Tour to Henan

This was a show recorded on a theme park in Henan. This theme park was built in 1997 following the scenes from a scroll painting of the Song dynasty entitled Along a river in Qinming.

 

Henan province is a place famous for old relics. At least 6 dynasties made their capital here in Lokyang, the capital of ancient Henan.

Henan is famous for the Longmen Grottoes, a place where Buddha figures were carved on a mountain site in Lokyang during the Tang dynasty.

Other interesting places include the Yuntai Mountain, the SenNong Mountain, Qintian He scenic area and of course the Shaolin Temple where martial art of China originated.

Shaolin Temple in Henan

We also visited the Henan museum which house many cultural artifacts from the early Zhou dynasty such as bronze ware and ceramics.

Finally, there is a 3d model of the painting on exhibition in Henan Museum.

Life of the Song people 4

As one continued his journey into the inner city, busy street scene came to life. We have seen the mutton soup shop earlier. Here an advert was put up to tell people that the proprietor was honest to provide value for money dishes. This particular dish is still served today in major cities in China. This is what we call Steam Boat in some restaurants where all sorts of meat (in this case, mutton), vegetable, toufu, spices, etc., are put in a pot to boil. You just dip your chop sticks into the pot to dish out whatever you want to eat. Most families here celebrate the lunar new year by having Steam Boats for their reunion dinner.

There were many street peddlers in the city area.

Again everyone was busy doing his own thing for the sake of survival.

Notice what the people wore during that time. It was all long gown.

 

Somewhere in this busy city, a stranger was lost. He had come from afar looking for a job or may be settling down for a new life. The city was big and this poor chap did not know where he was going.  He probably came from the country side and was overwhelmed by what he saw in the city.

 

 

This person seen riding a horse appeared to be a foreigner. From his outfit, he seemed to be a Korean coming to the city for some reason. He could also be diplomat living in the city.

 

Here one can see that there were 4 wells used to supply water to the people living in the city. The artist fid not forget the source of water which was important to city dwellers.

This was probably the clinic in the city where people came to consult doctors for treatment of illness.

If you recall, traders coming to the city to do business. This was how the artist started painting his work.

Simple country life (beginning of painting)

Some one asking his way around in the city (ending part)

It was interesting to note that the artist painted this stranger asking his way in the city. The artist had clearly demonstrated his skills in composing this painting by showing the complexity of city (a stranger was lost in the city) against the simplicity of country life shown in the beginning of the painting.

This painting is indeed a masterpiece in itself. Well, words can't describe everything the artist painted in the painting. If you want to view the painting in its entirety, you can visit the site below:

              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Along_the_River_During_the_Qingming_Festival

Beginning of painting

One section of the painting showing an accident in the making

 

Click here for an animated version of the painting:

 

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX14haeDebk

Life of the Song people 3

After crossing the bridge,  the focus changed to that of street scenes. Businesses were flourishing in the city where most of the traders and merchants gathered here for business transactions. This is true even today where business dealings are part and parcel of everyday life in cities.

More business dealings were seen outside the shops.

 

Here there was a sedan chair stopping in front of an eatery. Most likely there was a lady inside the sedan chair. In those days, it was not appropriate for young women to wander around in the city. This woman went to the city to satisfy her curiosity. Maybe she had something in mind that prompted her to come to the city in secret. You can see a middle-aged maid standing outside the sedan chair. She seemed to be whispering something to her.

 

As horse carriages were the only mode of transport, you can see there were shops offering repair and service work to those who used these carriages. This is more like our car workshops in town that offer motorists repair and maintenance work.

 

Fortune telling was widely practiced those days. Fortune tellers set up their tent touting for customers. As common folks were uncertain about many things in life, they would consult these fortune tellers for advice. The one that was sitting next to the fortune teller appeared to be troubled, somehow he could have heard some unfavorable remarks from the master. This prompted the other by-standers undecided if they ever wanted to consult the fortune teller.

 

Today when you enter a restaurant, you will see there is a menu on display outside the restaurant to showcase what the restaurant has to offer to its customers. In those days, the menu was also displayed inside the eatery, telling people what was the meal of the day and its piece.

This was the city gate. Once you entered this gate, you would directly enter the city centre where the emperor resided. The shops and houses were even closely linked together. The society and life style became more sophisticated once inside the imperial city.

 

There were merchants coming from every corner of the country. This can be seen from the goods carried on the horses back. It was indeed good to do business in the city as people were generally more affluent than country folks.

 

Camels were seen entering the city. It seemed that the Song people were already doing business with people from the middle east. This must have the silk road where merchants form the far east exchanged their home-grown produce for silk and tea or even the Song porcelains.

 

You must be wondering what these people were doing. The one sitting down was actually a scholar who acted for anyone who needed to prepare documents for court hearings. This is what we called solicitors today. As most citizens were illiterate, they needed a scholar who knew the law to prepare such documents to present them to the magistrate in cases of disputes.

A shop was seen promoting fragrance things.

