Skulls in the Stars

Part 5 in a long series of posts about my month and a half in China. Part 1 can be read here, Part 2 can be read here, Part 3 can be read here, and Part 4 can be read here.

My trip to China was so filled with activities — and overwhelming at times — that I’m finding it easier to jump around a bit chronologically in my posts, and talk about things as the mood strikes me.

Today I’m in the mood to talk about my visit to the Great Wall of China!

It was in my fourth week in China that my gracious hosts took me, and a Russian colleague, to visit Beijing. There is so much to see in that incredible city, but in the few days we were there we had three targets in mind: The Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and, of course, the Great Wall. We visited The Temple of Heaven on the day we arrived, and then got up relatively early to see the Great Wall the next day. My hosts hired a driver to take us there, and it was in the car that we got our first glimpse of the wall, and a hint of the physical challenge it can be.  My misgivings would be prophetic!

I saw this view of the wall from the car and immediately said “oh, crap.”

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Part 3 in a long series of posts about my month and a half in China. Part 1 can be read here, Part 2 can be read here, and Part 3 can be read here.

On my first weekend in Jinan, I vowed to get out and brave the city by myself. On that Sunday, I went to Baotu Spring, which I wrote about in Part 1.  On that Saturday, though, I went to the Shandong Museum, which I will cover in this post.

Why am I writing about my first experience in Jinan in Part 4 of my series of posts? Well, it takes a lot more research and effort to properly describe a history museum, so I wanted to take extra time to get around to it!

The Shandong Museum is, as its name suggests, is the principal museum of Shandong Province, a province on the east coast of the country. It is one of the largest museums in the country, in fact, and has a significant history to it, though the current building was completed and opened to the public in 2010.

The Shandong Museum.

The first incarnation of the museum was in fact founded by a Baptist missionary in Qingzhou in 1887, and was called the Yidu Museum. It was moved to Jinan in 1904 and renamed Guangzhi Yuan.  In 1942, the museum expanded to a compound in the (I kid you not) Red Swastika Society. The Shandong Provincial Museum was founded in 1954, and divided its collection between the Guangzhi Yuan and the Red Swastika Society locations.  A new unified museum location was opened in 1992, but more space was needed, leading to the construction of the current building.

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Part 3 in a long series of posts about my month and a half in China. Part 1 can be read here, and Part 2 can be read here.

On my first weekend in Jinan I hit two of the major attractions of the city: the Shandong Museum and Baotu Spring. On my second weekend I opted to see a third major attraction, and a centerpiece of the city: Daming Lake, “Lake of the Great Splendor.” This 110 acre lake is fed by the artesian springs of the city, and has a lovely tree-lined walking trail around it with a number of historic buildings.

View of Daming Lake from above.

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Part 2 in a long series of posts about my month and a half in China. Part 1 can be read here.

Before I dive into a post of more history, culture and scenery of China, I thought I would do a short post on a question that was really weighing heavily on my mind when I arrived: what do I eat here?

China is a country with an incredibly diverse culinary tradition, and there are in fact officially eight major cuisine styles: Shandong, Sichuan, Hunan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Fujian. I believe I sampled three or four different styles on this trip, though I am not proficient enough at this point to be able to tell you the differences.

Jumping into Chinese cuisine for a midwestern-raised American like me is a bit of a culture shock, and I spent the first couple of weeks of the trip trying to eat things that were at least vaguely familiar to me.  At one of the first banquets, we were given fresh salmon, which is rare in that part of China and quite expensive, and it looked it.  Since I’m used to eating sushi these days, I was able to happily enjoy it.

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So I’m back home after my epic month and a half trip to China! It was a really lovely experience: my hosts were incredibly kind and generous, I got to see and do a lot of things that I’ve only dreamed of, and I was able to get a lot of work done.

I also, of course, took a lot of photos! During my trip, I not only took a few trips to other cities, but spent my weekends wandering the city of Jinan, where I was based.  I worked at Shandong Normal University, at their newer campus situated in the suburbs.

Me, outside the Center of Light Manipulations and Applications.

During the late spring/early summer, Jinan is a very hot and dry city. Fortunately, it is also a city filled with water — there are a large number of natural artesian springs in the city, 72 of which are important “named” springs. On my first weekend in Jinan, I opted to go to the most famous of these, Baotu Spring, whose name may be translated as the “Spurting” Spring.  This blog post is about that visit, and several more visits which I took there during my stay!

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