Ji Chang Village Earth Opera - Lunch at Botanical Gardens - Qingyan Ancient Town

Following Tai Chi and breakfast this morning, we hopped on the bus and headed for Ji Chang village whose residents are descendants of Han military units sent to Guizhou in the 15th century.

Single woman who have a boyfriend wear this "horses tail

We evoke great joy and laughter from

Mei and Michael.  Luann is trying to

make the water in this bowl dance...

it worked for Michael!

Preparing goodies for the market...

Elders having a morning smoke together.

Dixi' (earth opera), a folk form that dates from the early 

Ming Dynasty and is still performed in 'old Han' locales.  

 

Villagers here performed 3 different stories using

 traditional hand-made wooden masks.

Some great expressions!

 

Wonderful historical drawings.

 

 and inlays in the doors.

Construction sites provide great

fun if you have the right equipment!

Interesting window designs.

John attempting to make the corn mill work.

The gardens call everyday-the married women
wear the white headbands.

Pat trying her archer skills - impressive.

Wonderful bridges over the old moat.

Stacks and stacks of dried corn.

And stacks of rape leaves after the harvest.

A change of plans.  Seems May Day (1st) is a 3 day holiday in China.  In order to have Mon - Wed off, people have to work on Saturday and Sunday.  Consequently, the visit we were supposed to have to the Children's Palace recreation Center with the kids has been canceled because they are in school today :-(  So, we headed to the Botanical Gardens for lunch...

terrific dish for succotash!

This was baked pumpkin filled with seafood and veggies.

and they had a lot of tanks full of fresh seafood so you could select the one you wanted for lunch.  But the Botanical part was pretty much a nice indoor garden with houseplants.  Not quite what we expected but it was an interesting adventure and the food was great.

Then back on the bus and off to Qingyan Ancient Town which was founded in 1378 during the Ming Dynasty.  It is now an Ancient Town, a historical and cultural designation.  Qingyan town was built for military reasons. Because of its geographical location, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty, established it as a station for transferring military messages and to house a standing army. Through years of modification and repeated restoration, Qingyan Ancient Town has gradually become a distinctive ancient town with cultural features of Ming and Qing Dynasties (1644 - 1911).

Due to the local geology, this town was built completely of stone.

 

These city walls are built right on the cliffs with huge rocks.  

The wall divided Qingyan into inner and outer towns. There are 

four  gates in the wall facing north, south, east and west.

They are still restoring some areas of the wall.

A stroll past the shops in the inner town.

and a peak at the gardens outside the walls.

The town in known for it's Qingyan tofu and rice tofu.

and Shuanghua vinegar and regional spices.

 Nine Buddist temples...

and 8 Taoist Shrines exist side by side with

the Catholic Church

and interesting winding streets, all made of stone...

lovely gardens

and adorable babies.  A very

peacefull afternoon.

After our ride back to the hotel and a really nice dinner, we just wandered the area and got things together for our morning flight.  Fun day!