Ancient Ghost Town of China

During our Yangtze River cruise tour on board the Century Diamond, we stopped by a place called the Ghost Town (Fongtou Gosht Town) built many years ago. This town was built with the sole purpose to remind people to do good and shunt evil. As the name suggests, this town depicts life in hell for evil doers of the world.

In Chinese legends, there were 18 levels in hell for all kinds of criminals who committed hideous crimes against their fellow human beings while they were on earth. Depending on the severity of their crime, they were dispatched to different levels in hell when they died. Obviously their bodies and souls were tormented to different degrees at various levels in hell. The most serious cases were found at the 18th level in hell where there was no chance to escape punishment. We often heard people curing their enemies to die and be cast to the 18th level in hell where there is no escape and forgiveness.

There were various prison guards in hell to administer the punishments such as cutting off the tongues (for those who speak evil things against others), chopping of hands (for those who steal from others) and sending the bodies to a huge grinder or to boiling oil. All these scenes are vividly presented in clay figurines that really looked awesome and the life in hell was really terrifying. You may wonder how this can be of any good to visitors. Actually, the designers of this town wanted to use the terrifying scenes of bodies and souls being tortured in hell to educate people that this was going to happen to anyone who did evils against others after they died. Life in hell was made so real that people were frightened and scared of hell. To avoid being sent to hell, they will think thrice before committing any crime against their fellow human beings. If you were there and saw the horrible scenes of bodies and souls being subjected to the most hideous way of torturing in hell, you would probably agree that the building of the ghost town had serve its purpose, not to commit crimes if one does not want the kind of torturing in hell one would suffer upon one's death. The ancient people did have a point to bring this message across to the masses. For those who have eyes and let them see, crime does not pay.

Entrance to the ghost town

Signage of the ghost town

Drunken Ghost

                                              A video item on a strong man lifting a weight

Wall Writings

Wall Writings 2

This reminds me also of similar things back home in Singapore. The Haw Par villa in Pasir Panjang also has the same theme. There were so many scenes that depict life in hell where bodies and soul were subjected to all kinds of torture one could imagine. If you are in Singapore, bring your kids to visit the Haw Par villa and enjoy a remarkable educational tour. Enlarge to read the writings on photos on left and right, it is interesting!

On board Century Diamond

Century Diamond is a 6-star cruise ship that operates along Yangtze River in China to ferry tourists up and down the river. It has 6 decks and there is a passenger lift that brings people up and down these decks. There are restaurants, bars and a stage for performance and the upper level an is open-air deck for tourists to enjoy free space.

Century Diamond Cruise Ship

The crew members of Century Diamond, from cleaners, chefs to Captain, all are well trained in many areas. Besides carrying out their usual tasks on board the ship, they are also trained in performing arts like dancing, magic shows, acrobatic etc. Below are some performance recorded while we were on board the ship some time ago. It was China National Day while we were on board the ship, we were treated with a grand National Day celebration by the crew members of the ship.

                                                    Dance item by chefs and kitchen assistants

                                                    China National Day celebration


The upper deck

Bar to serve tourists

Fitness corner

Buffet is served on board the ship

cruising along the Yangtze



Cabin room inside Century Diamond


 

Hakka song and dance

The Hakka (客家) are Han Chinese who speak Hakka Chinese and have links to the provincial areas of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan and Fujian in China. Although the vast majority of the Hakka live in Guangdong, they have a separate identity that distinguishes themselves from the Cantonese people.
The Chinese characters for Hakka (客家) literally means "guest families". The Hakka's ancestors were often said to have arrived from what is today's central China centuries ago and north China thousand years ago. The Hakkas are thought to originate from the lands bordering the Huang River (Yellow River) or Shanxi, Henan, and Hubei Provinces of the Northern China of today. In a series of migrations, the Hakkas moved, settled in their present locations in southern China, and then often migrated overseas to various countries throughout the world. The worldwide population of Hakkas is about 80 million, though the number of Hakka-language speakers is fewer. Hakka people have had a significant influence on the course of Chinese and world history: in particular, they have been a source of many revolutionary, government, and military leaders. (Source from Wikipedia)

On our recent trip to Meizhou, we went on a cruise ride along a river (Dongjiang) in Meizhou. On the cruise ship, we were entertained by the crew of the ship with Hakka song and dance. Below are the clips of the song and dance items.

