Heihe Travel: 11/2009

11.30.2009

Shanghai Travel - Located to the north side of Lishan Mountain

Located to the north side of Lishan Mountain, the Huaqing Hot Spring is the bathing pool in Huaqing Palace built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is famous for its hot springs and beautiful scenery. During the reign of King You of the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC - 771BC), he built a resort here named Li Palace. Later, Qin Emperor Shihuang built a stone pool and named it "the Fairy's Spring",Shanghai Travel;. The palace was expanded by Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). During the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xuanzong ordered a large-scale construction by transforming spring wells into pools housed in walled palaces. Since the palace was named the Huaqing Palace, the hot springs were named after it as the Huaqing Pool.

11.27.2009

Shanghai Travel - As the capital of the Zhao State in ancient China

As the capital of the Zhao State in ancient China,Shanghai Travel, Handan has been nourished by the special culture. The rich sites of human culture inherits and continues the historical connotation of thousands of years here and the charm of Handan just lies in its ever-flowing cultural river. ¡¡¡¡ ¡,China Pictures;¡¡¡Located in the south of Hebei Province, Handan City neighbors Taihang Mountains in the west, faces the Fuyang River in the east and has the Zhanghe River cutting through its south. It is low-lying and belongs to the South China Plain. About 450 km from Beijing, Handan has developed into an important industrial city in south Hebei.

11.26.2009

Shanghai Travel - The Zhoukoudian Site is located on Dragon Bone

The Zhoukoudian Site is located on Dragon Bone Hill at Zhoukoudian Village in Fangshan District of Beijing. In 1918, a site of ancient animal fossils was discovered in Zhoukoudian by Antson, a Swedish geologist and archaeologist appointed as the consultant by the then Northern Warlords ruling government. In 1921, Antson and an Austrian paleontologist, guided by local people, discovered more fossil deposits on the north slope of the Dragon Bone Hill, known as the Zhoukoudian first site, where they found two fossil teeth of human being. In 1927,Shanghai Travel, Swedish paleo-vertebrate zoologist B. Bulin and Chinese geologist Li Jie led a large-scale excavation in the first site. On December 2, 1929, Chinese renowned archaeologist Pei Wenzhong independently launched another excavation and discovered the first skull fossil of ape man which was named as the Peking Man. It was identified as being at least 600,000 years old. The news of finding the Peking Man shocked the academic circle around the world. In the following excavations,China Pictures, a number of relics of stone tools and sites where Peking Man used fire were discovered on the Dragon Bone Hill. The study on these findings indicates that Peking Man lived about 690,000 years ago and could walk erectly. They lived on hunting animals, could make and use coarse stone tools and learned how to use fire to cook food. Peking Man lived in the early Paleolithic period.

11.25.2009

Shanghai Travel - The Sanqing Hall was built in the northwest corner of the

The Sanqing Hall was built in the northwest corner of the Daming Palace,Shanghai Travel, with its base covering an area of 4000 square meters. On the base were originally pavilions. People in the Tang Dynasty worshiped Taoism and offered sacrifice to Laozi, and the Sanqing Hall was where members of imperial family made offerings to the Taoist figures. ¡¡¡¡ ¡¡¡¡ The Qingsi Hall, built during the reign of Emperor Jingzong, was unearthed in the east part of the palace. The hall, with its base in a square shape, was 228 meters long from south to north, and 33 meters wide from east to west. About 300 meters right to the north of the Hanyuan Hall were sites of the Xuanzheng Hall and the Zichen Hall that were built on the same axis line as the Hanyuan Hall. The Xuanzheng Hall was the place where emperors met with the officials, and the Zichen Hall was the government office inside the imperial palace. That officials met with the emperor in the Zichen Hall was called entering the cabinet. ¡¡¡¡ ¡¡¡,China Pictures;¡200 meters to the north of the Zichen Hall was the north brink of the Longshou Plateau, under which was the Taiye Pool (also known as the Penglai Pool). Taking an oval shape, the pool was 500 meters long from east to west, and 320 meters wide from south to north. An earth mound of 5 meters high protruded in the east of the pool and it was considered to be the site of the Penglai Hill. To the north of the Daming Palace was the imperial garden, where there were a number of buildings of various styles. These buildings were masterpieces of the garden constructions of the Tang Dynasty.

