive at Sanxingdui. (I hadn’t realized it’s so far.) We were mostly on the expressway, which is a toll road. I noticed that Pinghua was getting plastic cards, which I thought were better than paper receipts. Then I realized that no money was changing hands. When I commented, he explained that the expressway is free for Chengdu residents, which are determined by the license plate. When we got farther out, he had to pay.

During our chats, I learned that Julia is originally from the Three Gorges. The family moved to Chengdu about twenty years ago, when she was about ten. Her village was flooded by the increased water level when the dam was built. She does not like the dam and says that most Chinese people don’t like it. Pinghua agrees. When I mentioned the electric power generated, he said that there are many rivers that could be used to provide power and that Sichuan province produces all the power it needs. It was interesting to hear this perspective after hearing the government information on the tour.

Sanxingdui Archeological Site and Museum has two parts. First we stopped at the excavation site. There we saw the plexiglass-covered sacrificial pits, which were discovered in 1986. In the trenches there are replicas of artifacts—masks, tools, broken bronze pots. 

There is an earth mound that is part of the old city wall. And there is a residential area. When we started walking around the area, we got off the main path somehow and ended out walking through part of the village. To me, this was as interesting as the site. 

The area is in the middle of a farming area; so it was also interesting to see the farm houses. The grounds are covered with wild marigolds, zinnias, and cosmos.

Next was lunch in Guanghan, the town near the site. From driving through it, I liked the town. Lunch was a huge bowl of fish soup and a big bowl of chicken soup along with fried sticky rice sticks dipped in a sweet (like molasses) sauce.

The second part of the site is the museum. Like Jinsha, it is beautifully constructed and has a large garden area. The first of two buildings is underground. The buildings house the artifacts from the Shu civilization 2300 to 4500 years ago. I found it interesting that the civilization ended for unknown reasons. 

It is known for jade tools, bronze pots, bronze masks, and large bronze trees. The recorded information informed us that most of the items seem to have been for ceremonial or sacrificial purposes. The tools are often too thin to have been useful and are not damaged from use. Many of the masks are too large and heavy to have been worn. 

Four of the bronze masks have the gold overlays on them. 

Birds and trees were special to the civilization, 

and eyes seem to have had special significance.

When we entered the site, we had a free photo taken in front of a large replica of one of the masks. When we stopped to pick it up before leaving, we were given a 5X7 photo and a key chain with a cropped portrait with a small part of the mask behind it. That’s when we learned that the gimmick is that the key chain portrait is free and you have to pay 10 yuan for the full photo, which was laminated. Julia bought them for us.

After an hour driving back, we arrived in Wenjiang. Before leaving, they took me to dinner at the restaurant in the canteen. Julia ordered another bowl, not as large as the one at lunch, of fish soup, a chicken and celery dish, fresh tofu, and a green, leafy vegetable. I wasn’t hungry, but I ate. The food was quite good. I arrived home at 8:00. Another very full, but very enjoyable day to complete the weekend. They said we’ll do something together again. I would enjoy that.