Nanchang #2: Jiangxi Museum, Army Sculpture Square and Youmin Temple

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When I awoke and pulled the curtains back, I was greeted by a grey, rainy sky. Since I was quite a walk from the subway station, I decided not to rush getting ready in the hopes that the weather would clear up. I ordered some breakfast; a coffee and filled croissant. It was a good job I had decided to take my time as my breakfast took forever to arrive. The delivery driver was very apologetic. By the time I was ready to leave the rain had lessen a bit. I headed to the subway station and made my way to the Jiangxi Provincial Museum. It was about further ten minute walk from the station to the museum. Since it was the holiday, there was a rather large line of people waiting to get in. I suppose everyone had decided to wait until the rain got a bit better too. While the queuing outside was orderly inside it was a mess, but years of living in Asia have made me rather adept at pushing my way to the front. Once inside the museum was busy but manageable. I started on the ground floor and headed to the exhibition about porcelain painting entitled 'Decoding Dunhuang in Glaze'. 'Dun' means great and 'Huang' means prosperity, together they mean grandeur and glory. There were lots of beautiful religious relics on display here and I enjoyed looking at them. Also the red backgrounds and shelving added to the richness and made the exhibition feel more inviting. Next I headed to the exhibition about ancient Jiangxi. I really liked the old porcelain figurines on display. They were all very tall and thin, and painted green and mustard.

I made my way up the escalator. I loved the views from the higher floors of the museum. I got a much better view of the artwork that was in the foyer. I headed to the exhibition hall about Communist Party and the role Jiangxi province had in the foundation of the People's Republic of China. I only found out recently that there are many red tourism sites in the province and need to do some more investigation as I think they will be interesting to visit. I learnt the Long March started in Jiangxi. I loved looking at the artworks showing the meetings that happened in the past and also the little bits and pieces saved from that time. I also looked around the other exhibits, which mainly contained porcelain. Jiangxi is home to the Chinese porcelain making industry and I hope to visit the area some day soonish. There were some beautiful pieces on display. I fell in love with one vase that depicted village life on a wintry day. Normally, I skip museum shops, but decided to have a look in and ended up giving in to the craze of prettily moulded ice creams that are on sale at every tourist destination. They always look pretty when people post them on social media, but I've never bought one before. I opted for the strawberry one in the shape of the two tailed tiger.

I headed outside to unwrap and eat my ice cream. I had to be quite quick in getting some photos as although it wasn't too hot, my ice cream was starting to get a little soft around the edges. The ice cream was quite nice. It tasted like a strawberry mini milk, which I used eat sometimes when I was a child. Mini Milks were cheap though and while this one was not extortionate in price, it definitely wasn't Mini Milk cheap. I'd seen a square on my map app that looked quite interesting nearby, so I headed there. It was only about 5 minutes along the road, on the opposite side of the road on the riverbank. The square was called Army Sculpture Square and, you've guessed it, was filled with military sculptures. It was interesting to have a walk around the different sculptures and see how the military in China has progressed over time. There were some explanations on the bottom of some of the sculptures, but everything was in Chinese and juggling my phone and camera to take pictures was enough so I didn't want to add translating to the mix. I also got some nice views across the Ganjiang River. I liked seeing the tall buildings, it's just a shame the sky was so overcast and hazy.

I headed back to the subway station and into the city centre as I wanted to head to the temple that I had read was worth a visit. I took the subway into the city centre and got off at the shopping street I had been walking along the previous evening. My walk to the temple took about 15 minutes and along some streets I hadn't previously been along. One street was definitely bar street. It was lined with bars, which because it was still quite early in the afternoon were all shut. I wished I had been able to head back in the evening and see the area looking a bit more alive. There were some cafes too that were open. I kept walking and could see the yellow walls of the temple up ahead. It was fairly busy as I approached it. The temple was originally founded in 547 AD during the Liang Dynasty and was called Dafo (Giant Buddha) Temple back then. The legend from that time says that the temple's large Buddha statue was cast by a dragon that lived under the town's well. Quite a nice story. I had a nice walk around the temple and its ground. It wasn't too big, but like many temples in China is deceptively bigger than it looks. Just when you think yo are in the final hall, there is an exit at the back to another courtyard and another hall. Rinse and repeat several times. The temple was nice and colourful. I enjoyed my walk around it. I only wish that there were more places to linger. I love how peaceful temples are and love to sit, relax, soak up the atmosphere and read in a quiet nook. I feel like temples in Korea were designed more to make this possible, but not so much the temples in China. They feel a bit more of an in and out place of worship.

I contemplated walking back to my hotel, but felt I had done enough walking so got the subway. The station was absolutely rammed and the queues getting to the turnstiles were a nightmare and even getting down to the platform was difficult. The trains were really busy and it took a few attempts to get one. I was happy to get off and headed to the bakery and convenient store for a late lunch of sandwich and some snacks and some beverages. I was going to head out in the evening, but once I got comfortable in my room it was game over. I had done enough walking for the day. Since I had really enjoyed my Malatang (麻辣烫) the evening before I decided to order it again. I even managed to snap some photos of it as I wasn't so ravenous. I was pleased that it didn't disappointed and tasted as good as the previous evening's. I love that they heap the chili and sesame sauce on the top of the bowl as sometimes the flavours can get lost, but they didn't in this one. I loved the selection of vegetables and the mixture of meats and tofu. A great end to the day.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

I love pottery
I love the pottery you've photographed, and it fascinates me that pottery contributes so much to anthropological deductions of lost civilizations. I'm very glad you got a photo of the ice cream, because for the life of me I couldn't picture a two tailed tiger ice cream - very cute! :)

[Zephyr]

Anthropological Deductions
I would love to know more of the backstories of the individual pieces. To be able to time travel and be a fly on the wall and see them in use and how the people who used them lived their lives.

[RENanDREW]

Almost too cute to eat!

[Zephyr]

Almost
It was starting to melt as I was taking some pics so I had to eat it ;)