Quanzhou

When Hilda's mother and nephew visited, Calliope, Anton, and I visited the Kaiyuan Temple there in Quanzhou. Although famous for a pair of stone pagodas that were built in the 13th century, we spent most of our time taking in the stone carving. Inside the temples, the carvings depicted various Buddhist themes and stories. The depth of the delicate carvings made the figures jump out of the stone.

Outside of the temples were many scenes from everyday life. I don't read many Chinese characters, so I guessed as to the underlying meanings of each panel. I was amazed to see a panel showing a street-sweeper. Truly, in Xiamen, there is an army of street-cleaners out and about, on any given day, at any given time. A panel with a swing hanging from what look like palm fronds caught my attention. We used to have a super-long rope swing hanging from a huge Cuban Laurel in our backyard. When we removed the tree, there were no other trees to support a rope swing; so, we have done without for many years. But we do have palm trees. I am still contemplating our palm-tree/rope-swing options. One panel looked like it could have been a depiction of a "dog-eat-dog" perspective on our universe. But, in this case, it was "fish-eat-fish". There were hundreds of these simple panels around the various courtyards, as well as many other items of interest. Today Calliope and I returned to Quanzhou to walk through China's only Maritime Museum. Quanzhou was at the heart of the ancient maritime silk route, and this museum chronicles China's boat-building history. Nobody we asked seemed to have ever heard of this museum. We walked in several directions and finally decided to take a cab. We figured we could count on a cab driver to know where all the museums were. Not! Calliope could say the name of the museum in Mandarin. We had it written in Chinese characters, but even the cab driver had to call a buddy to find out where this museum was. We arrived to find a deserted building. There wasn't a single tour bus; there were no other patrons; even the reception guards had abandoned their post. And although the museum was loaded with air conditioners, not one of them worked. It being a very hot day, we were driven to investigate. We found that some of the units were empty shells with no actual parts inside. We proceeded with caution.

My favorite parts of the museum were the detailed models of historic boat designs and materials. There were at least one hundred beautifully crafted models with descriptions as to their purpose and history, as well as the environments in which they were used. I include the following two models here, only because they made me laugh, and not because they were particularly important.

The Red Dragon Boat from the Ming dynasty, was "... a battleship designed to frighten the enemy with its terrifying appearance and color." And how many of the crew would fall for the old bottomless boat trick? It was described as a "... battleship designed to lure the enemy into leaping aboard, whereupon they would fall into the water and drown." Since many (most?) Chinese people today don't know how to swim, or don't know how to swim well, perhaps this devious boat worked better than I would expect. In Xiamen, I gave an adult friend a swimming lesson.

Part of the mission of the museum included glorifying China's fabulous history of inventing everything that had anything to do with boats. It's one thing to take pride in one's history and one's culture. It's quite another to use historical reinterpretation to claim credit for all of humanity's great inventions. Based only on the limited number of museums and rock inscriptions I have viewed, this is characteristically Chinese. Update: I have it from a reliable source that there is significant evidence to justify the claims surrounding China's invention of so much in the maritime world. There is a book that I have yet to read, called 1421, that documents this.

Quanzhou is also home to a marionette museum (no photography allowed). Puppetry has a long history in this area. We took refuge in the Guandi temple during a downpour and witnessed a long procession of people bringing paper money to the incinerator to burn for their ancestors We stopped for tea in the quaintest of tea houses. The menu was written on bamboo panels. There was an old mosque nearby. Traffic overflowed the streets onto the pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalks. We passed an alley where recyclers on foot, bicycle, and motorcycle were bringing their goods.

Xiamen Fashion Scene

I should have been tipped off, when we first arrived and went shopping for sneakers for Calliope. Last year's sneakers were on sale upstairs at a significant discount. Xiamen is a fashion-conscious town. Especially amongst the women. The styles are a cross between 1950's-barbie-doll and what's-cool.

Fashion-watching is a constant source of entertainment on the bus. Notice the color-coordination, the accessories, as well as the heels. There is a calm and lovely art space, where they put up exhibits and stage performances, which has nothing to do with clothing styles. Except that in the storefront window downstairs, there is currently a glamorous, larger-than-life, very-high-heeled shoe.

During our first week in Xiamen, many people approached Calliope to see if she would agree to pose for a photo with them and their friends. A couple of weeks after we arrived, Calliope and I played frisbee on the Xiamen University campus. Calliope was hoping to gather some students who might like to learn how to play. Instead, she attracted photographers. They seemed to emerge from the bushes with their cameras and long lenses ready to catch Calliope in action.

I realized that most Chinese people didn't feel it was a brazen imposition to take pictures of us. And the reverse was also true. They didn't give a hoot about us taking pictures of them. Although I was hesitant, I took my first picture of two young women in their Xiamenesque outfits, looking more like models than students. I asked permission first, and found, to my surprise, that they were both flattered and delighted.

Even if I were sorely tempted to purchase one of these lovely Xiamenesque dresses, it turns out that I do not fit into Chinese clothing. I am apparently an XX-Large in baggy pants. And most of the tops are at least partially synthetic. However, both Calliope and Hilda have been much more successful with their clothing purchases. Calliope will be rocking the streets of Waltham. And some of Hilda's younger relatives may be gracing their fair cities with Xiamen fashion themes.

On Ficus Trees

Banyan trees are one of my all-time favorite offerings of Mother Nature. Once they get large enough, they provide great shade, light play through the leaves and aerial roots, and a playground for tree climbers. They are a type of ficus. Ficus trees tend to crack walls and destroy foundations in Florida. The common fig, on which luscious figs grow; the Cuban laurel, a vigorous destroyer of sidewalks; and rubber tree plants are all types of ficus.

I am happy to report that Xiamen is practically covered in ficus trees.

They are planted every five feet right in the sidewalks, but don't appear to cause much damage, if any. The sidewalks are made up of concrete tiles, so perhaps as the trees grow, a ring of tiles are removed to make way for the expanding roots.

Or perhaps, as with older housing, older towns, and beautiful flower arrangements, the government simply replaces the trees with something new. I like the notion that the ficus trees grow differently here - just another small piece of our universe's underlying mechanics that we don't understand.

Our tài jí quán class (that's Tai Chi in pinyin) is held under a beautiful banyan on the University of Xiamen campus. It is several hundred years old, which means that the University grew up around the tree! Most of the temples I have visited have some very old banyan trees growing a maze of roots over and around rocks. Gulang Yu sports some gorgeous specimens that tower over the walled gardens in which they grow. And, of course, when they are near water, ficus trees are at their best.