Longmen Grottoes

Cultural Relics & Sour Soup

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December 28th 2006
It's a five hour train ride from Xi'an to Luoyang across the loess plateau, a geographic term to describe the chasms of clay soil and dry river beds, where homes have been carved into the cliff faces. In the trees of the farming villages hang large decorative bunches of dried corn. On a distant hilltop a factory spews smoke into the yellow-brown mud puddle sky. Bring a book or a deck of cards. I ... read more

Asia » China » Henan » Luoyang

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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. A... ... read more