Shapotou / Ningxia Province  沙坡头 —宁夏

Shapotou 沙坡头

Arriving in Shapotou

There is something unreal about Shapotou沙坡头.  It should be, and probably once was, a remote outpost. Geographically, it is still a place of stark contrasts, where the harsh sands of the Tengger Desert are halted by irrigated fields; where lush green is separated from sparkling yellow by a dramatic bend in the Yellow river; and all of this comes with remnants of the Great Wall for added lustre.

sunset over Shapotou 沙坡头

It sounds like something straight out of Indiana Jones. That is, until you arrive at the massive tourist reception center and ticket office and then realize you´ve landed in China’s number one desert tourist hot spot where Walt Disney meets Lawrence of Arabia.

Shapotou 沙坡头

As you pass through the computerized turnstile you’ll need to take a deep breath and allow a few moments for your brain to assimilate the [Read more →]

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This series of photos was taken during a Tibetan Festival in the Tashilunpo Monastery in Shigatse, Tibet. A group of young children were dressed up as white paper horses and led around the square in the front of the monastery by a pair of Tibetan clowns; two guys dressed in animal skins with shaggy white wigs and red masks who built an elaborate contraption with a hoop at one end and set it on fire. Finally, the children had to jump through the ring of fire. Unfortunately, the last child got himself hooked on the hoop and his costume caught fire. For a brief moment I feared the worst as he was engulfed in a ball of in flames. My anxiousness must have been down to that overly western obsession with children’s safety, for the rest of the crowd, monks included, were all rolling around on the floor in a fit of hysterical laughter. Of course nothing happened, and the poor boy was left to face the ridicule and jokes of his mates.

Clowns leading the young boys dressed as white horses

The ring of fire

A disaster waiting to happen

Catching fire

Safe

SHIGATSE PRACTICALITIES:

Accommodation and Food: We stayed at the Shigatse Post Hotel, a new-ish place right opposite the posh Shigatse Hotel, down Shanghai Lu. Our double room was painted and furnished in Tibetan style, complete with thankas and white ceremonial scarves, all very bright and clean; good value for 180 Yuan.
Going down Shanghai Lu towards the centre we found plenty of food, though restaurants were mostly of the simple, snack food variety. A ten-minute walk from the hotel will take you to the night market.
Festival info: We were in Shigatse on September 15 (2007), but we have no idea whether there is a fixed date for the festival, or whether it is related to the lunar calendar. We never even found out what it was called; any clarifications are welcome!

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Is History repeating itself?  Wukan and the Hai-lufeng Soviet

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The recent reports about the protests in the village of Wukan in Guangdong Province say that the village is continuing to resist the authorities. The police are surrounding the village and an uneasy standoff  is taking place. Out of curiosity I looked up Wukan on Google Maps, and to my surprise I found it was right smack in the area of Lufeng.

As part of my Chinese History Degree at SOAS (London School of Oriental and African Studies) we did a course called Peasants and Revolution, a study of peasant revolutions and rebellions throughout China’s turbulent history.  Special emphasis was focused on how Mao Zedong 毛泽东 was able to galvanize the peasants and convert them into the vanguard of the Chinese Revolution.

Mao was not the first Chinese Communist to discover the potential force of the peasants to serve the Chinese Communist revolution. Another was Peng Pai 澎湃. Peng fired up the peasants in the area of Haifeng and Lufeng during the 1920’s。 In 1927 he created the first ever Soviet, the Hai-lufeng Soviet. One of Peng’s first and foremost objectives was to single out landowners, the rich and corrupt officials and brutally kill them. Something he did with amazing efficiency until the Soviet was crushed by Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist forces.

What must the current Chinese leadership be thinking when again they see the area of Lufeng at the forefront of anti-official protests? Perhaps the killing in police custody of the village representative, Xue Jinbo, was an attempt to avoid another Peng Pai from arising out of the protests?
Is history repeating itself?

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I am uploading a couple of Uyghur songs that I’ve got hooked on recently.

The first, by a group called Qetic, is called Izlidim. It’s an incredibly beautiful and catchy pop song. I’d love to know what the lyrics mean (can anyone help?).

The second is a far more traditional song; Tar Kucha. The video that accompanies the song shows parts of the disappearing traditional life of the Uyghurs and has some interesting images of (correct me if I´m wrong) old Kashgar, much of which has now been demolished.

If you want to catch a bit of Uyghur music while you are in Beijing try the 31 Bar on Houhai Lake. Most nights a group of young Uyghur musicians get together for an informal session of mixed Spanish and Uyghur music. The musical talent of these guys is something to behold.  Drink prices are normal Houhai prices:  20/25 yuan a beer.

31 Bar houhai Lake Beijing

See previous articles from Holachina on Kashgar & Hotan

Uyghur Spanish Fusion

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Helanshan Yanhua (贺兰山岩画)

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Helan Shan Rock Carving

We have to hurry to get to our last stop, the rock paintings of Helanshan Yanhua, said to date back 10,000 years, before they close. Here as well, the local authorities have made a huge effort and developed a major tourist reception center, complete with a brand-new museum and little electric trains to take visors out to the rocks (with ticket prices to match).

Deer /鹿

On the positive side, the site buildings are all housed in tasteful, beige cubes that blend in very well with the countryside.

Animal Rock Carvings

The striking canyon cuts deep into the Helan Shan range and has its own small river running through it, and even a small waterfall. The whole place is exceedingly atmospheric, particularly in the late-afternoon light, and the carvings [Read more →]

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The twin Pagodas of Baisikou (拜寺口双塔)

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Baisikou 拜寺口双塔

Nearby, about 9 kms further down the road, are two very well preserved pagodas, 13 and 14 storeys high and dating from the middle or late periods of Western Xia.  They are best visited in the late afternoon when they stand out impressively against the stony backdrop of the Helan shan mountains. Both pagodas have small shrines inside, where people still come and worship. When we were there, a Chinese family were helping their aged grandfather to get around the shrines.

