Henan Province

It was Children’s Day on Monday, June 1, an important day here; most children did not have school and the fast food restaurants were filled with kids being taken out for dinner.

I got back from a lovely four-day weekend Monday morning at 4 am, after riding a train most of the night, but I slept quite well in my middle berth. Because we had a four day weekend I was able to leave Wednesday afternoon and arrive at my first destination, Luoyang, by evening. I traveled east to the next province of Henan. I had made a reservation at a hostel and a young teenager was there to meet me at the train station. He asked me if I wanted to ride the bus, or take a taxi. I chose the bus since I am into buses these days and feel very proud of myself when I can manage the buses in a new town. I also find that it is a good way to get help from local people, and I feel very privileged when people give up their seats for me. Anyway we rode and rode and rode the bus to the far end of town. I was then met by the boy’s father (nice man with limited English) and we continued to walk and walk and walk down a very dark alleyway. Finally we got to a high rise and then we went up and up and up the stairs to the 7^th floor. It turns out that it is a hostel in an apartment with 4 rooms and a shared bath. I was the only person there on Wednesday, but it was full the following night. I had a very nice private room. It was raining when I arrived and it rained all the next day, often only mist luckily. Luoyang was a former capital as was my final destination, Kaifeng.

Luoyang is noted for the Longman Caves, which are out of town only a short distance, but a long bus ride. They are located in the limestone banks of the Yi River. They consist of caves and niches filled with Buddha statues and reliefs of all sizes and shapes, and are considered a temple. The work was begun in 492 AD and continued for several hundred years. It was here that Buddhism first arrived from India. It was amazing, over 100,000 statues (glad it wasn’t me counting). There were stairs in order to come in close proximity to the caves and the statues. The mist made it ethereal and the statues were stunning because of the wet surfaces.

Because it was Dragon Boat Festival, there were many people traveling. A food specialty for the day is steamed glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with a sweet treat in the middle, dates or sweet potatoes. In different regions of the country, they are filled with other sweet or savory morsels. The date ones are often sold, but on this day there were vendors everywhere.

The following day I went on a tour bus to Shaolin to see the kung fu training temple, and also several other temples and a Confucius Academy nearby. It is in a beautiful setting in the holy Song Shan mountain range. Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are all here, and statues of deities, some very mean and fierce looking. There were also very bloody torture scenes since the Buddhists believe in a “hell” where there is eternal suffering.

Shaolin itself is a huge temple complex with many halls, statues, and steles. The original buildings, which burned down were built in 495 A.D., but the present buildings are reproductions. Kung fu was started by the monks who wanted a counterbalance to the immobility of meditation. The monks studied and copied the movements of animals. During the Cultural Revolution it was disbanded but there has been a comeback since the 80’s. There were hundreds of boys training out on a field. We watched an amazing kung fu demonstration done by young men and boys, such strength and grace. They seemed to fly through the air, just like in the movies.

From there I went on Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, a big busy, noisy city with lots of traffic. In the morning I needed to find the bank where I have an account, so I went to the bus stop with a map in hand and started trying to ask people how to get there. Two very sweet young college students took me on as their Saturday morning diversion. They helped me find the bank, and then we went to the provincial museum and saw an excellent exhibit of ancient relics, bronze objects and clay vessels and figurines. Their English was not very good, but they did their best to explain the exhibits. We had a noodle lunch, and then they took me to the bus station so that I could continue on to my final destination, Kaifeng, also an ancient capital from 960-1127. Little of the old town exists except for the city walls and several buildings. I visited a memorial to a justice, Lord Bao, and Shanshanguan Guild buildings, a social meeting place for merchants, which was very ornate with carved figures and paintings in the eaves (Qing Dynasty architecture: 1644 – 1911). Both places were peaceful.

The town is not that large and seemed much more old China to me since there were a lot of bicycles, cycle and motor rickshaws. A college student I talked to suggested that it is not as modern or a beautiful as Xi’an, certainly not, but interesting. The street where the hotel was became transformed at night into a night market. One section was devoted to clothes and shoes, but mostly food vendors were selling their goodies from carts. Wide sidewalks become restaurants with dozens of plastic tables and chairs. There were kebobs with everything imaginable that can be put on a stick, including beetles. There were chickens with heads, dumplings, soup, noodles, and wonderful bread like Indian nan with sesame seeds on top and a touch of sugar. Big ones and small ones were baked in a small ceramic oven. They were light and so very delicious piping hot.

The Yellow River is the most important river in northern China, and I went to see it on the outskirts of Kaifeng. It is a muddy brown, but got it is name from the yellow silt that covers the huge alluvial plain. The river stretches on and on, some parts are shallow and other parts deep with strong current.

It has become quite hot in the 90’s, and students and teachers alike are beginning to think about final exams, which will be given in several weeks. I am trying new tropical fruits which I have never tried before, mangosteen, which has a dark purple hard shell on the outside, while the fruit inside is white and sweet. I have eaten lychees before in SE Asia, and they are in season, very sweet. I had my first taste of mulberries that look like large blackberries. Jean tells me that they are plentiful in Nebraska; I had no idea. Life in China continues with new discoveries.