Hakka dance featuring match makers

                                                               A Hakka song item
For more information on Hakka people, culture and history, visit this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_people

Tropic of Cancer Marks Tower

Recently, my wife and I went on a tour to Santou, a city in the Guangdong province of China. We came across a place where the Tropic of Cancer Marks Tower was built. As the Marks Tower was hidden from the highway, we missed it on our way to Meizhou ( the ancestral town of the Hakka people). On the return trip, we finally arrived at the site where a tower of a globe was built.

Tropic of Cancer Marks Tower

There is a cylindrical channel in the middle of the Globe which pierced the Globe from top to bottom. There is a small circle marked on the floor where the hole falls vertically below it. If one stands on this circle and looks up on 23rd of March at 12 noon of the year, the sun will appear directly above his head and no shadow will be cast on the floor.

A cylindrical channel that runs from top to bottom of the Globe

The entrance to the Tower

Signage at the site

The Tropic of Cancer, also referred to as the Northern tropic, is the circle of latitude on the Earth that marks the most northerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its zenith. This event occurs once per year, at the time of the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun to its maximum extent. As of 2013^[update], it lies at 23° 26′ 15.143″ (23° 26′ 16″) north of the Equator.

The imaginary line is called the Tropic of Cancer because when the Sun reaches the zenith at this latitude, it is entering the tropical sign of Cancer (summer solstice in the northern hemisphere). When it was named, the Sun was also in the direction of the constellation Cancer (Latin for crab). However, this is no longer true due to the precession of the equinoxes. According to NASA observations, the Sun is now in Gemini at the June solstice. 

 According to sidereal astrology, which divides the zodiac into 12 equal parts, the Sun is in Gemini at that time. However, according to tropical astrology, which divides the ecliptic in twelve 30° sectors, starting with the vernal equinox, the Sun is always entering Cancer at this time, as the Earth's axial tilt is most inclined towards the Sun. The word "tropic" itself comes from the Greek tropos, meaning turn, referring to the fact that the sun appears to "turn back" at the solstices. (Text from Wikipedia)

Gardens by the Bay

Recently, we made a trip to Gardens by the Bay in Marina South of Singapore to explore Singapore's latest national gardens where a diverse range of plant life from every continent of the world except Antarctica can be found.  We took a MRT train from where we lived and alighted at Bayfront station. We walked past the casino at Marina Bay Sands towards the Gardens at the Bay at the other side of the hotel. As we walked under the hot sun, our eyes were treated with view of the city skyline of  tall buildings and busy traffic. From afar, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel stands aloof with the sky garden at the top of the twin buildings of the hotel. Most people come here because of the casinos. Fortunately we came here to admire nature; or else we would be in deep trouble.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The Gardens by the Bay consist of a few attractions such as the Flower Dome, Cloud Forest Dome, the Supertrees (concrete structures that shaped like trees) and heritage gardens. Tourists can buy tickets to enter the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest Dome to explore this latest national gardens of Singapore. After getting our tickets, we chose to enter the Cloud Forest Dome first. The whole dome was air-conditioned with a cool-moist feeling once we were inside.

The Singapore Big Wheel in far ground

We knew that a mysterious world veiled in mist was awaiting our adventure. Inside this Dome constructed by panels and panels of glass with intertwining metal rods, there was a 35-metre tall mountain covered in lush vegetation shrouding the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. The dome showcases plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000-metres above sea level. We ascended to the mountain top in comfort by lift before descending via two walkways in the clouds for an aerial view of the canopy and mountainside below. We also learned about the unique biodiversity and geology of cloud forests and the environmental threats they face within the nine unique zones in this cool-moist Conservatory. There were exhibits at each level of the interior of the mountain and the exterior of the mountain was filled with all types of ferns and plants.

The interior of the mountain is hollow

Exhibits inside the mountain

Walkway through the mountain

The supertrees
 

After exploring the Cloud Forest, we went to the Flower Dome nearby. Again the dome was constructed with panels and panels of glass with intertwining metal frame. Once inside, we were amazed by so many beautiful flowers the dome houses, we were indeed standing in awe of nature. Spectacular and innovative in design, the Flower Dome is one of the icons of Gardens by the Bay. It replicates the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions like South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy. This place is also home to a collection of plants from deserts all over the world, it showcases the adaptations of plants to arid environments. Confronted by so many beautiful flowers, we couldn't helped but stopped at every flowering plant to smell the flowers and take pictures.

Besides admiring the flowers and the ambient surrounding, we enjoyed a cooling and leisurely stroll through the Flower Dome. Being an icon of Singapore, many locals (especially students) and foreigners like to come here to spend time with their family members. Tourists can immerse themselves in the spectacular view of the Marina reservoir skyline, as they embark on their journey through the Mediterranean Basin, South West Australia, South Africa, Central Chile and California.  They can also discover amazing plants and flowers from different corners of the globe, and they will be amazed by how different parts of the trees are used in daily lives across different cultures.

