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Prejudice is an emotional commitment to ignorance
Know your history in context,
Read The Big Picture
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歡迎 Huān Yíng
Ancient China
The most populous country in the world, published 2014 updated June 2018.
China is one of the worlds oldest civilizations with a history extending back over 5000 years. Over this period, China has gone from feudal states to a modern progressive country, yet some people still live almost as they did thousands of years ago.
As a visitor you will find everything imaginable from the most dire poverty to the greatest riches, but the major highlights for most travellers are the bright lights and cosmopolitan cities of Hong Kong, Guangdong (formerly Canton) and Shanghai.
While Beijing is the capital and is the closest city to the ‘Great Wall’, it’s not the most popular
Continue reading China
Is there anything the Chinese don’t eat?
A dog contemplates his dead companions
If it lives, it seems the answer is no and if it’s not food, it’s medicine! The Chinese have been condemned around the world for their love of shark fin soup – a practice where sharks are caught, their fins are cut off and the sharks dumped back in the water while still alive. But it’s not just the cruelty, the practise has seen shark numbers plummet around the world upsetting the ocean life balance.
Tourists and travellers may relish the option to see living fish before it becomes their dinner, but like sharks, there are environmental consequences. But it’s not just fish, Cats, dogs
Continue reading Chinese Cuisine
Bhagavad Gita available in Chinese
The Bhagavad Gita, the sacred ancient Indian scripture, is now available in China after its Chinese version was released during an international yoga conference held in June 2015.
Over many thousands of years China like so many other countries has benefited greatly from Hindu knowledge and wisdom. Martial arts have their origin in India as does Buddhism which played an important role in shaping Chinese life.
The Hindu influence is not so obvious in China as it is in Korea, Japan and other Asian countries as China reshaped itself during a long period of virtual isolation and its many wars. Although today modern China seems to be at odds with India as well is some
Continue reading Bhagavad Gita in China
China on the move
China recently unveiled this god of war statue symbolising its new direction. A Tumblr image.
Western interest in China began in the 1620s and this country that was content within it’s own borders and economy had no interest in the rest of the world. There were of course Chinese sailors who ventured far from home but these travels were very limited and the most significant Chinese-Western relations occurred as the British East India company imposed itself on China causing the opium Wars and a consequent subjugation of China which some say it has not been forgiven.
In recent times we have seen China emerge as a economic and military superpower able to take on
Continue reading The Dragon Stirs
Tourist, Traveller or Pilgrim?
There are many ways to see the world, and we must if we wish to travel, consider how and where we want to go. But often, travel is the least of our concern because we simply want to get to a particular destination. Therefore we need to consider our means of travel as well as our destination and reasons for wanting to be there.
The world’s first travellers were those undertaking some form of business. They may have been defining national territories, maintaining diplomatic relations between countries or travelling for trade and exchange.
As a consequence, trading routes were developed across the world to share goods and ideas. With the arrival of Christianity in Europe, many
Continue reading How to Travel
Part of and ancient Vedantic Empire
Our knowledge of the world and its history is poorly known, but in the past few years it has become well-established that what people refer to as Hinduism which may be better described as Vedanta influenced all life from the Mediterranean to the Pacific.
Over 2000 years ago, Indian elephants helped to build Roman edifices and before them, Vedanta helped to shape Greek civilisation. But in the Far East architects and builders from India created the great temple complexes of Angkor Wat and Angkor Tom. Not only that, you’ll find Sanskrit words in the Filipino language and the Japanese and Korean temples all feature Hindu deities.
In fact Southeast Asia is filled with what
Continue reading Hinduism in Cambodia
Chinese but not quite China
This corner of China was once an impoverished area of paddy fields and a harbour for pirate junks. In 1841 following the Opium Wars the British took control and the area blossomed to become the major city and trading centre we know as Hong Kong.
Hong Kong consists of Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and the New Territories and some outer islands. Kowloon and the New Territories are on a peninsula of the Chinese mainland, to the north of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island is on the south side of the harbour facing Kowloon. Hong Kong is an all-year-round destination with a mild climate from the mid September to the end of February while May
Continue reading Hong Kong
A feat of modern engineering
On July 1, 2006 the 1956 kilometre long Qinghai-Tibet Railway was opened allowing a free flow of visitors into the Tibetan region. It stretches from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa in Tibet with connecting passenger trains from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xining and Lanzhou.
Construction
Acclaimed as a miracle of engineering and environmental protection as 960 km of the track sits 4000 meters above the sea level and the highest point at 5072 meters. Considerable effort has gone toward nature conservancy as five nature reserves lie along its route like the Hohxil Reserve, the largest habitat of the endangered Tibetan antelope. From and engineering perspective construction had many challenges like building the
Continue reading Qinghai-Tibet Railway
A home of revolution
The historical revolutionary city of Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, has been serving as the political, economic and cultural centre of central and eastern China of over 2200 years. Nanchang has a sub-tropical monsoon climate bringing mild and pleasant weather for almost all year round. Gan River, the mother river of local people, traverses through this beautiful city, while scattered lakes and rivers in or around bring a special kind of charm.
Long and splendid history endows Nanchang with many cultural relics, among which the Prince Teng’s Pavilion is the most namable. It is no exaggeration to say that Prince Teng’s Pavilion is the pride of all the locals in Nanchang. Many literates in
Continue reading Nanchang
The Chinese neighbourhood
“Jobs tears seed, almond and lotus seed congee!” “Rose chip and white sugared rice cake!” “Fragrantly spiced egg boiled in tea leaf!” These were the hawking of snacks in longtangs around Zhabei District that Lu Xun, the great writer, recalled in his essay “Business in Longtangs of the Past and Present”, at the time of his first arrival at Shanghai in the 1920s. The writer remarked that this kind of hawking was both attractive and artistic, which made people’s mouths water while hearing it.
Longtang is the local term used by Shanghai people for lilong. As “long” means a lane and “tang” means an important building or the front room of a house, “longtang” either means a
Continue reading Longtang
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Where is the truth in your life?
“Reason divorced from facts can be used to prove any nonsense whatsoever” C.K Raju
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