Anyang Day 2: The city and the National Writing Museum
I had a short list of things I wanted to see in Anyang in our last few hours. The Wanda Realm's driver, who went by the English name "Bob," drove us around in air conditioned comfort.
The first place I wanted to go was to see Tianning Temple, which featured the Wenfeng Pagoda. Prior to the discovery of the Oracle Bones, this pagoda was one of the oldest things in Anyang.
Along the way, Bob pointed out some of the older buildings visible behind the newer commercial buildings on the street. I asked if Anyang had a bell tower. He said yes, they did have a bell tower, and, oh, there it was.
Once I got home Iresearched Googled the tower and found some Chinese blogs that say the bell tower was orginially built on this location during the Ming Dynasty. It was destroyed during the Japanese occupation in World War II. The tower was rebuilt in 1988, but does house a Ming-era bell that the city tolls on holidays.
More after the jump
Next we were at our planned stop, at Tianning Temple. Reportedly, the Temple was established in the Zhou Dynasty (which followed the Shang). The Pagoda itself likely dates to the 900s. It is currently being restored. The current Temple buildings were from the reign of the Qing Emporer Qianlong and rebuilt in 2001. Admission to the general public was ¥20 for me, half that for Myles, and free for Brigid.
In the Hall of Heroes there was one man, with a small book and prayer beads, circling the interior and reading aloud to himself.
The pagoda was in stark contrast to the bright colors found inside the temple buildings. I just love the extensive carving found on these. It was hard, though, to make out the intricate detail through the scaffolding. My eyes and camera had difficulty focusing past the scaffolding.
There was some other place Bob thought we might like to see, another temple of some kind. I didn't recognize the name. I think he said it had something to do with Cao Cao. I could make out the rooftops from one of the main streets, but he had to navigate some narrow alleys to get to the entrance. When I walked up to the entrance, which just looked like the gate for an older apartment building, a man in shorts and an undershirt waved me off. "不开放!"Bù kāifàng. Not open. Bob was confused because he had been there before, but I was thinking maybe it just wasn't open to foreigners. I didn't say this; I just mumbled something about maybe not on Thursdays.
My next requested stop was someplace I was really worried about being 不开放, the Catholic Cathedral of Anyang. This diocese was in the news recently because of the ordination of their new co-adjudicator bishop having joint approval from the Vatican and the PRC. I try to check out local Catholic Churches in our travels anyway. This one, though, having been subject to international attention this summer, might not as welcoming to a foreigner than some of the others we have seen.
Bob was trying to get his bearings, twisting through the narrow alleys of this older part of Anyang, and I started to wish we had time just to walk around this neighborhood. Not all of the buildings had centuries old charm but some did. Some even bore placards with older photographs that (I think) described the history of the building, like I have seen in Beijing in places like Nanluoguxiang.
At one point, Bob was still not sure how we were going to navigate out of the alleys when I pointed ahead. That was the place we were trying to reach.
Bob, seeing his target, then deftly maneuvered out of those alleys.
The cathedral was impressive. And, I was happy to note, still bore the crosses on top. Only about an hour away, in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, are they reportedly pulling them down.
We ducked in to pray and make an offering in the boxes. Brigid was disappointed there were not candles to light, but that isn't a Chinese Catholic thing.
I wasn't sure how much time all of our activities would take, so I had planned to forgo the National Museum of Chinese Writing. Bob thought we should at least spend an hour there before we had to catch our train. I was fine with that. I was sure from everything I had read about that museum an hour would not be enough for a satisfying visit, but we still could see what we could.
In the end an hour was insufficient, but we plan to be back. I was still happier, though, that we spent the time that morning in the twisty alleyways. Not just because of the church, but because it was someplace that I did not expect to see and really want to see more of next time, too.
While Yinxu was more about the archaeological finds and the history, and a little bit about Chinese writing, this museum was wholly dedicated to Chinese characters, the media upon which they were written, character development--just everything.
We started at the beginning, at the Oracle Bones and Shang Bronzes. The artifacts were much like those at Yinxu but in Chinese and English there was a lot more information on reading Oracle Bones.
There was just so much information. So, so, so much. Covering everything. Whose names they found, how things were written, and with what.
Readers of Peter Hessler's Oracle Bones will recognize this book.
Brigid was delighted there were Bronzes here, too. These examples highlighted more of the inscriptions than the decorative elements.
