Photo day...

Since I rarely bring my camera with me, I thought I would shoot a few photos of Huzhou and some specific places that I like here.

Wuxing Shiyan Zhongxue: This is the middle school that I teach at. We have some 700 students, some of whom board at the school. It is a so-called "experimental" middle school that has a more progressive curriculum that de-emphasizes rote memorization for standardized testing and focuses on new teaching methods and real comprehension of materials. The students seem to have better English skills than most other students their age, and the school is often acknowledged to be the best in the area.

Lianhua Zhuang ("Lotus Flower Village"): Next to the middle school there is an old park, Lianhua Zhuang. This park was constructed in the Yuan Dynasty (approximately 700 years ago) for a famous calligrapher as his private garden. As a historical anecdote, the Yuan Dynasty was a relatively short period (~100 years) during which the invading Mongols ruled imperial China. Since the scholars were very critical of their foreign rulers, the Mongols lowered the official place of Chinese scholars in society below that of prostitutes, but above that of beggars. In this sort of political environment, many intellectuals sought to retreat from public life or to find a safe haven. I wonder if these sentiments are reflected in the original construction of Lianhua Zhuang? In any case, closer to the modern era, the garden was turned into a park and expanded, but retains a similar traditional style throughout. There is a lake in it as well that many people ride boats on. The sight of traditional Chinese bridges and buildings contrasted with cartoon-themed pedal boats is quite interesting.

Feiying Pagoda: Also known as the "Pagoda Within a Pagoda," this building has a very unique construction. During the Tang Dynasty (approximately 1200 years ago), China was a very cosmopolitan place, and many people consider it to have been the golden age of Chinese civilization. During this time, China imported a great deal of Indian Buddhism from the west, and Indian monks gave the Chinese a gift of relics from the Buddha. To house these relics, a small and intricately-carved stone pagoda was built in Huzhou. Several hundred years later during the Song dynasty, the relics were reported to be shining light, and it was decided that in order to protect their stone pagoda from decay, another pagoda should be built to house it. This pagoda was much bigger and constructed from wood, and the two together now have the nickname "Pagoda Within a Pagoda." Sometimes these pagodas had monks living in them as well, but I do not know if this was the case with Feiying. It probably has room for one or two monks, but the quality of life in a pagoda such as this one would certainly be questionable.

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