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Background: For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. After World War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight.



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Areas in Gansu: Dunhuang | Jiayuguan | Langmusi | Lanzhou | Linxia | Mati Si | TianShui | Wuwei | Xiahe | Zhangye

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By Jabe
June 23rd 2007

1,429 cultural revolutions

 Asia » China » Gansu » Xiahe
No-one seemed to know if the daily direct bus to Xiahe would be running, so we took the less risky option of first going to Hezuo, where reputedly there were several onward connections. We'd both noticed the scent of vomit in the air and, several minutes later when we'd both started to feel dampness in our trousers, investigations revealed that someone must have been sick in both our seats but had cleaned it up just enough to i) make the seats visually indistinguishable from clean ones, and ii) make it hard to tell where the smell was coming from. At Hezuo [View Full Entry]

Jabe - John McCabe | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
863 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 44 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 7th 2007 | 463 Views | [diary=172503]

Local women
Local council making some repairs
Yak butter carving

By Brass Monkeys
June 18th 2007

Xiahe

 Asia » China » Gansu » Xiahe
/Lelde/ it's actually not that hard to find your way around in the country where nobody speaks English, we have managed to purchase tickets and to find the right buses and trains so far without much troubles, well, Steven has dealt with these issues - bless him!!!:) so we are in a little town called Xiahe. We arrived yesturday afternoon. Its very nice here - mountains and a lot of monks around. The people, especially females, wear very nice and colourfull costums, their hair is made into two long plattes and they have cool hats on their heads - still haven't [View Full Entry]

Brass Monkeys - Steven & Lelde | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1189 Words | 2 Comment(s) | 10 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 9th 2007 | 156 Views | [diary=170471]

Young Monks.
Lelde looking intrepid in Xiahe.
A Tibetan lady at our guesthouse.

Vrijdag 15 juni. Naar goede gewoonte waren we zeer vroeg in het busstation om de bus van 9u40 naar Wuwei te nemen. De bus van 8u50 stond er nog bijna leeg maar vertrekkensklaar zodat we maar probeerden om deze te nemen. De bediende aan de uitgang die de tickets controleerde, zei dat we op de volgende bus moesten wachten. We opperden dat we liever de tickets (die we uit voorzorg gisteren hadden gekocht) dan liever aan de balie zouden gaan wisselen. Uit ervaring wisten we dat dit geen probleem zou zijn indien er in deze bus nog plaatsen zouden zijn. [View Full Entry]

China 2006 2007 - Berna en Wim | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
6247 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 32 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 13th 2007 | 1970 Views | [diary=192027]

Op weg naar Wuwei rijden we een lange tijd langs de Grote Muur.
Hoog op de bergtop ziet men net nog een signaaltoren als onderdeel van het verdedigingssysteem tegen de barbaren.
Panoramisch zicht op het gerestaureerde  terras boven de twee Han-graven.

Dinsdag 12 juni. In de voormiddag zorgden dat we op tijd in het westelijke busstation waren om de tickets naar Mati Si te kopen. Daarna gingen we onze bagage inpakken: kleren voor twee dagen in een klein rugzakje en de rest in de koffers die in het bagagedepot van het hotel zouden blijven. De kleine rugzakjes zaten goed volgepropt want we moesten ook wat voor koud weer voorzien voor de frisse avonden in de bergen. Het verblijf in Mati Si zou heel simpel kunnen zijn zodat we ook zelf onze handdoeken moesten voorzien. Waarschijnlijk zouden er nauwelijks winkels zijn, zodat [View Full Entry]

China 2006 2007 - Berna en Wim | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
3671 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 23 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 8th 2007 | 56 Views | [diary=189785]

Hier zien we voor het eerst velden met bloemen.
Heel veel zachtblauwe irissen.
Maar onder andere ook deze gele klokjes.