We were glad we made the trip to visit the national gardens of our very own and experienced the good things that nature offered us here in Singapore. If you have not been to the Gardens by the Bay, you don't know what you have missed. Take a day off and spend time with your family members, this is the best way to relax and stress-relieve.


Inside the Flower Dome



Cactus plants strive well here as well

Interesting carving by a Chinese sculptor



A collection of different flowers

Beautiful flowers

Development of Yixing pottery

Unlike glazed porcelain wares of Jingdezhen, the teapot of Yixing did not enjoy Imperial patronage and the court had no influence in its development. The real patrons of Yixing teapots were the intellectual class of scholars who lived around the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui during the 16th down to the 19th century. It was therefore the intellectual class which had the greatest influence over its development.



Gong Chun by Grand Master Xu

This is evident right from the beginning starting with Gong Chun, the pioneer potter who first made teapots for scholars. Gong Chun was a servant boy to Wu Yishan who was a scholar. It was on the occasion of accompanying Wu to the Jingsha temple that he first learned to make teapots. Wu went there to prepare for the Imperial Exam which was held once every three years. Gong went along to attend to his personal needs. On one occasion, from afar he witnessed the process of teapot making by a monk.  It was said that one day he took a lump of zisha clay and made a teapot. Presumably he also made one for his master who must have shown it to his friends who in turn asked Gong to make teapots for their own use. This was how the fashion started and then spread trough the country. Gong Chun, starting life as a domestic servant, could not have received much education and therefore unable to write his own name, not at least in good hand writing. So, he must have sought the help of his master to write it for  him and crave it on the bottom of the pot which he made. Thus, having the name of the potter carved on the base of the pot in beautiful calligraphy in the style of kaishu (formal calligraphy, not the cursive type) became one of the distinctive features of the Ming dynasty teapots. In those days, it was an honour and privilege to possess a teapot made by the legendary Gong Chun. It was said that it was easier to possess gold and silver than a pot by Gong Chun. You could imagine how valuable and previous were the teapots of Gong Chun. No wonder in 1926 when a collector accidentally found one pot by Gong, it was recorded that people from British Museum was willing to pay 20000 sterling pounds for it. Also during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, the Japanese were trying very hard to locate the person who owned the pot by Gong Chun. The owner eventually donated the Gong Chun pot to a museum in China.

Gong Chun's pot

When master potter Shi Dabin, a student of Gong Chun, came unto the scene about the middle of the 16th century, even he had to seek the help of scholars to write his name and engraved onto the teapots he made. But he soon learned to do it himself and he did it so well that he could carve straight onto the teapots without first writing it in ink and brush on the pots. It was said that in his later life, he could wield his carving knife as if he was holding a brush pen.

Monk Hat design created by Shi Dabin

Scholars' participation in Yixing Wares

The beginning of the 19th century saw the revival of Yixing pottery. It was brought about by one man whose name was Chen Hongshou or Chen Mansheng (陈曼生) . Chen was born in 1768 during the reign of Qianlong emperor of the Qing dynasty. He was a scholar, a man of great culture. He studied classics, practiced calligraphy and painting and achieved high proficiency in both. He also practised seal carving and was later admitted as one of the eight members of the exclusive society of seal carvers of Yixing. He was appointed magistrate of Yixing, a post which he held for only three years before he was transferred to Haifang where he died in 1822.

Soon after he took office at Yixing, Mansheng set about the task of reviving the interest in the flagging pottery industry. He is said to have come up with eighteen new designs (曼生十八式) of teapots and went on to engage a number of top ranking potters to make them for him. Among those he recruited were Yang Pengnian, his younger brother Ponian and sister Fengnian, Shao Erquan, Shen Xi and Wu Yueting. Then he asked a group of literati friends to assist him in decorating the pots with painting and calligraphy which were then carved into the body of the teapots. They were great scholars in their right and only came out to assist him solely out of their interest. These men had distinguished themselves in either painting, calligraphy or seal carving. Many of their surviving works are still much sought after by collectors up to the present day.