We just barely got out of the Shang Dynasty and into the next big development in Chinese writing when it was time for us to go. We caught a little bit of the bamboo and silk of the Han Dynasty on our way out.
We were all really happy with how well our two days in Anyang went. We could have--should have- gone longer, but that will have to be next time.
The first place I wanted to go was to see Tianning Temple, which featured the Wenfeng Pagoda. Prior to the discovery of the Oracle Bones, this pagoda was one of the oldest things in Anyang.
Along the way, Bob pointed out some of the older buildings visible behind the newer commercial buildings on the street. I asked if Anyang had a bell tower. He said yes, they did have a bell tower, and, oh, there it was.
Once I got home I
More after the jump
Next we were at our planned stop, at Tianning Temple. Reportedly, the Temple was established in the Zhou Dynasty (which followed the Shang). The Pagoda itself likely dates to the 900s. It is currently being restored. The current Temple buildings were from the reign of the Qing Emporer Qianlong and rebuilt in 2001. Admission to the general public was ¥20 for me, half that for Myles, and free for Brigid.
In the Hall of Heroes there was one man, with a small book and prayer beads, circling the interior and reading aloud to himself.
The pagoda was in stark contrast to the bright colors found inside the temple buildings. I just love the extensive carving found on these. It was hard, though, to make out the intricate detail through the scaffolding. My eyes and camera had difficulty focusing past the scaffolding.
There was some other place Bob thought we might like to see, another temple of some kind. I didn't recognize the name. I think he said it had something to do with Cao Cao. I could make out the rooftops from one of the main streets, but he had to navigate some narrow alleys to get to the entrance. When I walked up to the entrance, which just looked like the gate for an older apartment building, a man in shorts and an undershirt waved me off. "不开放!"Bù kāifàng. Not open. Bob was confused because he had been there before, but I was thinking maybe it just wasn't open to foreigners. I didn't say this; I just mumbled something about maybe not on Thursdays.
My next requested stop was someplace I was really worried about being 不开放, the Catholic Cathedral of Anyang. This diocese was in the news recently because of the ordination of their new co-adjudicator bishop having joint approval from the Vatican and the PRC. I try to check out local Catholic Churches in our travels anyway. This one, though, having been subject to international attention this summer, might not as welcoming to a foreigner than some of the others we have seen.
Bob was trying to get his bearings, twisting through the narrow alleys of this older part of Anyang, and I started to wish we had time just to walk around this neighborhood. Not all of the buildings had centuries old charm but some did. Some even bore placards with older photographs that (I think) described the history of the building, like I have seen in Beijing in places like Nanluoguxiang.
At one point, Bob was still not sure how we were going to navigate out of the alleys when I pointed ahead. That was the place we were trying to reach.
Bob, seeing his target, then deftly maneuvered out of those alleys.
The cathedral was impressive. And, I was happy to note, still bore the crosses on top. Only about an hour away, in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, are they reportedly pulling them down.
We ducked in to pray and make an offering in the boxes. Brigid was disappointed there were not candles to light, but that isn't a Chinese Catholic thing.
I wasn't sure how much time all of our activities would take, so I had planned to forgo the National Museum of Chinese Writing. Bob thought we should at least spend an hour there before we had to catch our train. I was fine with that. I was sure from everything I had read about that museum an hour would not be enough for a satisfying visit, but we still could see what we could.
In the end an hour was insufficient, but we plan to be back. I was still happier, though, that we spent the time that morning in the twisty alleyways. Not just because of the church, but because it was someplace that I did not expect to see and really want to see more of next time, too.
While Yinxu was more about the archaeological finds and the history, and a little bit about Chinese writing, this museum was wholly dedicated to Chinese characters, the media upon which they were written, character development--just everything.
We started at the beginning, at the Oracle Bones and Shang Bronzes. The artifacts were much like those at Yinxu but in Chinese and English there was a lot more information on reading Oracle Bones.
There was just so much information. So, so, so much. Covering everything. Whose names they found, how things were written, and with what.
Readers of Peter Hessler's Oracle Bones will recognize this book.
Brigid was delighted there were Bronzes here, too. These examples highlighted more of the inscriptions than the decorative elements.
We just barely got out of the Shang Dynasty and into the next big development in Chinese writing when it was time for us to go. We caught a little bit of the bamboo and silk of the Han Dynasty on our way out.
We were all really happy with how well our two days in Anyang went. We could have--should have- gone longer, but that will have to be next time.
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