We have just about 10 days left at BNUZ and now that classes are over, we have a lot more free time, but we're keeping pretty busy anyway. I know I don't want to miss anything, and I think everyone else feel that way too. Since Saturday, I've been on two field trips and visited a Hot Spring Resort Spa!I'll try to go in chronological order for you guys.
On Sunday, our class went on a field trip to Zhongshan, which is a little town about thirty minutes outside of Zhuhai. We didn't see a lot of the city because our main purpose was to visit the home and birthplace of Sun Yet Sen, an important political figure in modern Chinese history. Learning about Sun Yet Sen was completely new to me, so I'll try and give a little background about him. Sun Yet Sen is considered the 'father of modern China' and was the key figure in the first revolution, which occurred in 1911. Leading up to the 1900s, China was being ruled by a dynasty called Qing, which was very rigid in the sense that they wanted to maintain the 'old China' through rigid customs, rituals and spiritual practices. Essentially, they were maintaining the aristocratic culture and the regular people started to revolt.
At this point, there was also a lot of foreign powers (Europeans) who had entered China and who were trying to colonize various parts of the country. So the citizens had a couple of reasons to want to take the power away from the aristocrats and dynastic family. Sun Yet Sen was the leader of the revolution against the Emperor and the foreign powers. In 1911, China became a Republic, and Sun Yet Sen became the first leader. He had a nationalist ideology, and things were alright for a while until he died in 1924. There was a lot of corruption in the government after that time and also the start of WWII (and conflicts with Japan) so there was another revolution, and in 1949 China became a communist country.
So the property we visited was the birthplace and home of Sun Yet Sen. The little village has been completely restored and the rooms have been converted back into traditional farm houses from the late 1800s. There is also a museum on the property, dedicated to Sun Yet Sen, and chronicles his life and political career. It was very interesting to visit the museum and we were lucky because all of the signs were translated into English. It's also very interesting to learn about Chinese culture and history. It's really opening me up to a whole new world of perspectives and interests that I'd never have to opportunity to experience anywhere else.
Monday was a free day for us, and so Katherine, Ally and I went back to Zhongshan to a hot Spring Resort! We spent basically the entire day at the hot springs and it was so relaxing...I think we all needed a day to just hang out and de-stress. It was the first really sunny day I've had since getting here, so that made it even better. There were tons of small pools around the outside, split into different sections: there was a coffee pool, a vinegar pool, a coconut milk pool and a ton of 'Chinese medicine' pools. Best of all, there was a minnow pool! You sat with your feet in the pool and a ton of little fish came over and nibbled our feet. It was super tickley, but my feet are SO soft today!! I wasn't able to take a lot of photos, but take my word for it - the hot springs were absolutely stunning. After the hot springs, we went to a huge mall for dinner and a movie - Pirates of the Caribbean. It was neat to watch an English movie in China, even if there were subtitles.
Today, we had another field trip, to a small village on Qi'ao Island. It's located in a river about 15 minutes from BNUZ, and the island is known for its unique traditions and customs for celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival! A little background for you: China celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival from May 1-5 every year, according to the Lunar calendar. This village celebrates the festival a little differently. They don't have any dragon boat races, but instead they have a huge parade every year on the last day of the festival.
There are temples dedicated to deities that don't exist anywhere else in China, which is pretty neat. Since Qi'ao is an island, the story goes that over the years Buddha statues have washed up on the shore. When the villagers found the statues, they sent the Buddhas back to the water to see if they really wanted to live on the island. When the Buddha came back, the villagers knew that the Buddha really wanted to be on the island and so they started to worship him.
We got to se the parade today, and it was really amazing to see. They started the morning off by lighting a whole bunch of firecrackers and then the parade started. There was drumming, costumes, dragons and a lot of people. We followed the parade around the village, where they made stops at three main temples. At each temple, there was a performance. I was able to watch one of them, and it was traditional dancing, singing and prayers. There was incense burning everywhere, and people kept lighting firecrackers which was a little scary.
We had a guest presentation about the history of the Dragon Boat festival on Qi'ao island, and the presenter told us that the festival is 'endangered.' When China became a republic in 1911, the traditional ceremonies stopped being practised. They weren't started up again until 2010, but there are very few people let alive who remember how the customs are traditionally done. So, it's important that the festival continues and gains support over the next couple of years so that it doesn't go extinct.
Thanks again to everyone who's been reading. I'm super excited to be writing these blogs, but it's even more exciting to think that I have people back home who are excited to be reading!!
