We've seen that sometimes it can be hard to understand the depth of Chinese history during a China tour. You'll visit so many places on your China vacation that you may find that it's awkward to pick out the details from each other. One of the key concepts you'll encounter during your China travel will be the dynasties of China. Each dynasty refers to a specific period in time and the leadership of the country at that point. We'll start introducing them today by taking a trip back in time to China's earliest dynasty the Xia Dynasty.
Xia Dynasty – What We Know
The Xia Dynasty was the first ruling family in China and they rose to power in the year 2070 B.C. (or thereabouts) and held on to it until around the year 1600 B.C. The date is given differently in each record so it should be treated as a reasonable estimate and not a hard fact. The little bit we know about them has been handed down through the ages in Chinese historical chronicles. These chronicles all date from 1300 B.C. onwards. In the times of the Xia Dynasty there was no written medium that would have lasted long enough to be reviewed by modern archaeologists.
The Dynasty began with a tour of duty. The general “Yu the Great” began a campaign to unite China and established himself as the first emperor of China when the last emperor of the 5 emperors (who ruled the separate states that would soon form ancient China) bent his knee to him and conceded defeat. Interestingly, the 5 emperors were reputed to be wise and honest men.
What We Think Might Have Happened
Yu the Great's father was a man called Gun. He is reputed to have been executed for failing to stop the Yellow River (the Huang He which is the second longest river in Asia after the Yangtze) from flooding the plains around his emperor's home. His son Yu was asked to travel home to witness the execution and to fix the problems that his father had failed to fix. It is said that in order to do this he took a long trip around all the neighboring towns and united the people to help him dig a network of canals that would redirect the flood waters.
This further increased has popularity with the people and Yu was credited with the rising influence of the newly prosperous Xia people. Yu rose to a position of leadership and established his military credentials by crushing the Sanmiao tribe who had been raiding the Xia's borders. His emperor was impressed by his courage and when the emperor was dying he named Yu his successor. His dynasty would then continue for nearly 500 years…
Or Perhaps Not
As you'll discover on your China vacation there's plenty of healthy academic debate over Chinese history. The facts above are strongly disputed by many of China's leading historians. They point out that the “documentary evidence” shares little with the reality of archaeological discovery. However, in 2011 an imperial palace was found on the site described in these tales and has been carbon dated to support the story above.
Whatever the truth it's highly likely that you'll see some pieces from this time period in any one of the many museums you visit during your China tour. A trip through China's history is all the better for a little mystery and this one is interesting enough that they'll probably still be talking about who is right in a hundred years' time.
There’s plenty of history to be found on a China vacation. However, if you’d like to take a little diversion when your China tour hits Beijing you can explore the most ancient history of all. The Geological Museum of China lets you travel through the country before any human beings had arrived. As you might expect there are plenty of interesting rocks to be found but there are many other good reasons to take a trip across the city to visit a museum that so many visitors miss out on.
The Geological Museum of China – Where is It?
The museum can be found in the Xicheng District of China which is relatively easily accessible by taxi and also by Metro. The museum is on the Fujing Culture Street which is also called the Fuchengmen-Jingshan Tourism and Culture Street which doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue easily. It’s a good place to see a whole host of other places too – you’ll find the only example of two Imperial dynasty’s temples side-by-side in the whole of China. There’s also a great Buddhist Temple in the form of Guangji Temple. If you’re a literary expert then the home of Lu Xun is also a Museum to his work and can be found on the same street.
The Beijing authorities have spent a lot of money during the Chinese Olympics to make this a nice area and if you travel down the street – you can enjoy the best pavements and walking spaces in China.
The Geological Museum of China – What’s There?
The museum is one of China’s oldest modern museums and was built in the early 20th century in 1916. Today it has over 200,000 examples of “geological specimens” which sounds less interesting than the reality.
The best reason to take the time out of your China tour to visit is the chance to come face-to-face with the “Sinornithosaurus” which is better known as the “Giant Shandong Dinosaur” which would have roamed the land nearly 140 million years ago. Why is it the best reason to come? It’s because it is reputed to be the largest dinosaur fossil in the world and it is also incredibly well preserved. In fact there’s a huge fossil collection in the museum and there are dozens of examples of species that can only be viewed here. We think it’s worth the travel across Beijing just for that.
