Up The Yangtze

I went and saw the new documentary Up The Yangtze last night at the Belcourt here in Nashville.
Tonight is the last night it will be there, but I'm sure it will be on DVD soon enough. It is well worth seeing. I enjoyed it very much. It was nice to see it before I leave next week on my trip.

One of the things I'd like you to notice while you watch the movie is the facial expressions of all the people involved. Their faces say much more than even their body language or their words.

Well worth watching.

Gifts for China

One of the things we've been asked to do in our preparation for the trip is to get together something to use as little inexpensive "Thank you" gifts for various people we'll meet while in China. (Things NOT MADE IN CHINA!!!) That was not an easy task.

So I had several copies of pictures I've taken of Nashville made and I plan to give them out in little sets tied together with THANK YOU written in Chinese on them.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THEM.

Skin of Our Teeth

Well, at this point in preparing for the trip....there are some interesting concerns!

The travel agent that booked our flights out of Nashville (everyone else is flying out of Memphis except for 3 Nashville people and one Late addition to the trip in Memphis), for some reason booked our flight (on American Airlines) for the 8:30AM flight out of Nashville. That will get us into Chicago O'Hare at 9:55AM. Our flight from Chicago to Shanghai is scheduled to LEAVE at 10:35AM. Um...now I'm not a math genius by any stretch of the imagination...but....uh... that is going to present a problem! ha-ha!

We now have the travel agent trying to get us all booked on the earlier flight of 6:00AM to Chicago.
I'm thinking that won't be too much trouble, and it shouldn't be full...since it is a 6:00AM flight on a holiday (July 4th). We'll see how it goes. I have a plan for whatever happens. If we have to stick with the original flight of 8:30AM then I'm going to pack two larger carry on bags, and just pay the $25 fee American now charges (don't get me started) and just let that be my luggage, with no worries about it NOT arriving in Shanghai with me. (there's no way they can get the checked luggage from the flight to Chicago onto our flight to Shanghai) It will (at best) be a day late...if not LOST somewhere out in airline luggage limbo! ha-ha

If we get the 6:00AM flight, then I plan to take the regular backpack I usually use, and a small backpack as a carry-on.

I have my last "China meeting" this Saturday, June 28th in Memphis. Should have more information at that time.

Meanwhile, China has a few preparations it is busy with too...

Earthquake in Sichuan

How sad, and tragic for these people and their families.
Keep them in your thoughts.

Many have been concerned about my going to China after the earthquake last week. I appreciate the words of concern, but we will not be anywhere near that region of China. It would be like worrying about people in Nashville, when an earthquake hit Kansas City. It has an impact, but it isn't the area that was hit by the quake.

Shadow of the Silk Road

In preparing for my trip to China, I have read several books about the country and people of China. (as seen in earlier posts) I have now ventured out to not just China, but to the region of Eastern Asia. With the book Marco Polo, I read more of the history of China during the Middle Ages, as well as the Silk Road during that time. I am now reading Shadow of the Silk Road which deals with the places/nations found along the old Silk Road(s) today. The British author Colin Thubron travels from X'ian, China to Anitoch (Antakya) in Syria.
X'ian is of special interest to me because I will be visiting there on my trip. It is the home to the "Original Emperor" The Yellow Emperor Qin (prnounced Ch'n), China is named after him. X'ian is also the location of the Terracotta Army that was discovered there around 1972. This is one of the places along with the Great Wall, that I am highly anticipating visiting this summer.

Hubei University

My "home" for at least two weeks of my trip will be an apartment on the campus of Hubei University. The following images are what the university displays to students interested in applying to the University. So I'm guessing my accommodations will be similar. Looks very nice.
We will have INTERNET access while there, so I should have no problem keeping the blog going. Now, if I can just get over the FOOD thing.....haha.

Not sure I'll have much use for the Television....since I don't speak enough Chinese for it to make any difference. ha ha.

Panda Cubs

How can you NOT look at these guys and smile? Amazing

Marco Polo

As a person from the West, that is about to go and spend a month in the Far East...I can't help but feel a connection to one of best known of the earlier visitors from the West, Marco Polo. I have to admit I have always had a strong interest in Marco Polo and his journey. I guess my love of travel has pulled me to his adventure, and his story . I also find it very interesting that so many people still question that he actually made the trip all the way to China...but as much as I have read and studied about Marco Polo, it is very obvious he made the journey and fell in love with Cathay (the Medieval name for China) and the people there, not the least of which was their impressive leader...Kublai Khan. Marco most certainly was amazed and impressed with this most powerful ruler of 1271.

Having said all that, it is amazing how little information there is in "ONE PLACE" that deals with this story. (other than from Polo's own book of course...which is good reading as well) That is until recently. MARCO POLO: From Venice to Xanadu by Laurence Bergreen is my newest read in my preparation for visiting China. It does an excellent job of not only using Marco's writings, but also researching other sources from the time, and visiting the places that Marco visited. I am about 1/2 through this and it is EXCELLENT!



Another source, is from National Geographic. Mike Edwards and his photographer companion, Michael Yamashita traveled in the footsteps of Marco Polo and recorded what the current world is like along Marco's trail. They traveled 6,000 miles through 8 countries.

The slideshow is very nice.


The return home site can be found here.

There is also an online exhibit put together by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, that is interactive and has some good information.

In the Footseps of Marco Polo

Soaring World Food Prices

The growing crisis of higher food prices (particularly of grains) throughout various parts of the world, is something that should be watched. The growing demand for cheaper fuels..(ethenol for example) had caused the price of grains such as corn to triple in the past couple of years or so. It takes the same amount of corn to feed one person for a year, that is required to fill one 25 gallon tank of an SUV. Where are the priorities...particularly in this nation. China certainly has reasons for concern as more and more of their 1.3 billion people begin driving cars, while others...many others are on the verge of starvation.

CLICK HERE

Before The Deluge

The next book I am reading in my preparation for visiting China, is The Deluge: The Vanishing World of the Yangtze's Three Gorges by Deirdre Chetham. It deals with the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. (The three gorges are Qutang Gorge, Wu Gorge, and the Xiling Gorge)

Numerous towns and villages along the Yantzge will be flooded, displacing estimates of 1.5 to 3 million people when the Three Gorges Dam is completed (in 2011). Whole cities and villages have been rebuilt hundreds of feet above their original locations, sometimes on opposite sides of the river. This probably brings into play more millions (and billions) of dollars that will be required for this mass exodus of the millions of displaced people. This massive undertaking has already been compared to such Chinese creations as the Grand Canal, and the Great Wall. It is easy to understand the comparison as one looks out over the massive complex that makes the dam. When completed it will be the largest hydro-electric power station in the world, creating a total electric generating capacity of 22,500 megawatts. The dam itself was created using a model of the TVA system here in the United States. It was created as a means of flood control and drought relief as well as a means of producing hydro-electric power for the millions.

What will be the world's largest hydroelectric dam is under construction in the remote Three Gorges area of China's Upper Yangtze River. Of the nearly 1500 towns that will be submerged when the project is complete, the author focuses on a handful that she knows well from her experiences as a river guide and lecturer. She describes their residents involved in their daily affairs-working, worshiping, getting by-even as the flood waters ineluctably rise around them. In some cases, communities that have existed for thousands of years, whose entire histories and cultures are centered on the river, that have survived flood, famine, and war, will be forced to uproot themselves forever. Against this backdrop, the author also recounts the broader controversies and political deal-making that went into the decision to build the dam. This book had to be written now because in just a few years these people and their world will be gone. -From Library Journal

There is also an excellent NPR series on the Three Gorges Dam and the impact on the people and landscape in this area of China.