Category Archives: China

Shanghai Museum is a place where cultural traveling enthusiasts must go, Have you seen the greatest treasures of the museum?

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Everyone has a fixed travel habit, some people arrive in a city, the museum is a place where they must go. Walking in the city, what people see is all about the present. Only walking into a museum is the best traceback of a city. When you come to Shanghai, Shanghai Museum has been hailed as half of all Chinese cultural relics, you can’t miss Shanghai Museum.

Shanghai Museum is located at No. 201 Renmin Avenue, the scale of the exhibition hall can be seen from the building, there are eleven special halls, three exhibition halls, and nearly one million cultural relics, including 120,000 precious cultural relics, bronze ware, chinaware, calligraphy and painting is the best part of the museum.

The exhibition is organized chronologically. The audiences walk into contemporary era step by step in time sequence and gain a deeper understanding of the city and historical development, the original chaotic impression becomes vivid, stereoscopic and clear.

The unswerving pursuit of beauty is the inherent nature of mankind from the date of birth. Looking at these artifacts from the Bronze Age, people always wonder and always want to know how to make ancient Chinese people perform such exquisite carvings when the tools were so backward.

More and more people like to visit urban cultural places such as museums and art galleries, although there is no lack of the cursory visitor, but more people look at these cultural relics carefully and experience a period of history with their heart. From making a sightseeing tour to savoring the history of the city, it’s a pleasure to see such changes.

Big Grams Tripod in the bronze exhibition hall is quite famous in China and is one of the three treasures in Shanghai. After apperciating precious cultural relics one by one, I find that various artifacts have become more and more exquisite with the development of the times. Beautiful shapes, exquisite grooves, fastidious craft…… all show the affluence and abundance of dynasties and regions.

Zizhong ginger plate in the Spring and Autumn Period is among the ten greatest treasures in Shanghai Museum. This is a bronze ware for washing hands and face in the early Spring and Autumn period, the whole bronze ware is simple but steady, a male bird with a crown is centered over the plate, on the sides are four fish, the outer ring of plate are four female birds, the female birds form are lively and vivid. But more amazingly, all the animals here can rotate up to 360 degrees in situ, this is special case in Shang Dynasty bronze vessels and Zhou Dynasty bronze vessels.

The unearthed chimes in the late Spring and Autumn Period. There is a real chime before our eyes, the chimes music spreading to our ears can make us immerse.

Many parents take their children to visit the museum. For children, in this colorful world, suddenly discovering so many unknown worlds should be a wonderful experience in childhood.

It is also the greatest treasures of the museum —— antique China Yongzheng Sign Pastel Eight peaches Olive bottle. The whole body is decorated with pastels. The fairy peaches are full, rich in color, peach branches are vigorous and powerful, decorated with five bats, five bats” homonym five blessings. Peach is a symbol of longevity. Drawing five bats centripetally around the peach, meaning “five blessings holding longevity”. The brightly-colored bottle is noble and generous, with natural and smooth lines, minimalistic but not simple.

I have seen many pottery figurines, most of them have a glazed expressions, the pottery figurines that have elegant facial temperament are a minority. Shanghai Museum seems to have many such cultural relics in glass showcases, it is a place fascinated by people.

The sycee is a cultural relic in Southern Song Dynasty.

There are many ways to take in sounds of the city, visiting a museum is most likely to touch the spiritual core. The modern Shanghai is certainly eye-catching, Shanghai’s long-gone history is equally wonderful. If you want to know the other side of the city, you might as well come to the Shanghai Museum to listen to the stories told by cultural relics.

Yu Garden is the best-known Chinese style place in Shanghai

People’s impression of Shanghai mostly comes from films, in the neon of metropolis, uninhibited Shanghai evening show, the stylish women who dress in cheongsam walk gracefully out from a nearby alleyway. Shanghai was once chopped up into the concessions of western powers, different cultures coexisted peacefully, to this day, Shanghai old colonial architecture still record that part of history and remain a relic of the old world, Yuyuan Garden is the oldest and the best-known Chinese style place in Shanghai.

Yuyuan Garden was built in the Ming Dynasty, it turned out to be the Pan family private garden. Qianlong reign, the Pan family began to wane, Yuyuan Garden gradually was dilapidated. Nowadays, there are lots of goods in Yuyuan Tourist Mart, here brings together all specialty products in Shanghai, especially snacks.

The City God Temple is a bustling place, where various lively activities such as performances and Lantern Festival take place, naturally, City God Temple, located in Yuyuan Tourist Mart, is a symbol of old Shanghai.

The City God Temple was also built in the Ming Dynasty, it was Yimiao in Shanghai County at that time, the swarming crowds and endless stream of pilgrims. Before the opening of Shanghai to the world, the City God Temple was the only place where the citizens of Shanghai had all kinds of entertainments.

The three-story imitations of Ming-and-Qing-dynasty-style buildings, grey tiles and vermilion handrails, antique —— the famous Green Wave Hall Restaurant is a classic old store in Shanghai, it has played host to many foreign leaders such as Queen Elizabeth of the UK, US President Bush and so on. The Green Wave Hall Restaurant used to be the pavilion in inner garden, the owner Pan family is in decline, the pavilion transfered out one after another, although after several owners, it became a teahouse until the republic of China.

