Spring is well and truly here in China. Despite the "Spring Festival" in January, little has changed until now. The weather is getting warmer, there are intermittent showers, and enterprising locals begin peddling their bicycle mounted shops around the neighborhoods. The Chinese vendors sell a myriad of items off of the back of trucks and bicycles. Produce, freeze-dried noodles, barbecue, and even pets can be purchased.
The most recent significant event to happen was the Tomb Sweeping holiday. The primary school week was altered to give the students an extended weekend, and classes were cancelled at EF to allow the staff members time to celebrate. Because all the schools were closed for the day, the EF franchise decided to hold another school-wide team building field trip. This time the destination was Dujiangyan, one of the oldest civil engineering projects in the world. Dujiangyan is a dam built around 256 BCE to divert the Min River for irrigation purposes and predates the Roman aqueducts by nearly 300 years.
Since the chartered bus taking us to the sight was scheduled to leave from the Tongzilin area early on Saturday morning, I spent the previous night at Nick and Jess's apartment. We met up at the Sijing branch of EF and began our hour-and-a-half long trek to the far side of the Qingcheng mountain range.
We arrived at a large parking lot and made our way to a small shuttle bus terminal nearby. And after waiting around 15 or 20 minutes we hopped aboard the shuttle and made our way awkwardly through the densely crowded streets to the entrance to the historic site. The streets wove through what was once a small traditional village, turned tourist hot-spot. Restaurants, hotels and vendors were everywhere, catering to all the families who had chosen to visit during the holiday. The shuttle bus made its way very slowly, the crowd parting around it with many a turned-head and pointed finger. We were a rolling attraction ourselves. It was an incredibly awkward ride made even more so by the fact that the distance we covered during the ride would have been less than a five minute walk from the parking lot.
Just inside the entrance itself was a massive and intricately decorated covered bridge, crossing the strongest and most developed branch of the river.
Since the chartered bus taking us to the sight was scheduled to leave from the Tongzilin area early on Saturday morning, I spent the previous night at Nick and Jess's apartment. We met up at the Sijing branch of EF and began our hour-and-a-half long trek to the far side of the Qingcheng mountain range.
We arrived at a large parking lot and made our way to a small shuttle bus terminal nearby. And after waiting around 15 or 20 minutes we hopped aboard the shuttle and made our way awkwardly through the densely crowded streets to the entrance to the historic site. The streets wove through what was once a small traditional village, turned tourist hot-spot. Restaurants, hotels and vendors were everywhere, catering to all the families who had chosen to visit during the holiday. The shuttle bus made its way very slowly, the crowd parting around it with many a turned-head and pointed finger. We were a rolling attraction ourselves. It was an incredibly awkward ride made even more so by the fact that the distance we covered during the ride would have been less than a five minute walk from the parking lot.
Just inside the entrance itself was a massive and intricately decorated covered bridge, crossing the strongest and most developed branch of the river.
Various mascots roamed the bridge having their photographs taken with smiling children. Some of these mascots made thematic sense, like the pandas and the man dressed as Sun Wukong, the Chinese Monkey deity. The random Frosty the Snowman mascot, however, really seemed out of place.
On the far side of the bridge we made our way past more restaurants and public squares before entering a long and beautifully landscaped path to the monuments.
One of the more interesting historical remnants is the Chinese technique for constructing water-tight barriers for the damming of the river during phases of construction. Large stones are bound together by interwoven strips of bamboo. We saw many examples of its use both at a decorative fountain and in an area of the riverbed that had been walled off to repair sections of the historic waterworks that had been damaged during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
The pathway through the site was lined with fountains, planted flowers, statues of historical figures, and large plaques explaining the history of Dujiangyan.
We made out way through several museums, filled with artifacts than had been found in the region, but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed in any of them. As we made our way further into the historic site it became obvious just how massive an undertaking this civil engineering project was, even by today's standards. I can't really show many pictures of the water-works themselves, the artificial structures are so massive that most of the ground we were walking upon along the river had been constructed as part of the project.
We didn't have much time to continue exploring. After crossing one of the rope bridges to the base of the path that lead to the Taoist shrine at the peak, we were forced to turn back and make our way back to the bus and return to Chengdu.
Another recent development has been the incorporation of art life-clubs into the weekly schedule. Held each Monday this month, is an hour-long activity for the Small Stars students. Using the large sheets of colored paper in our stock room, I decided the best activity was not individual projects, but a group project which could be displayed to everyone who visited the school.
I printed out templates for the students, and while they happily scribbled away, I prepared the large backdrop for their project. My original idea was to have a line of neighborhood houses in the typical Americana style, but I quickly realized that everyone in the city lives in apartment buildings instead. So I changed the project to suit the cultural background.
I printed out templates for the students, and while they happily scribbled away, I prepared the large backdrop for their project. My original idea was to have a line of neighborhood houses in the typical Americana style, but I quickly realized that everyone in the city lives in apartment buildings instead. So I changed the project to suit the cultural background.