This is as far as Tibetan culture I will experience on this trip, lots of Tibetan monks and their monasteries in the Gansu province but still not exactly Tibet yet, I feel the Tibetan vibe here, monks walking all over town, in taxis, in pedicabs and as we found out also oggling at scantily clad women at an impromptu veriety/model show at one cul de sac hotel near ours. We would have stayed bit longer but the bad singing from a teenybopper lad made our ears bleed. Anyway I love this town despite the weather being gloomy, rainy and cold [View Full Entry]

Viajerong Pinoy - GIL BRIONES | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1100 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 78 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 12th 2007 | 318 Views | [diary=167653]

XIAHE
XIAHE
XIAHE

Spent a night to break the trip at Lanzhou, quite a big city, a bit smoggy. Had to go to Bank of China to use the ATM, found it and used the machine without any hassle. We dined out to a Korean restaurant next door to the hotel, it was very interesting and fun, there's a hot plate with coal underneath sunken in the middle of the table, you order your food and cook it yourself to your liking, we had veggies, different cuts of beef and squid, delicious! Only Susan and I had the squid, Anthony and Kit were [View Full Entry]

Viajerong Pinoy - GIL BRIONES | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1298 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 57 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 10th 2007 | 461 Views | [diary=167647]

BINGLING SI
BINGLING SI
BINGLING SI

Monk's boots
Monk's boots
Monk's boots taken off before entering the temple for prayer
Thursday 31st May to Tues 5th June 2007 The next place Hee and myself wanted to go to after Dege was to the Tibetan monastery town of Xiaha in Gansu province which is several days traveling from Dege with not much of interest to stop and see along the way. After discussions with people in the bus station (Thankfully Hee did all the discussions as he can speak a bit of Chinese and I can't) we were told that the best route would be back south to Ganzi again and then north to Yushu and then east to Xining and [View Full Entry]

Burnley Mike - Michael Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1264 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 16 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 8th 2007 | 123 Views | [diary=166927]

Temple within Xiaha monastry complex
Temple roofs - Xiaha
Prayer wheels around Xiaha monastery

Tues 5th to Friday 8th June 2007 Today Hee and myself were to leave the Tibetan part of China and head into the Chinese desert. We left Xiahe around 7am and headed to Lanzhou were we arrived around mid morning. There's not much to say about Lanzhou as we didn't stop very long. The town is on the edge of the desert and has quite a big muslim population and hence lots of muslim restaurants around the bus station. LP says that its the most polluted city in the world although it didn't strike me as being particularly any more [View Full Entry]

Burnley Mike - Michael Smith | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
1938 Words | 3 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: June 8th 2007 | 170 Views | [diary=166928]

Crescent Moon Lake and temple - view from the top of the sand dunes
1
Hee at the top of the dunes

Woensdag 6 juni. Voor vandaag hadden we tickets gekocht voor de bus van 9u30 naar Zhangye. De rit van 150 à 200 km zou vier uur duren, werd ons bij het instappen verzekerd. We zaten al voor 9u op de bus die echter meteen vertrok. We dachten dat we alweer op de vroegere bus zaten, maar dat was uiteindelijk niet zo. Hier in Gansu bleek het busvervoer nog niet zo onder controle van de busmaatschappijen zoals we in de provincies meer naar het oosten wel hadden ervaren. We hadden hier wel opgemerkt dat men veel pogingen deed om alles beter [View Full Entry]

China 2006 2007 - Berna en Wim | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
4639 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 28 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 7th 2007 | 103 Views | [diary=189472]

De Muta, één van de vijf pagodes van Zhangye met de elementen als thema.
Aan de buitenkant is het houtwerk de moeite waard.
Aan de binnenkant ook. Logisch voor de

Vrijdag 1 juni. Na een smakelijk en wat later ontbijt dan normaal, vertrokken we om 9u30 voor onze tweede fietstocht. De fietsen die we van een andere fietswinkel hadden gehuurd, bleken niet echt beter dan die van gisteren. Voor de beoogde afstand was het echter wel te doen. We fietsten eerst weer langs het fort, nu langs de oostelijke kant. De weg was tot de ingang van het fort nog in redelijk goede staat maar daarna voorzien van veel gaten en putten. Het ging tot de afslag naar de Zwarte Bergen echter heel licht bergaf zodat we een tijd lang [View Full Entry]

China 2006 2007 - Berna en Wim | Read The Full Entry | Subscribe
5667 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 28 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: August 6th 2007 | 184 Views | [diary=172556]

Al fietsend zagen we al van ver de
Een klein fort met wachttoren om de Muur te bewaken.
Wim in actie.