After the opening of Shanghai to the world, the public parks, bars, dance halls and other places in the concessions of western powers became the new places for entertainment. Various shops gradually opened in the City God Temple and Yuyuan Garden area, where evolved into a very popular marketplace. Until now, Yuyuan Garden is still favored by many old Shanghainese and tourists from all over the world, there are many well-known snacks here, such as spiced beans, Pear-syrup candy and so on, small steamed bun has become the most familiar Shanghai labels.

Shanghai Lao City God Temple Snack Square brings together nearly all famous Shanghai snacks —— steamed crab dumplings, Pork-and-Crab Soup Dumplings, Doufu Hua(Bean Curd Jelly), Shanghai Wonton Soup, Shumai(Shao Mai)with Sticky Rice…… here is undoubtedly a paradise for foodies.

The shops are closely connected, every plaque and brick show an ancient smell, the Yuyuan Garden logo Zigzag Bridge, the green waves reflect the red walls, obviously the feeling of old Shanghai.

Yuyuan Garden has always been a busy place in Shanghai, occasionally, there is a peace and quiet nobody’s corner, Yuyuan Garden looks like the Jiangnan landscaped garden.

A hundred years have passed by, Yuyuan Garden has never left the life of Shanghainese, it seems to be quiet outside of time, never changes.

The Centennial Shanghai Old Street, rich Chinese folk customs

Most tourists to Shanghai will go to Yu Garden to have a look, but in fact, many people do not notice Shanghai Old Street not far from Yu Garden, it used to be the small east gate of Shanghai.

The small east gate in the late Qing Dynasty was the bustling place in Shanghai. At that time, people in Shanghai came to the small east gate to stroll around during every Chinese festival, at the east gate, thousands of black-awning boats were dorked along the river, the boatmen waited for their master to come back with many shopping bags, then he rowed the master home.

Once on this old street gathered the former jewelry store, business house, money shop, wine shop, theatre; walking on this street now, sometimes it is almost as if I can perceive the appearance of Waitan in the past.

Shanghai is a place of great change, once this street faced demolition, later, it is transformed into the Late Qing Period street, the money shops and business houses on the old street have been able to retain complete its original appearance. The teahouses are most easily seen on this street nowadays, many people come here specially to drink tea and chat.

Shanghai Old Street is divided into the eastern segment and the western segment, it is bounded by Guanyi Street, the eastern segment is dominated by the Late Qing Period buildings, the western segment is dominated by the ancient buildings of Ming and Qing dynasties, I see a lot of hundred-years-old stores here. In fact, in Shanghai old street, there are many small alleys, a lot of residents live and work in peace and contentment, they speak regional dialects.

For Shanghai, it is not only Shanghai Old Street that can show the old days, perhaps this old street is just a microcosm of the old Shanghai, I wander in the street looking into the night embraced by the mellow voice of Zhou Xuan coming from the teahouse, time will be slow on the way of reminiscence, the old neighborhoods and small alleys possess the exclusive memories of Shanghai.

Wukang Road, concentrated modern Shanghai 100 years of history

We walk on Wukang Road in Shanghai, the French plane trees on both sides of the road blot out the sky and cover the sun, old western style villas are numerous.

Wukang Road was originally called Route Ferguson, built in 1907, it can be said that it is a historic road in Shanghai. This is known as a “Celebrity Road” that concentrated one hundred year modern history of Shanghai.

There is no rigid planning on the whole road, each house has its own unique appearance, Spanish style, French Renaissance style, German Baroque style…

There are many restaurants and coffee shops that have been converted from old houses at the roadside, when people are tired with walking, they can sit inside, drink a cup of coffee, and calm down their mood, watching the pedestrians coming and going outside the window, that kind of comfort gives people the sense of being forgotten by time.

The whole road is full of vitality because of the green decoration, the sun continuously through the gap between the leaves of the parasol tree, on the ground is shown on a piece of mottled, which coincides with the roadside old houses, Wukang Road is showing the most beautiful golden years.

Most of houses along the street were built during the colonial period, European-style columns and small terraces can be seen everywhere, the blue bricks and green leaves reflect each other, the white, beige, and gray facades is filled with quietness and elegance, which creat a life attitude of the Shanghai noble persons.

The sunlit small courtyard, the aroma of coffee surrounds us, it is good to sit here in a trance.

A hurrying pedestrian, her colourful clothes fit in with this old building, I feel that Wukang Road is most suitable for walking alone, I look about as I walk along, I occasionally stop for a while, I silently look at the footsteps of hurrying pedestrian, and experience my peace of mind.

The most famous on Wukang Road is Wukang Mansion. Wukang Mansion is like a large ship in the sunset, it is in the shape of a fan along the street corner, the whole building is built of crimson bricks, every household has large lattice windows, the arched doors on the ground floor of the apartment resemble the Colosseum, these elements make people their heart leap up.

