Today, we spent the whole day at Guilin's Qixing Gongyuan (Seven Star Park). Former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited this park and gave a speech on environmentalism there. Guilin is a Tier 2 city in southwestern China where growth is primarily driven by tourism. Locals and tourists from other parts of China frequent the park. In this post, I will be showing their … [Read more...] about Faces of Guilin
Conversation with a Chinese auto-worker on fighting graft
While taking a river boat cruise from Guilin down to Yangshuo yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with a fellow traveler; in fact, a Chinese auto-worker who is from Nanjing. I asked him about Nanjing's development, expecting him to tell me about the city's robust growth as in other tier 1 cities. Bear in mind that Nanjing was a capital city in China's past, so there … [Read more...] about Conversation with a Chinese auto-worker on fighting graft
An evening at Zhang Yimou’s folk musical, “Impression Liu Sanjie”
Yesterday I had the good fortune of spending the evening at Zhang Yimou's folk musical, "Impression Liu Sanjie." The stage itself is on the Li River in Yangshuo with mountains in the backdrop. The visuals are breath-taking. If you are familiar with Zhang Yimou's movies, you might know that the director is also famous for his use of color. It took 600+ performers to fill … [Read more...] about An evening at Zhang Yimou’s folk musical, “Impression Liu Sanjie”
清明节 (Qingming Festival), paying respect to the ancestors
April 5th is officially 清明节 (Qingming Festival). It is a Chinese tradition to pay respect to ancestors and make symbolic offerings so they have a better after-life. This tradition is accompanied by "扫墓" or sweeping of the tomb. Today, I was able to witness this tradition as practiced in Guilin with my wife's side of the family. … [Read more...] about 清明节 (Qingming Festival), paying respect to the ancestors
All happy on the Wangfujing front
As I was strolling through Wangfujing today, I couldn't help but recall reading the tense "crack downs" narrated in the Western media over a possible Jasmine Revolution in China. Honestly, I was hoping to snap a few shots of some BBC journalist lurking around, but they were nowhere to be seen. I suppose they have finally understood that China does not like them messing … [Read more...] about All happy on the Wangfujing front