December 2

12.2.12

                We got up this morning and went to the breakfast buffet at the China Hotel (Marriott). The food was fairly similar; it’s just much more Americanized here than it was in Nanchang. Gianna seems to enjoy the buffet here more because they have many more flavors of yogurt. Gianna loves fruit, noodles, rice, meat, and yogurt!

                Today was the tour of Guangzhou. Everybody in our group decided to go. Our group is much larger now, a total of 14 families. Compared to the four families we had in Nanchang.  We started off at 9:20 AM to leave for the Buddhist Temple.

                It was about a twenty minute drive from the hotel.  When we got to the temple, we were stunned. There was a ten ton statue of Happy Buddha in a glass case. There were two Iron towers made, an East Iron Tower and a West Iron Tower. The East Iron Tower is the only one still standing. The temple has four halls to it. They are: the Mahavira Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Sixth Ancestor Hall, and the Samgharama Hall. The Mahavira Hall is the oldest; it was built in 400 AD. Through the next few years, royal families and rulers made slight changes to the hall. It has three huge Buddha statues. From the left to right, they represent the future, the present, and the past. People bow down to each one, but bow to the present Buddha and the future Buddha the most.

                The Heavenly King Hall has a huge historical meaning to these people here. It is said that the Spring of Washing Bowl (Yes, that’s actually the name of the spring), is the place where the first specialist of Zen Buddhism, Bodhidhamma, washed his bowls. It was built later on, about 530 AD. It has a special statue in it that is 380 years old! The pillars have beautiful etchings and carvings on them.

                The Sixth Ancestor Hall has a statue of Master Neng; we were never told what connections he has to the Buddhist religion.  There was a huge octagonal structure that was built to remember Master Neng. It is a beautiful hall and is commonly used. The fourth hall was not seen by our group, and Jocelyn, our tour guide for Guangzhou, gave no information about it.

                Next, we went to the Old Chen House, which was my favorite place of the day. Technically, it’s called “The Chen Ancestreal Hall”. It was built during the 14^th to 19^th reign of Qing Dynasty, years 1888 to 1893. It was built by the Chen family for the Chen family. It served as a place for the Chen family, who had lineage in 72 counties of the province of Guangdong. There are rooms all over the place, and they show all four folk art properties Ancient China and still China today is known for: Ivory, Embroidery, Jade, and Porcelain. Porcelain actually originates from Gianna’s Province.  Everything was pretty expensive, and some Ivory carvings are millions of US dollars. Buying unused Ivory is illegal in China unless you have special permission from the Government. With this being said, it is very rare and valuable, which is why more people want it.

                For our last stop, we went to the Provincial Arts & Crafts shopping center. We all bought some Jade there. Gianna already has her earrings, so we thought the rest of us should get some. Mom bought a round, flat piece that has the Chinese symbol for Mother and a heart on it. Dad bought a bead, it was the only thing that was nice, but wasn’t girly. I bought a rectangular piece that has the Chinese symbol for Sister carved into it.

                After the shopping center, we all went back to the hotel for a while. We decided to run out to a Chinese restraunt as a group which was about an eight minute walk from the hotel.  We had plenty of food. The food was not as spicy as Gianna’s Province. We stopped at a couple of stores on the way back from the restaurant. We found some squeaky shoes for Gianna.  

                We all came home, grabbed our showers, and went to bed. Gianna fell asleep faster than the rest of us.

                                Love, Brittany and Mom