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China:  Biggest, Longest, Tallest, Best

1/28/2018

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PictureThe Great Wall of China
China has the largest population in the world, but that's not the only superlative that the country boasts.  Due to its large population, China has the largest police and labor forces in the world, the largest army (based on active troops), and the largest number of internet users.  Millions of Chinese tourists travel abroad each year, giving China the title of the highest international tourism expenditure in the world.    

The Chinese government likes superlatives.  When you travel around China, you often find the biggest, the tallest, the longest, the best of many categories, particularly in terms of infrastructure.  Hardly surprising, the Great Wall of China is the largest and longest wall in the world.  The International and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is the largest bank, and biggest public company, in the world.  The South China Mall is the largest shopping mall in the world, in terms of gross leasable area. 

I have ridden the Tianmen Shan cable car, the world's longest cable car, from Zhangjiajie to Heaven's Gate mountain.  It covers a distance of 7,455 meters and takes about 25 minutes one way.  The Danyang-Kunshan Bridge from Shanghai to Nanjing in Jiangsu Province is the world's longest rail bridge.  The world's highest bridge is also in China.  The Beipanjiang Bridge in Guizhou Province is over 1800 feet high.   The manmade Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal is over 1,100 miles long, the longest canal in the world.  The largest dam, and largest hydropower project, in the world is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.

Beijing's Capital Airport is currently the second largest in the world, behind Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.  Not large enough.  A new airport, called the Beijing New Airport, will open in 2019 and is slated to be the largest in the world.  

China is the largest exporting country in the world, in part because it is the largest producer of many things:
  • tin, zinc, mercury, manganese, steel, iron, cement, arsenic, aluminum, gold
  • motor vehicles and tractors
  • paper
  • tobacco, tea, silk, cotton, grapes, mushrooms, onions, asparagus, lettuce, spinach, carrot, eggplant, peach, tangerine, tomato and rice, to name a few

Although China is the world's largest coal producer and is responsible for the most carbon dioxide emissions, it is also the largest wind turbine, wind power, hydroelectricity, renewable energy and solar panel producer.  One only needs to take a train ride through the country to see the millions of acres of solar panel and wind farms to know that this superlative is duly earned.

China borders the most countries in the world (14):  Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, North Korea and Vietnam.

Join a Chow Fun Tour and see some of the world's biggest, longest and largest in person!

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Mount Hua

1/20/2018

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The views from the peaks atop Huashan, the Chinese name for Mount Hua, are breath-taking.
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Red ribbons are tied onto tree branches and chain links with the hope that wishes will come true. Couples lock their love forever by attaching locks to chain links and throwing the keys off the mountain.
PictureThe ride in West Cable Car is, unto itself, worth the four hour round trip drive to Mount Hua.
"Shan" means "mountain" in Chinese. Thus the translation of one of the five sacred mountains of China is "Hua Mountain" or "Mount Hua".  Huashan is about a two hour drive from Xian.  When I travel to Xian with adults, many weigh the two hour drive to see a mountain against a more relaxing day in Xian, waking up later, going to a park, a museum or shopping.   In some cases, Xian wins.  This is never a bad choice because Xian is one of the more diverse cities in China, boasting the loud and colorful Muslim Quarter.  The four hour round trip hardly seems worth it to those who have not yet ascended Mount Hua.

To those of us who have taken the West Cable Car up to West Peak and trekked up and down hundreds, maybe thousands, of stairs to South Peak, there is no choice.  Mount Hua is not to be missed.  In my opinion, the cable car ride is, unto itself, worth driving two hours each way.  The cable cars follow the mountain peaks, undulating up and down, and sometimes in between, the peaks.  The ride is not for those afraid of heights.

After disembarking from the cable car, visitors may walk as quickly or slowly as they wish, up and down the stairs that, like the cable car, follow the mountain peaks.  It is an exhausting, and exhilarating, journey.  Most of the trek is through the woods, but there are vantage points along the way, each in and of itself worthy of the energy expenditure.

With several five minute stops to take pictures of the jaw-dropping scenery, at a reasonable pace, the hike takes about an hour to hike to the South Peak, the highest elevation at 2160 meters.  It take another 30-40 minutes to hike to the mountain's "Plank Walk", one of the most famous, and dangerous, paths on the mountain.  Both times that I walked all the way to the Plank Walk, the wait was between 40 and 60 minutes to get to the front of the line.  Visitors gear up with a harness that keeps them attached to the cliff-side of the mountain.  Those who dare the Plank Walk clip two carabiners onto the safety chain which is anchored into the mountain rock and then descend the rock stairs, perpendicular to the ground, thousands of feet below. 