If people are more your thing than dinosaurs then the earliest remains of humanity in China are also in the museum. The teeth of Yuanmou Man are on display alongside Stone Age remnants from sites excavated across China; including the Peak Cave Man site.
The rocks themselves are worth a look. The crystal formations are really superb and there’s the world’s largest Cinnabar crystal to enjoy too. Sometimes it’s nice to do something completely unique during a China vacation. Why not take a break from your China tour and be one of the very few visitors to Beijing who enjoy the spectacle of China’s most ancient history?
Last week we took a look at some of the unique sports you might encounter during your China tour. This week we’ll branch out a bit further and examine some of the aerial sports you might come into contact with on your China vacation. These are performed through the year so you don’t need to travel to China at a particular time to watch them but they are a little unusual so you’ll have to ask your China guide if there’s somewhere to see them during your trip.
What are Aerial sports?
By this point you probably have visions of someone flying through the air on some kind of device. That’s pretty much the point though there are no helicopters, planes, etc. involved.
The most common aerial sport in China is Dang Qiuqian. It involves the folks involved dangling from ropes a reasonable distance away from the ground and then performing feats of physical dexterity on them. It’s quite breathtaking to watch as the performers are genuinely risking their well-being and if you can catch it you’ll get some of the best photos for your China vacation album possible.
The sport is supposed to have originated in the days of the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911 A.D.). The story goes something like this; the people of Jia Yi (a Chinese village) had contracted the plague and it was spreading like wildfire. Given the lack of medical facilities back then the usual way to combat the plague was to try and appease the spirits. So the folks of Jia Yi began to build temples to honor their saints who they hoped would intercede in the problem. It appears the solution worked (or at least they stopped dying from the plague).
This left the folks of Jia Yi wondering how they could keep the saints on their side for the future. They decided to do this by holding celebrations for each saint on their special day. They’d travel China looking for more and more interesting ways to make these celebrations special for the saint. One local was passing through a village when he spied a little girl playing on a swing. He was so impressed by her skills that he made the trip back to Jia Yi to introduce the game. Dang Quiqian is translated as “to have a swing”.
Today the best displays of this sport are to be found in the Korean and Bai communities in China. They go all out to decorate the swings and wear their finest clothing to make the display as eye-catching as possible. The ropes are designed to enable participants to swing up into the trees nearby and collect ribbons from the branches – it’s hard to watch this without flinching, as there’s a real risk of a performer smashing into a tree.
The other aerial sport to be found during your China tour is called Tioban. The rumor is that it was invented by two young ladies who had been separated from their men because the men had been jailed. There weren’t any visiting hours in China back then so they decided they would have to see over the walls to get a glimpse of their loved ones.
They invented a “springboard” with a pivot in the middle. As the players jump up and down they travel higher and higher in the air. The boards themselves are nearly 6 meters long and participants end up 2 or 3 meters above the ground during the game. To keep things interesting, they perform acrobatic feats such as back flips while they’re up there.
You can find Tiaoban being practiced throughout China and if you’re there during any major festival on your trip – you’ll see public displays in almost every city you visit.
We're often asked; what sports are unique to China? We've found that there are an enormous variety of local sports many of which you might be able to catch during a China vacation. So if you'd like to see some of the Chinese talent embracing their own games during your China tour we've put together a quick guide to some of them. If you're lucky you might even get a chance to take part in some of them on your trip.
Cuju – The Oldest Game of Football in the World
If you thought that soccer was a recent invention, you'd be surprised. In fact the earliest form of football known to man was being played back in the days of the Shang Dynasty in China (that's somewhere between 1600 and 1100 B.C.). It would have been hard on the feet as player's used a stone ball and it was designed to toughen up warriors before combat. Back then there were at least 25 different rule sets so it's hard to say precisely what the rules would be.