At Chen Mansheng's instigation, the making of a teapot requires the work of three persons. First, the potter makes a pot, and when it is leather hard, another person decorates it with either painting or calligraphy. Then yet another person is asked to carve it out before the teapot is finally sent for firing. Thus, very often a finished pot has four seals, that of a potter, a painter, a carver and the person who commissioned it. The collaboration between scholars and potters was at its height during the first half of the 19th century. Their concerted efforts help to produce some of the most charming piece of art out of a simple teapot. The scheme was o successful that within a short period of three years of Chen's term in Yixing, Yixing's pottery had not only regained but even surpassed its former prosperity. It has been recorded that the calligraphy and painting on the teapots were of such superior quality that people were willing to pay three times the price for a well decorated teapot than a plain one.


A popular Mansheng pot

 Perhaps never in the history of Chinese ceramics, has any quarter exerted more influence on the final product than the class of literati on the Yixing teapots. Some of the pieces that are housed in various museums of the world are testimonies of their artistic achievements and everlasting tribute to the man who first initiated it - Chen Mansheng.

Some of Mansheng teapots made by recent potters are shown here.


Overhead handle pot


  陈曼生创作的十八种款式紫砂壶。传世“曼生壶”，无论是诗，是文，或是金石、砖瓦文字，都是写刻在壶的腹部或肩部，而且满肩、满腹，占据空间较大，非常显眼，再加上署款“曼生”、“曼生铭”、“阿曼陀室”，或“曼生为七芗题”等等，都是刻在壶身最为引人注目的位置，格外突出。尤其值得特别指出的是陈曼生一反宜兴紫砂工艺的传统作法，竟将壶底中央钤盖陶人印记的部位盖上自己的大印“阿曼陀室”，而把制陶人的印章移在壶盖里或壶把下腹部。


Mansheng Pot by Yang Pengnian

 

Mansheng Pot by Yangpengnian

Tradition of Teapot Making

In the early 2000s, the process of teapot making was classified as a cultural heritage of the people of China. The potters of Yixing have inherited this process many centuries ago and there have not been any major changes in the art of teapot making. The craftsmen over the years have been able to pass on these skills to their disciples. Generally the intention is to ensure the tradition of teapot making can be handed down from generation to generation.

 

 Old potters at work in the Yixing factory

You may admire the aesthetic beauty of a teapot, do you know the complicated processes of making it? Before the potters can start making the teapot, they have to prepare the clay. The zisha raw materials (rocks) have to be ground to powder. This is mixed with water to produce clay which is well beaten to expel the air form the clay. The clay in rectangular shape is then wrapped in plastic sheet and kept for two months to season it. Then only the potters can start moulding the clay into teapots.

Zisha clay is suited to fine modelling treatment as it is highly plastic, strong in its biscuit form, and has a low degree of contraction during the drying and firing (sintering) process.

The basic forms of zisha wares are produced by two methods, da shentong (beating the round body) and xian shentong (joining parts together by gluing). Round vessels are produced by the da shentong method. A piece of clay is beaten to uniform thickness, cut to a strip and formed into a cylinder, which is then beaten into a desired shape with a spatula. Parts including the neck, legs, handle and sprout are then added, as well as the cover which is carved out of the round form of clay.The whole process to produce the body is rather complicated. That is the reason why teapots which are hand made command a higher price. The teapots made by craftsmasters and grand masters of the trade are generally beyond the reach of ordinary folks. There are also teapots made by machines which are really mass-produced teapots that lack quality.

Zisha clay

Da shentong method for round teapot

Square teapots are formed by the xian shentong method, by which flat sheets of clay are cut to the desired dimensions and glued together using wet clay. The other parts like sprout, cover, knob and handle are again glued to the body using wet clay. Good quality square teapots require professional skills from the potters as they are more difficult to make.

Xian shentong method for square teapot

Next the surface of the vessel is smoothened with a scraper made of buffalo horn. This treatment gives a smooth, refined texture on the surface of the vessel and clear, crispy outlines to the form. It is the final finish on the clay body and a demonstration of the potter's skill.

Smoothening the surface with a scraper

The smoothening process with a scraper accounts for the heat retaining quality of the vessel. In the process, aggregates near the surface are pressed towards the interior, producing a dense and compact exterior surface which after firing becomes impervious. However, in the firing process, aggregates contract, and some of them are burnt away, and producing pores around and within themselves. This pore structure of the interior walls is an asset to the purple clay vessel. This minute porosities are highly absorbent, enabling the vessel to retain the flavor and temperature of tea for a longer period of time then porcelain wares.

Purple clay has a relatively low rate of contraction during drying and firing. This accounts for the tight fit of the cover and the mouth rim of the teapot. This feature minimises the channels which air-borne germs can enter the teapot, and effectively delays the souring of the tea soup.

