#101 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China (The City of Yangzhou, Taizhou's Beautiful Neighbor)

It has been sometime since my last entry, and much has happened in my life here in China. I am trying to gather my thoughts, and compile them and all of the hundreds of pictures of my past eventful weeks into my computer for a next series of TravelBlogs. It will take me some time, and I hope to become more prolific in presenting you so many of my joys and adventures in China from this past summer.

The classes at my college have also commenced, and my focus will once again be more on my work, and in sharing many of my summer-events with you. During these upcoming months, there are less opportunities for travel. My time will be spent in class, office, and my newly enlarged apartment at Taizhou Teachers College.

I have also extendet my contract for another two year. I am excited at everything, that is still waiting for me, as I continue to explore in and around China, and I look forward to share it all with you.

For this TravelBlog entry, please enjoy a visit to the fabled city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu, PRC. It is a smaller city and one I visit often, since I can reach it from my city of Taizhou in only one hour. Again I encourage you to enlarge the 102 photos for greater details, if you have the time.

And so, I am so pleased to share with you one of my frequent visits to this wonderfully small but cosmopolitan city called, Yangzhou:

Lush-green Yangzhou, Jiangsu is a city only an hour from my home in Taizhou, Jiangsu. Yangzhou is known as one of the most beautiful cities in all of China. It is an ancient, historical city, dating back some 2,500 years. Its tourist-sites are often overwhelmed by visitors from within China and from around the world.

I have taken the opportunity to explore this well developed, buzzling, but smaller Chinese city many times. I truly like it as a place for walking, stolling, and shopping, though I am less impressed by the friendliness of its citizens, than I am with those of my own city of Taizhou.

Perhaps all of the tourism and new wealth have taken away some of the Yangzhou's old charm, and making money from the tens of thousands of daily visitors has jaded the population; but the one hour journey by train, bus, or even a taxi from Taizhou makes a visit to Yangzhou a pleasant escape into a green oasis and into China's past. Since I have become very familiar with Yangzhou, I am now able to circumvent the traps set for a more typical tourist to Yangzhou.

It has taken some time for me to explore and understand Yangzhou. It is a city best visited during the spring-time, when the blossoms of peach- and cherry- and plum trees make it one of the most spectacular and inspirational visits, any city in China could offer. Let me be your tour-guide for a little while, and I will not charge you even one Yuan :-), and share with you some comments and photos from my visits, during the various seasons of the year, to this exquisit, historical, and ancient city of Yangzhou, in the prosperous province of Jiangsu, China:

The history of Yangzhou spans over 2,500 years, and its importance is greatly enhanced by the "Grand Canal", which runs through the center of this wonderful city. In modern times, it is a rather small city in China. Yet during the reign of emperor Kangxi (1662-1722), in the Qing Dynasty, Yangzhou was one of the cities in the world, that had a population beyond 500,000.

To the east of Yangzhou is the Yellow Sea; to the south, the Yangtze River; and to the north, the Huai River, and the connection of these with the Grand Canal made Yangzhou strategically important, and brought Yangzhou its wealth and its importance, transporting grain from southern China to the more populated north of China.

Historically, Yangzhou was the distribution center for grain and salt in China. In the past, commodities that included tea-leaves, lumber and salt were transported to Yangzhou via the Grand Canal. Even today, the transport on this amazing historical construction project, the "Grand Canal" (over 1,200 miles in length), connecting the capital Beijing with the spectacular city of Hangzhou far to the South, continues to flourish in some of its sections.

Now, instead of the transportation of tea-leaves, salt, and lumber, the transportation of construction materials such as sand and cement dominates this marvel of construction. Let me give you a little history of the "Grand Canal", which is responsible for bringing Yangzhou its wealth and prosperity but was contructed with the sweat and blood and sacrifice of tens of thousands of Chinese peasants:

The "Grand Canal" took several dynasties to construct, and is a network of larger and smaller canals. Work began before 500 B.C. to help control central China for King Wu.

Since most of the rivers in China flow from West to East, building a water link from the prosperous South to the capital and more desolate areas in the North, connecting some of China's great rivers, would greatly facilitate transportation of foods, building materials, silk, and other goods.

This became the dream of many of China's emperors, and by 600 A.D., over a million workers began to connect and expand all of the existing canals into the "Grand Canal", and linked the then capital Luoyang to Yangzhou.

As the "Sons of Heaven", emperors of the Sui dynasty, beginning in the 7th Century, were known for having a soft spot for luxury and travel. Taking advantage of his position and sense of grandeur, Emperor Sui Yangdi, often took more than 200,000 attendants with him on his trips to Yangzhou from the capital of Luoyang on the "Grand Canal".

It is said, that his massive barges were pulled by the empire's "most beautiful women", as he partied into the night. His excesses caused the population to rebel after only 13 years on the throne, and his dynasty was deposed.

In the 13th Century, during the Yuan Dynasty, the "Grand Canal" was ordered to be repaired and a link was created between Beijing and Hangzhou. It was a ten year effort. Much of the "Grand Canal" today has fallen out of use, but lengths of it, particularly in the Hangzhou and Suzhou area in the province of Jiangsu, continue to serve as an important waterway.

Historically, the merchants who settled in Yangzhou traded in salt, and were also involved in the mortgage industry, generating massive wealth for them. They began to build large homes surrounded by beautiful and luxurious gardens and parks. Here they entertained guests from China's literary and arts circle. Music, paintings and literature were incorporated into the architecture.

After visits by the Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong, during the Qing Dynasty, who were impressed by the the parks and the gardens, the wealthy people of Yangzhou competed with each other in building the most luxurious gardens in Yangzhou. The city acquired the name of having the best gardens in the world, and became a gathering place for the best of the literary and arts circle in China.

Yangzhou's "Slender West Lake" is one of the most important and most visited national scenic sites of China. The Chinese name of this beautiful narrow lake is "Shou Xihu". This man-made lake was constructed during the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties around 380 AD, and saw its most beautiful development beginning with the Qing Dynasty.

The various buildings within the park are similar in style with the "West Lake" in the great city of Hangzhou, but they are smaller in scale. It is the reason for its name: "Slender West Lake".

The lake park is decorated with beautiful bridges, isles, caseways, and blooming gardens. The slender lake stretches narrow for less then 3 miles and is lined by beautiful and romantic weeping willows and hundreds of peach trees, that offer spectacular blossoms during the spring time, when tourism is at its peak.

For visitors to my region of the prosperous province of Jiangsu, near the east-coast of China, the city of Yangzhou should be one eager to visit.

Bathhouses in Yangzhou are part of the folk traditions and lifestyle of the city of Yangzhou. Baths and pedicures have become another unique attraction for Chinese and foreign tourists in search of a relaxing holiday, especially after hours of walking the gardens, the lake-shores, the botanical gardens, and shopping streets of Yangzhou.

Another great tradition of Yangzhou is drinking tea and eating the great Yangzhou snacks, such as the steamed buns, in one of the ancient and hospitable Tea-houses around the old city. The Fuchan Tea-house is my favorite, and steamed buns, stuffed with some delicious fillings, fortify me for my lengthy explorations through the city on my many visits to Yangzhou, Jiangsu, PRC.

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