The first Chinese football club was formed in the Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279 A.D.). In that time it was China's number one game and even members of the Royal Court would have been found kicking a ball about. However, it fell out of favor soon after and nearly disappeared until the present day. If you'd like to see Cuju during your China tour you'll have to time your travel to coincide with China's National Games of Minority Nation Sports. That's the only time when the sport is played at a competitive level for spectators.
Da Tuoluo – Spinning Tops
This is another Chinese sport with a long history. There is a top recently excavated in China that was nearly 4,000 years old. It's a simple premise you use a whip to keep the top spinning and then drive your top into the opponent's top to knock it over. There's also a variation where the top is driven through an obstacle course. This game was popular with early Chinese explorers who came across it during their travel and exported it worldwide. Sadly it has fallen out of favor in the rest of the world but can often be seen being played by children in parks in China.
Bahe – The Tug-of-War
This sport is easy to find if you time your China trip for the Lantern Festival. It's common to all ethnic groups across China and is especially popular in rural locations. You can also see it at many sporting events for schools and colleges across the country. The rope is often made from bamboo and can be extended to enable a hundred or more participants. This is done by enabling additional branches from the main rope. It's a real test of coordination as well as strength and it's a very good natured event.
Gaoqiao – Stilt Walking
You can see this in many places during your China vacation. Legend has it that during the 14th century in Hunnan Province that poor people couldn't raise the money to buy good shoes. Sadly, that province is prone to heavy rainfall and their feet would become soaked and painful. To overcome this they developed stilts from bamboo which they could strap to their legs. Believe it or not despite the fact that they are nearly a meter high – people can (and do) run in them.
China has many sports for you to discover during China tour. We've just dipped our toes in the water with a few of the most popular here. Your China vacation can really benefit from a trip to see traditional Chinese games as they're a lot of fun and very much good-natured.
The National Art Museum in China is something special. If your China tour passes through Beijing you’ll have the opportunity to go exploring and it’s a place you might want to consider. One of the nice things about visiting this museum on a China vacation is to see how the Chinese react to art from other cultures. If your travel is during the next few months you’ll have the chance to see two new exhibits in China's most famous home of the arts.
Two New Exhibitions
One thing you’re almost certainly not expecting on a China vacation is an exhibition dedicated to Spanish sculpture. Yet, that’s what you’ll see on a trip to the National Art Museum at the moment. They have an exhibition of nearly 80 sculptures and drawings which capture the essence of Spanish sculpture during the 20th century. You’ll travel through the century from Picasso to the completely different aesthetics of Barcelo.
The challenge here both for China locals and foreign visitors is to detach your conceptions of how the human body should be rendered. This show is not about realism but rather expression. The works of Gargallo and Gonzales offer the chance to appreciate how large iron works can display the human form in a variety of ways and how abstract can transform that vision.
Of course there’s a nod to the surrealist movement and both Dali and Miro are represented in the collection too. The exhibit then moves on to encompass the constructive conceptual and expressionist periods of the 1980s. It’s a unique opportunity to take time out of your China tour and experience something truly different. The nice thing about this exhibit is that each sculpture is accompanied by drawings from the artist that were used to give their vision form.
The other new exhibit is Transportation and is a study of modern visual art. Here you’ll find many “made in China” pieces as electronics and green-tech and a certain amount of animation take center stage. Transportation was developed by Tsinghua University (one of China’s top 3 universities equivalent to Harvard or Yale back home perhaps) and it takes guests on a trip through motion and the way it interacts with our own behavior to form new art.
This collection includes the work of Tim Hawkinson (an American) whose piece “Gimbaled Klein Basket” has a basket suspended in the air in perpetual motion thanks to the cunning use of electronics. It demonstrates as it travels through the air the idea that action is created even through the slowest of motions.
Many of the pieces in this exhibition are interactive and there’s a slightly strange piece from Lawrence Malstaf (of Belgium) which leaves you lying (absent your shoes) on a conveyor belt as you travel in the opposite direction of someone else doing exactly the same thing.
Of course there’s plenty of China’s own art in the Museum and taking a break from your China vacation to check out the exhibits doesn't mean that you should miss out on the greater collection. It can be nice to check in with other cultures as you enjoy China though and this is a great opportunity to do just that.