11.24.2009

China Pictures - one big and one small. The big city had a perimeter of 14 kilometers

The city was the capital of the Qi State in the Spring and Autumn (770-476BC) and Warring States (475-221BC) periods. It was the most prosperous city among capitals of various states, and also an important political, economic, and cultural center in the east part of China. According to the record kept in Biography of the Duke of the Qi State, a chapter in The Records of the Great Historians, Duke Xian, the 7th ruler of the Qi State, moved the capital to Linzi in 859BC. Since then, the city had been the capital of the Qi State till it was captured by the Qin State in 221BC. ¡¡¡¡ ¡¡¡¡The capital of Qi was very prosperous during the Warring States Period. As described by traveler Su Qin, who lived during that period, the city had 70,000 households. On the roads of Linzi City, wheels bumped into one another, and people jostled each other. Pieces of sleeves were like curtains, and drops of sweat were like rains. It was then a period for contention of a hundred schools of thought, and the Qi State had numerous talents, among whom the famous Jixia Scholars got their name for their meeting place Ji gate. In the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), the city remained the capital of the Qi State. A Japanese team began to survey the city site in 1926. After 1964, the Shandong provincial cultural relic administrative bureau joined with the archaeology department of the Peking University and carried out a comprehensive excavation at the site. ¡¡¡¡ ¡¡,China Pictures;¡¡Built on the west bank of the Zihe River, the Ancient City of Qi comprised two cities,Shanghai Travel, one big and one small. The big city had a perimeter of 14 kilometers, with a foundation of 30 meters wide. The remains of the city walls were unearthed at the site. Vertically and horizontally distributed streets divided the big city into more than 10 districts. Man-made drains, the city moat connected with rivers, forming a perfect water system as well as a city defense system. Government offices were built in the south of the city. In the northeast corner and north of the city were workshops for smelting copper and iron, making bone and pottery wares. Market places were also in this area.

11.23.2009

Taiyuan Pictures - turn

China

The Analects of Confucius

The Art of War

Reflections on The Tao Te Ching

. . .

Chronology
Essays
Images
Internet Sites
Texts

Imagine: a collection of poems whose date of authorship has not been
determined. Imagine: a Chinese thinker about whom little is known and
whose authorship of the poems has been challenged. Then read statements
like these: "Accept being unimportant" and "Give up learning, and put an
end to your troubles." You have entered the mysterious world of The
Tao Te Ching.

Despite their cloudy and distant origins,Taiyuan Pictures, the poems make many
statements that may sound curiously familiar to contemporary Americans. The Tao describes the allure and artificiality of wealth as it
reaffirms the value of a modest, balanced life: "Amass a store of gold
and jade, and no one can protect it. / Retire when the work is done. /
This is the way of heaven" -- a refreshing antidote to the
"keeping-up-with-Joneses" syndrome. The Tao relocates humans in an
ecological context where the company of humans is but part of a natural
world order: "Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care
for all things." How appropriate this injunction is today, when many
people worry that they must care for the physical environment that must,
in turn, care for them. At the same time, the Tao questions the
value of abstract thinking in favor of selfless action: "Give up
sainthood, renounce wisdom. / It is more important / To realize one's true
nature." And, the Tao recognizes the limitations of coercive power
and encourages "leading, not dominating,Taiyuan Travel," certainly a desirable profile
for leaders of the future, where consensus-building might take place of
patriarchal authority.

For all its difficulties (of translation, of transliteration), the
Tao offers a restorative vision of a balanced human life lived in
the context of a natural world community. Do the poems describe a Chinese
society contemporaneous with the writing of the poems? No more than they
refer to societies years later and miles away. Do we need to know about
Lao Tzu in order to more fairly interpret the poems? Not if we read with
care and caution, recognizing necessary limits to our conclusions. [Next]