This is just the beginning.  Now for the Plank Walk:  three planks of wood on the side of the rock cliff.  Unattach one clip and move it down along the chain.  Reattach.  Unattach the other clip and move it past the first clip.  Reattach.  Shuffle along the planks.  Don't look down; look ahead, outward and upward.  It takes about 20 minutes to make it to the end of the walk where there is a small outcropping of trees and a place to unclip and stretch.  A place to admire the views and the excitement of having made it across.  A place to garner the courage to walk back.  The walk is not one-way.

Plank walkers on their way out are flush against the rock as they clip and unclip and re-clip.  Those on their way back, however, need to clip and unclip and re-clip over those on the first leg of the journey.  It's daunting, frightening even, but it's doable.  I would not have done it if I had, for even a second, believed I might fall.  

You don't need to brave the Plank Walk to enjoy the beauty and serenity of Mount Hua.  The second time I trekked out there, the winds were strong enough to close the walk.  Those who had looked forward to the Plank Walk were disappointed, but agree the small planked path is hardly what makes Mount Hua spectacular.  

Join me on a Chow Fun adventure and see Mount Hua for yourself.

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Mount Hua's Plank Walk
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South Peak, the highest elevation on Mount Hua
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Tangbo Gallery

1/13/2018

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Art professors from local universities teach calligraphy at the Tangbo Art Gallery. We enjoy a calligraphy class each time we go to Xian and visit the gallery.
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A few years ago on a trip to Xian, our guide Linda asked to show me and a group of travelers a gallery she loves.  Tangbo is a very small gallery, but it leaves an enormous impression.  I knew the gallery was special when our bus stopped at the curb in front of a building boasting Asian tiles and roof.  Upon entering, an immediate sense of calm settles the soul.  The lighting is low, but the soft glow highlights the pieces and helps direct the gallery-goers' eyes to the pieces hanging on the wall.  A docent, usually a professor of art from a local university, takes us through the gallery.  The pieces range from ancient Chinese Tang Dynasty pieces to local folk art.

The professors' explanation of the artists, the time periods, history and style of the artwork is fascinating.  The tour only lasts about 15-20 minutes because the gallery is so small.  The gallery is gives travelers a taste of a collection of art forms from myriad time periods. 

One year, the docent told us about artists who paint bamboo.  She explained that the time it takes to paint bamboo is short.  Perhaps ten minutes.  So when locals and travelers come to the gallery and want to buy one of their bamboo paintings, they are shocked at the high price tag.  How could something that takes such a short time cost so much?  But the ten minutes is actually the culmination of a lifetime of study.  The docent told us of the years that the artist spends in bamboo forests: viewing, listening and feeling the essence of the forest.  The picture painted with her words made us understand the artist's journey.  Priceless.

Join me on a Chow Fun Tour including Xian and the Tangbo Gallery.  

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Xian City Wall

1/5/2018

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The top of the Xian City Wall is the best place to ride a bike in China...there are no cars up there!
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The 600 year old Xian City Wall is the last intact city wall left in China.  Most cities in China were enclosed by a defensive wall like the one in Xian.  All other cities demolished most of their walls in the name of progress and modernization.  Beijing replaced the original wall with a major road, now called the 1st Ring Road.  (As Beijing grows, they add more concentric roads surrounding the city center, 2nd Ring Road, 3rd, 4th, etc.)

The wall rises 40 feet from the ground and is about 50 feet wide.  The 8.5 mile loop surrounds the old city of Xian.  A pleasant bike ride around the length of the wall gives the rider insight into the dichotomy of many cities in China:  the modern city outside and the ancient remains of the old city on the inside.  No skyscrapers may be built inside the wall.  The old city is home to the Muslim Quarter with its beautiful mosque and gardens.

​I have ridden around the top of the wall five or six times.  It never gets old.  I snap the same pictures of the beautiful red lanterns, flags, ramparts and gates, despite the fact that I already have those pictures from years past.  When I am moved by something, and the Xian City Wall never ceases to impress me, I feel a compulsion to capture the moments on camera, a permanent visual of that point in time.  The ride is exhilarating.  First and foremost, I feel like I am riding through history in a way that is not possible anywhere else.  Second, the ride is a decent workout.  I always feel accomplished when I return the bike back at the South Gate.

Enjoy this invigorating and inspiring ride when you join me on a Chow Fun Tours trip to China!

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    Lauren Drazen

    I have traveled all over the world, including adventures in China, Uganda, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Argentina, Vietnam, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland, England, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Dominican Republic, Mongolia, Netherlands, Canada and Mexico!  My greatest love is introducing Americans to the sites, traditions and people of China.  My hope is to give travelers a new lens through which to see the world.

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