An interesting square teapot

Water chestnuts

The water chestnut is actually not a nut at all, but an aquatic vegetable that grows in marshes, underwater in the mud. Water chestnuts have a crisp white flesh and can be eaten raw, slightly boiled, or grilled, and are often pickled or tinned. They are a popular ingredient in Chinese dishes.  They are unusual among vegetables for remaining crisp even after being cooked or canned, because their cell walls are cross-linked and strengthened by certain phenolic compounds. The corms are rich in carbohydrates (about 90 percent by dry weight), especially starch (about 60 percent by dry weight), and are also a good source of dietary fibre, potassium, copper, and manganese.

Water chestnuts

Raw water chestnuts are slightly sweet and very crunchy. Boiled water chestnuts have a firm and slightly crunchy texture, with a flavor that is very mild and slightly nutty, so it can be easily overpowered by any seasonings or sauces with which the water chestnut is served or cooked. Water chestnuts are often combined with bamboo shoots, coriander, ginger, sesame oil, and snow peas. They are often used in pasta or rice dishes.

Teapots having a water chestnut design is not uncommon in Yixing. The renown female potter of Yixing by the name of Ziang Rong 蒋蓉 had created a teapot modelled on a chestnut and received recognition for her creativity and skills in teapot making. Many other potters have since imitated that design for years.
 

Chestnut teapot made by Zhang Jiangzhong 张建中

Water chestnut

蒋蓉外甥及徒弟张建中老师，一把非常高档的壶品名：荸荠壶 ：张建中*蒋蓉外甥及徒弟 底款：张建中制

The purple mangosteen

The purple mangosteen is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and Indonesia. It grows mainly in Southeast Asia, and it also grows in tropical South American countries such as Colombia and in India, where the tree has been introduced. The tree grows from 6 to 25 m (20–82 ft) tall. The fruit of the mangosteen is sweet and tangy, juicy, and somewhat fibrous, with an inedible, deep reddish-purple coloured rind (exocarp) when ripe. In each fruit, the fragrant edible flesh that surrounds each seed is botanically endocarp, i.e., the inner layer of the ovary.

The juvenile mangosteen fruit, first appears as pale green or almost white in the shade of the canopy. As the fruit enlarges over the next two to three months, the exocarp colour deepens to darker green. During this period, the fruit increases in size until its exocarp is 6–8 centimetres (2.4–3.1 in) in outside diameter, remaining hard until a final, abrupt ripening stage.

The subsurface chemistry of the mangosteen exocarp comprises an array of polyphenols, including xanthones and tannins that assure astringency which discourages infestation by insects, fungi, plant viruses, bacteria and animal predation while the fruit is immature. Colour changes and softening of the exocarp are natural processes of ripening that indicates the fruit can be eaten and the seeds have finished developing.

The edible endocarp of the mangosteen is botanically defined as an aril with the same shape and size as a tangerine 4–6 centimetres in diameter, but is white. The circle of wedge-shaped arils contains 4–8, rarely 9 segments, the larger ones harbouring apomictic seeds that are unpalatable unless roasted.
Often described as a subtle delicacy, the arils bear an exceptionally mild aroma, quantitatively having about 1/400th of the chemical constituents of fragrant fruits, explaining its relative mildness.


The Queen of fruits, mangosten



 

The inside of mangosteen

The fruit mangosteen is seldom appeared in Yixing teapot design. The reason could be that this fruit is not popular in China and many potters have no idea how the teapot will look like when crafted into the shape of a mangosteen. As you know, most potters would rather like to copy existing teapot design or modify somebody's design.

The King of fruits, Durian

However, there is a potter by the name of Zhou Juefang (周菊芳), a student of Prof Pan, created her very own mangosteen teapot. The teapot looks very cute and unique. Instead of the traditional knob on the lid, a stalk with some petals sit on top of the lid. This design of the lid will immediately remind people that the fruit is a mangosteen. For people who live in this part of the world where mangosteens are aplenty, it is a nostalgic experience to have a mangosteen teapot to brew tea. Interestingly, people here also like another tropical fruit called durian locally. Durian fruits which have a pungent smell (to some people) are considered the King of fruits here. Then mangosteen fruits which have a subtle taste and mild fragrance are considered the queen of fruits. Durians are by nature fruits that can
cause heatiness but mangosteens on the other hand have cooling effects. So these two fruits can really compliment each other.

Mangosteen teapots by Zhou Juefang
周菊芳
性别：女
证书编号：320223670816158
类别:工艺美术师