Wukang Mansion, formerly known as the Normandie Apartments. It was designed by the Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec and completed in 1924, now it has become a street photography holy place for the artistic youth. People flock from all over the world to visit Wukang Mansion. This building is certainly worth visiting, no matter which angle you shot, 360 degrees, with no dead angle, no matter how you shoot it, all good-looking.

Almost every building is hung with a “historical building” nameplate, although people may not all understand the origin of these history, just experiencing the accumulation of years is enough to make people amaze the world change.

Although it is a historical buildings, it is not blindly vacant for viewing. Most of the buildings put aside their condescending manner and assimilate into the Shanghai people’s life, they are within reach, many foreign-style houses and apartments reveal a deep sense of human feelings and fireworks flavour.

A different form of housing are the sections of unique expression, on sunny day, we take a turn on Wukang Road, let the sun shines into the history, let the sun shines into the life.

Summer Palace is a imperial garden which is worth visiting

The Summer Palace in Beijing is the largest surviving imperial garden in China and is also a standard northern imperial garden. It has a beautiful scenery, moutain and water surrounded. The Summer Palace was loved by the Empress Dowager Cixi, she lived here for several years.

Walking in the Summer Palace, people can always vaguely see the sign of Jiangnan. Green water and stone bridge, the small buildings with two floors have beam with carving and painting which has both north and south style of folk houses. How refined the quality of art is.

The Summer Palace is based on Kunming Lake and Longevity Mountain. Longevity Mountain is like a pillar that props up the sky. Palaces and pavilions are scattered randomly from foot to the top of the mountain. The centrally-located Buddhist Fragrance Pavilion, World of Abundant Fragrance and the Hall of the Sea of Wisdom are surrounded by other palaces and pavilions. The building is awe-inspiring in size and design and displays a gesture of the royal family arrogance and the sovereign descending the world.

Buddhist Fragrance Pavilion is the highest point in the entire garden, standing on it and overlooking the Summer Palace, let a person can’t help but praise the large-scale Royal Garden. Yellow glazed tiles scatter a powerful aura, this is the exclusive color of the emperor, in addition to Beijing, you can’t see it elsewhere.

The Marble Boat also known as the Boat of Purity and Ease, is a lakeside pavilion on the grounds of the Summer Palace. The original pavilion was made from a base of large stone blocks which supported a wooden superstructure done in a traditional Chinese design. During the Second Opium War, the pavilion was burnt, it was restored in 1893 on order of Empress Dowager Cixi. In this restoration, a new two-story superstructure was designed which incorporated elements of European architecture. Like its predecessor, the new superstructure is made out of wood but it was painted to imitate marble.

The Long Corridor is the longest garden corridor in China, the total length of the Long Corridor is 728 metres, with crossbeams under the roof dividing it into 273 sections. Along its course, there are four octagonal pavilions with double eaves, two on each side of the Cloud-Dispelling Gate. The pavilions symbolize the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and are named (from east to west): Liu Jia, Ji Lan, Qiu Shu, and Qing Yao. When people walk down the long corridor, they can appreciate beautiful lakes and mountains on both sides of the corridor.

It is said that when the Summer Palace was under repair Empress Dowager Cixi embezzled expenditure on navy, which led to the Northern Navy was defeated, then the 61-year-old woman appealed to Japan for peace and signed an unprecedented humiliating Shimonoseki Treaty.

In recent years, the Seventeen Arches Bridge in the Summer Palace has become a popular tourist spots, especially around the time of the winter solstice, the sunset is in the south-west direction, the warm light of the setting sun illuminates all the bridge holes of the Seventeen Arches Bridge one by one, thus forming a natural series of “golden arches” spectacle, people call it “Golden Light Piercing”. Even if it is not at sunset, the long bridge connecting the east bank of Kunming Lake and Nanhu Island is picturesque, even poetical.

Those who have seen private gardens in southern yangtze can see the difference between private gardens and royal gardens at a glance. The royal gardens need no further hiding, the royal gardens need no restraining and connotation, the royal gardens need no curving trail profounded the woods, not to mention seeing a bigger picture from small matters, the royal gardens are as big as they want.

Our eyes are full of greenery, although there is no poetry such as “the emerald lotus leaves reach as far as where water and sky meet, and lotus blossoms bathing in the sunshine exhibit a distinctive dazzling pink”, but green leaves, gleaming ripples, tourist boats, painted pleasure boat, which constitutes a beautiful painting.

Kunming Lake is located in the western suburb of Beijing Summer Palace, about three-quarters of the Summer Palace. Before Emperor Qianlong, the west of Nanhu Island was a lake and the east was land. In order to create the lake, Xian Island-Nanhu Island was left, and the east coast of the rest of the lake was moved eastward. The whole Kunming Lake was doubled and connected to Nanhu Island again with the 17-hole bridge.

Summer Palace is the boundless romantic royal garden, Summer Palace is the glory and shame of the Qing dynasty, Emperor Qianlong’s last big task made Summer Palace unmatched in the world 259 years ago.