We've looked at many of the religions you may encounter on your China tour already. However, we haven't really checked out Daoism/Taoism yet. On your China vacation you'll find that Daoist beliefs are among the most pervasive in the country. Unlike Buddhism, Daoism didn't travel to China from elsewhere - it began there. That makes it one of the only indigenous beliefs still remaining today.
The Origins of Daoism
Back in the 6th century B.C. a philosopher called Laozi wrote a book called; Dao De Jing. He had no idea that this would transform into a religious text in the centuries following his death. He was only outlining the principles he believed the world and people should live by. These principles would be refined by others over the coming centuries. In particular China's 4th century (B.C. again) philosopher Zhuangzi would describe his travel through his own consciousness in the “Butterfly Dream” and directly connect it to Laozi's teaching.
Banging Heads with Buddhism
Buddhism made the trip from India to China during the early centuries AD. Daoism had been established as a formal religion in the year 100 A.D. Zhang Daoling had taken up a hermetic life and spent much of it developing a codified formal version of Daoist principles which would become the basis of the Dao religion.
Much is made of the similarities of the two faiths but there is a central difference. Buddhism espouses that life is pain and suffering. Daoism does not. Daoists believe that life should be a generally happy event. They both believe that life should be lived on a path of virtuous balance with nothing taken to excess.
This led to a certain healthy conflict between the two initially but disputes became more fractious as each religion attempted to assert itself as China's official religion. The initial trip to the top was won by Daoism, which was later supplanted by Buddhism and finally Daoism won out when Buddhism and other foreign beliefs were (for a time) purged from China by the imperial court.
The Principles of Daoism
One thing you're certain to encounter during your China vacation is the yin and yang of life. This is a Daoist principle of harmony between opposite forces which is often simplified to male and female forces in literature. The Dao itself is the way that these two forces drive everything in existence. The Dao is considered to be ineffable and to guide even those who do not believe in Daoism.
Daoism also combines the early ancestor worship of China with the more modern principles of the faith and it is important to recognize the importance of people's spiritual descendants even now in China. The Tomb Sweeping holiday is a reflection of this and a day is devoted to appeasing and pleasing the spirits of those now departed every year. Daoism encompasses reincarnation too and the final point on the Daosit path is immortality.
What's to See?
Daoism suffered a few setbacks following the Cultural Revolution but it is now back in full force across China. During your China tour you'll be able to see one (or more) of the 1,500 temples of Daoism in the country. It's a unifying faith in that many members are from the ethnic minorities of the country as well as the Han Chinese majority.
Your China vacation will offer many spiritual opportunities but one of the most unique experiences you have will be when you travel to a Daoist temple. It's China's own religion and unlike Confucianism (which is more of a guiding principle than a faith) it's a vibrant and thriving faith in modern China.
It's quite possible to take a tour of China and never connect Islam to the country at all. Many people take a China vacation and leave without ever encountering a Chinese Muslim or seeing a mosque. In fact, China has a reasonable number of Muslims but most of them live in Xinjiang province which is seldom visited by foreigners. However, Islam made the trip to China during the 7th century and one of the most impressive remains of China's Islamic past is the Great Mosque of Xi'an.
About the Mosque
You'll need to take a trip up Huajue Lane (past the famous drum tower – Gu Lou) to find it. It's one of China's oldest, biggest and most cared for mosques and it's in absolutely superb condition. It's not immediately apparent from the outside that it is a mosque at all as there are no minarets adorning the grounds.
There is a stone tablet that was found within the grounds that suggests the mosque was built during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 A.D.) and was either started or completed in 742 A.D. Merchants from central Asia and the Islamic nations of the Far East would travel into China down the old Silk Road. This profitable trade route would have brought Persians and Afghans in particular into China and many of them married Chinese women and chose to retire in the country or set up businesses there. Even today the Old Silk Road offers a unique opportunity for trade with China, though travel along it is difficult for tourists thanks to the difficulties in obtaining visas for all the countries along the route.
