May Day Holiday (part 2) - Qing Yan

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We made plans with the other foreign teachers in Jianghua, Sam and Anna, to go see the Qing Yan cave. The Qing Yan cave is quite a large cave that winds through to the other side then back on a lower level with a boat ride from a lower level under. We brought along two girls from my Senior 1 level class, Becky and Lyda, and two students from Steve's Senior 2 classes, Berry and Michael, as our guides for the day.

Our journey began early in the morning because the students had classes Sunday afternoon. We were on the bus to Qing Yan by 7:45. We all squeezed tightly into the back of the bus (made for a much smaller stature than us Westerners) and groggily-chit chatted during the hour long bus ride down the bumpy cement roads of China. The bus attendant finally announced that we had arrived at our stop and we carefully stepped over the other people sitting on benches in the narrow aisle to get out of the bus.

We walked down a large cement driveway that lead us through a large arch that indicated we were at Qing Yan. Actually, we had a half-mile walk up a hill on a steep cement road before we had reached the parking lot of the caves. After a little rest break looking over the fields and snapping some pictures we walked around to the cave entrance. There were many women dressed up in Yao traditional clothing milling about the entrance of the cave. One these women was to be our guide in the caves. We were early so we waited a few minutes before they were ready to lead us into large yawning cavern. Qing Yan cave has been admired for many centuries by the locals, so most of the the strange rock formations have been described as animals or historical scenes. There are turtle, crocodile and dog rocks along with monkeys listening to an old monk telling stories and a theater stage where the gods watch operas. Unfortunately, most of our pictures in the cave did not come out even with the electrical low level and fluorescent lighting.

The cave tour is comprised of three sections. The first you descend into the cool cave and walk through a winding pathway that showcases most of the interesting rock formations. At one point the path splits between two archways. The guide said that if you go through the archway on the right you will live a long life and if you go through the archway on the left you will be very rich. Most of us walked through the archway of long life. Shortly after we came to a door that exited outside the caves to side of the mountain. After adjusting to the sunlight we walked down some stairs and past a house and a clear river that ran into the second part of the cave. Here we all boarded a long boat and were paddled along the underground river. Although there was not many rocks to look at we enjoyed the gentle slow boat ride along the cool dark water. Our guide sang us a melodic Yao song during our watery voyage. Our boat landed us deep within the cave. Here the slick whitish rock walls sparkled like stars from the reflected lights along the stairs. We walked up a gentle slope of stairs with the glimmering rock wall to our right and cascading pools of still and clear blue-green water to our left. The students said the pools reminded them of the terraced fields of the Chinese farmers. The pools eventually opened up to a very large cavern that we saw when we first entered the cave.

At the edge of the cavern was a circular cement stage and many stools set up. Here the Yao women would perform some traditional dances and songs. But they said our group was too small we needed at least 30 people for them to perform. Luckily not far behind us was a very large group of students and teachers from Number 4 Middle School. So we sat and ate some snacks while we waited for the Number 4 students to get situated. The performance began with a traditional welcome song and bowls of rice wine given out to a few lucky (or unlucky) audience members who were expected to down the whole bowl of biting liquor quickly. Then the women danced with their traditional Yao two-headed drums to some booming quick music and flashing light show. Next they sang a traditional love song which was a call and response between a pair of young women and a pair of men each holding a parasol. The song concluded as the girls gave two small embroidered bags to each man and couples paired up under the parasols. It very cute and sweet. They then chose two volunteers (victims), a man and woman, from the audience to participate in a contest to see if they could successfully dress up in Yao clothing within two minutes. The students goaded two of their teachers up on stage for this very silly spectacle at the end of which they were given to bowls of rice wine that they were supposed to drink with arms entwined. As the show ended they gave the bags from the love song to the two teachers.

We all exited to the cavern and decided to take pictures in front of the engraved stone at the entrance. The Number 4 students were very excited to see all four of the foreign teachers at the cave and we quickly became a tourist attraction ourselves. Everyone wanted to get a picture with the foreigners! The show wasn't quite over either. There were four large bamboo pieces set across two bamboo pieces on the ground. A performer at each end grabbed two sticks and pounded out a rhythm that opened and closed a space between the bamboo. The dancers then would rhythmically hop in and out of the space. Then they invited the students and teachers to give it a try their own skill to jump or step between the bamboo before it closed on their feet. I also gave it a try and, although my ankles got caught the first couple times, I figured out the rhythm.

Since the Number 4 school had buses waiting in the parking lot for them, they offered us a ride back to Jianghua. So we rode back to town without having to wait for and pay for the local bus. It was a great way to end our Qing Yan adventure, plus we got back just in time for lunch!

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Comments

[Jenn]

Fascinating
All the descriptions and photos of the caves are spectacular. Miss you two so much!