 

A man was seen testing on a bow in front of a shop that sold weapons. It was a tradition for people to arm themselves to ward off their enemies. As gun wasn't invented yet, they had to rely on swords and sabre, bow and arrow to arm themselves to the fullest.

 

People always think that supply chain and franchise are things of this modern world. Actually these things existed in the Song dynasty as early as 1000 ADs. Here a picture of a franchise shop was shown in the bottom left. No doubt Song dynasty in China was an era of prosperity and good fortune for the people of ancient China.

More goods were seen delivered to the city.

The houses in the city were more refine and exquisite than the harm houses seen earlier.

 

Court officials were seen wearing long gowns. They were more sophisticated than the common laborers and farmers. They were also well mannered as they greeted each other. This was a case of high society life style.

Common country folks were seen wearing simpler clothing, squatting everywhere when they went about doing their daily chores.

Another lady was seen inside the sedan chair. She appeared to poke her head outside to see what a busy city life it was.

 

A scholar was seen study hard inside a tavern. Usually, scholars from all corners of the country would gather in the capital to take the imperial examinations. They would stay in hotels and spend their time to study in preparation for the imperial exam. Once they scored well in the exam, they would become court officials and enjoyed a good life. Some very fortunate ones could go on and marry the emperor's daughters. There is an old saying in China that good fortune is found in books, pretty ladies are also found in books. When interpreted, it means if one studies hard and achieves fame by passing all the exams, good fortune and pretty ladies will hunt him down. This is like once you have obtained a good college degree, you are ensure to get a well-paid job and plenty of cash will come your way, no to mention a good looking wife.

This is the picture of the flag ship shop where many franchise outlets were seen earlier.

A shop that sold mutton soup. It seemed to attract a big crowd.

So you see, life in the Song dynasty more than a thousand years ago was indeed quite exciting.

To be continued...

Life of the Song people 2

Along the river bank, people were seen pulling the boat. As the tide was low, boat had to be towed to move it along the river.

More activities could be seen on top of the boat. The place was alos used to store many gadgets.

 

Boat people were common in those days. As houses were expensive, these people lived inside the boats. They slept, cooked and did everything inside the boats which they depended their life on. They could be fishermen and the boats were their only possession. Here you can see a boat man pouring away water after doing his washing. Clothes were placed on top of the boat for drying.

 

Even the boat was drawn in such details that nails were seen neatly aligned its body.

 

Just about reaching the city gate, something had happened that prompted a man on the roof top to shout out danger. An accident of an enormous scale was about to take place.

 

If you observed carefully, a ship was about to cross a bridge. What actually went wrong. The captain of the ship had forgotten to instruct his men to lower the mast of the ship. This was what happened in our present-day life when a lorry driver tried to cross an underpass and forgot to lower the crane of his lorry. It would sure crash into the bridge and a horrific accident was about to happen.

 

People were seen trying to revert the danger by doing whatever they could to avoid crashing the mast of the ship into the bridge. in the midst of these people doing what they could, there was this one chap who was not doing anything. This could be the one that panic easily and lost his senses. The artist was able to use this situation to highlight the fact that anything could happen as one approached the city. Not to forget the on-looker on top of the bridge. In our everyday life, there will always be by-standers who neither offer help or do something to resolve matter.

The mast was in the process of being lowered

In the midst of people struggling to help out, there were yet others who went about doing their things quietly as if nothing was going to happen.

On the other side of the river, people were seen enjoying their meals in an eatery. They were oblivious of the things happening outside. We have these days people of that nature. They couldn't careless what happen to others as long as these things don't fall on them.

 

On top of the bridge, it was a total different scene. One can really see the beginning of busy street life and local market place. Stalls were aligned the span of the bridge. All sorts of vendors could be seen displaying their goods to passers by. This is what we now have in our own city, the night market.

 

Here you can see a merchant was trying to sell his stuff to a unwilling stranger. This stranger did not show any interest in his merchandise. His body language told all the stories. The goods appeared to be kitchen stuff like scissors, knives, etc.

 

This stall was selling cookies. It was said that at that time, there were a lot of varieties of cookies and delicious home made food.

 

Apart from traders and common folks, all types of people could be seen mingling in the crowd. This is what you expect to see in a busy market place in most towns today.

 

A man was seen carrying his stuff, maybe his merchandise for sale. He could also be a delivery man, helped to deliver other people's goods.He seemed to be in a hurry while another man was seen riding a horse not far away. He was of such a mood that he just rode on aimlessly around. This was a direct contrast in character and charm. The artist was a generous. He had to be a resent-day director of a modern film as he depicted the scenes vividly, changing from one angle to the other as he captured the life of people on his video camera

 

As this was the end of the river when the city gate was near, boats can be seen making a turn.

Now, we are approaching the city. The type of houses drawn, their style and quality was no mistake that the people in the city were more affluent than the country folks whom lived in their farm houses made of wood and hay. They clothing was definitely of better quality than the ones worn by peasants.

Life inside the city was even more exciting. Don't forget, all these were painted on the same scroll, one thousand years ago.

To be continued.