These merchants and their Muslim descendants played an important part in the unification of China during the later dynasties and many mosques would be constructed as a reward for their faithfulness. However, it is likely that the Great Mosque of Xi'an would have been funded by the Muslim community itself. You'll need to take a little time out from your China tour to explore the mosque properly as it covers an area of nearly 12,000 square meters. There are four courtyards on the grounds and each one is nearly 250 meters by 50 meters. They are well laid out so it's easy to take a trip round the mosque without crossing over your path too often. The architecture is a unique blend of China and Islam and you may never see another mosque like it anywhere in the world.
The first courtyard has a wonderful archway that was made out of wood in the 17th century and then coated in glazed tiling. In the next courtyard you'll find a stone archway surrounded by two steles. One of these is covered in the writing of Dong Qichang one of the most famous calligraphers in China during the Ming Dynasty. The other features the writing of a famous Song Dynasty calligrapher – Mi Fu.
In the next courtyard there are many steles to enjoy and the entrance to the Xingxin Tower where the prayers are held is here. Please note; you are welcome to explore the whole mosque as long as you are respectful but non-Muslims must not enter the Xingxin tower during prayers. The final courtyard holds the Prayer Hall itself and services often attract 1,000 or more people.
If you're at all curious about Islam in China this is the perfect place to stop on your trip. You're guaranteed a warm welcome and you'll be very pleased with the vacation photographs you take here of China's greatest mosque.
Buddhism is subtly woven into the fabric of China. During your China tour you’ll come across many figures of the Buddha in temples and museums. We’ve found that you can gain a better appreciation of these images on your China vacation if you have a little background on their evolution. So let’s take a quick trip through China’s history and the evolution of the images of Buddha.
Buddhism Arrives in China
Buddhism was brought to China from India. People would travel across Asia to share ideas and beliefs and the legend is that it was the Ming Emperor (in A.D. 60) Liu Zhuang of the Eastern Han Dynasty who first accepted the tenets of the faith. He is said to have dreamed of a man in gold who came from a far off land. He demanded that his advisors explain the dream to him. One of his attendants reported that the man must be the Buddha that he had recently heard of. The emperor is then said to have demanded representations of the man so he could compare them. Sadly, these representations are no longer with us and you won’t be able to find any during your China tour.
It was during the period of the 5 Dynasties that Buddhism began to take more of a hold in China. Figures from this time are very similar to Indian figures of the Buddha and the only surviving representations are of the whole body of the Buddha – there appear to have been no simple carvings or reliefs of his image from this time.
During the time of the Northern Wei Buddhism began to travel around China and local craftspeople began to add their own interpretations to his image. The most famous example of this can be found in Hebei in the Yungang Grottoes where two golden Buddhas may be found entwined in the same statue.
As the years progressed the Western Wei period took hold and the Grotto on the mountain of Majishan was said to hold a cornucopia of highly expressive Buddha carvings.
As the Northern Qi dynasty rose to prominence the art of the Buddha took a strong emphasis on character. Buddha began to be represented on colorful backdrops and in group scenes with his family. If you’re lucky enough to see these on your China tour they are perhaps the most striking examples of Chinese influence in Buddhism of any era.
The Sui Dynasty changed direction again by concentrating on stone carving rather than more delicate images. You’ll very likely see some examples of this work during your China vacation and the figures tend to be large, imposing and impressive. There’s particular attention paid to his physical gestures and clothing in Sui work.
Then during the Tang Dynasty the Chinese decided that the form of the Buddha was important. Art from this period focuses on light, thin clothing that enables an image of the body behind it to be projected to the viewer. Subtle curves of the chest and arms give an almost feminine appearance to Buddha images made then.
The images made during the Song Dynasty aren’t as good (in general) as those from the Tang Dynasty but there’s a subtle expression of personality and psychology in this era that can’t be found in other periods. The facial features are extremely detailed. Chinese Buddhism offers a wide range of Buddha images and if you look carefully during your China vacation you’ll quickly be able to identify which period an image was made in. Your China tour will certainly take in Buddhist temples and it’s nice to be able to feel involved in the art they offer.