Baisikou 拜寺口

It’s quite easy to enter the ground floor of the smaller pagoda and stare up into its hollow interior, while the tunnel leading into the taller pagoda is quite claustrophobic.
In a small temple behind the pagodas, a Buddhist monk will tell you your future and reveal all your strengths and weaknesses; for a (substantial) donation of course.

Baisikou kediao 拜寺口雕刻

Practicalities:

Entrance ticket: 10 Yuan.

The pagodas seem to have similar opening hours to nearby Helanshan Yanhua (8.00 – 18.00).

The Pagodas are best visited as part of  a combined trip to the Western Tombs,  Gunzhongkou and the Helan Shan Rock Carvings by hiring a taxi from Yinchuan (250 Yuan for the day).

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Gunzhongkou (滚钟口)

Sunflowers at Gunzhongkou

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Our next stop is the historic pass village of Gunzhongkou, at the foot of the rough and rugged Helan Shan mountains (贺兰山) which dominate the area around Yinchuan, forming a formidable and protective barrier between the city and the barren wastelands of the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia.

Helan Shan near Gunzhongkou

Not so much a village, though there is a temple and a hand-full of houses, Gunzhongkou is a scenic area in which you can take walks (along marked trails) to pavilions and [Read more →]

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The Route of 2010:

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Tombs and ancient walls of Xi Xia Tombs

Stage 1: Hoh Hot
Stage 2: Zhongwei
Stage 3: Yinchuan (银川) and around
Stage 4: Yinchuan to Bayan Khot
Stage 5: Bayan Hot to Alashan Youqi and the Badain Jaran desert
Stage 6: Zhangye and around
Stage 7: Xiahe and around

Baisikou Pagoda near Yinchuan

Stage three: Yinchuan (银川) and around

Intro
This was the beginning of what was supposed to be the highlight of our China trip of this year: a visit to the Badain Jaran Desert near a town called Alashan Youqi. A few sentences in the Lonely Planet had put me up to this adventure; under the caption ‘Bayan Khot’ it said: “One daily bus goes to Alashan Youqi … at 7.10 am. “ Moreover, a boxed text in the Inner Mongolia chapter mentioned “… the remote but stunning Badain Jaran Desert…”, which was apparently a 30-minute drive away from this Alashan Youqi. However much I looked on the Internet, I found little else. In fact, there didn’t even seem to be a road on the maps I consulted.

Xia Xia tombs & Helan Shan

And so, while driving through the depressingly familiar mixture of white-tiled urban sprawl, manic traffic and choking pollution that took us from Yinchuan bus station to the centre of the Old Town, doubts kicked in. With a feeling of near panic I thought of my friend who I had persuaded to take a week off work from his job in Beijing (北京) to join us on this trip.

Would he not regret spending his holidays in gritty Yinchuan, rather than going back to sunny Spain? I began to have serious doubts if I had done the right thing, embarking on a journey I still wasn’t entirely sure was possible, and guilt set in. As it turned out, [Read more →]

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Introduction

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Between December 1990 and January 1991, Adam and I travelled the Yangztse River from Shanghai to Chongqing; a journey that took us 9 days then. At that time, tourism along the Yangtse was in its infancy and we, as poor backpackers, couldn’t have afforded a cruise ship anyway. So we travelled on Chinese passenger boats that made very few concessions to either comfort or tourists. There were no sightseeing stops or side excursions; we even managed to miss one Gorge altogether, as the boat went through it at night.

In those days, foreign visitors were charged much higher prices for transport, hotels, sights, etc., than Chinese people and had to pay in Foreign Exchange Certificates (a special currency only for foreigners or foreign transactions), rather than Renminbi (the People’s money), which is why many backpackers resorted to black- marketeers. To get his hands on a couple of discounted, Chinese-price tickets for the first leg of the journey, Adam had to follow a Chinese man into the toilets of the Seaman’s Club at the Pujiang Hotel (known as Astor House Hotel after recent makeovers) in an action reminiscent of an old spy movie.

It was winter and the weather was cold and wet; the river often shrouded in impenetrable mist. [Read more →]

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Route 2011

Inner Mongolia / Ningxia / Gansu

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Xi Xia tombs and statues near Yinchuan 西夏王陵

Over the next few months we’ll be putting up articles about the places we visited in China this summer.
The trip began in Hohhot (呼和浩特), in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古自治区), where we had arrived on the train from Ulaan Baatar (乌兰巴托) in Mongolia.

Hohot's Wutasi 五塔寺 / 呼和浩特

After exploring the city’s eye-catching Wuta pagoda 五塔寺 and Da Zhao 大召 and Xilitu Zhao 席力图大召temples, an overnight train took us to Zhongwei (中卫), in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Province (宁夏回自治区), where we visited the Desert Research Center at Shapotou ( 沙坡头) on the banks of the Yellow River (黄河) and also the Sikou Scenic Area(寺口风景区).

Shapotou /沙坡头

From Zhongwei (中卫), a quick bus ride led north to Yinchuan (银川), from where we explored the amazing sights that surround Ningxia’s capital.

HelanShan 贺兰山 near Yinchuan

From Yinchuan we headed off into Western Inner Mongolia, passing the isolated ruins of the Great Wall at Sanguankou (三关口), [Read more →]

Tags: Gansu Province, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui, Travel // Add Comment »