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.

Life of the Song people 1

Do you want to know how the people of the Song dynasty lived their life more than 1000 years ago in China? What was life looked like back then? What were the things they do, etc.?

It is fortunate for us that somebody recorded the life in the Capital city of the Northern Song dynasty a few years before the dynasty collapsed due to foreign invasion in 1127 AD. How did it happened?

The city life was captured in a scroll painting kept in a museum in Shanghai. It is called the ChinMing Shang He Tu, literally means picture of river in autumn. There were fine details of how common folks went about doing their everyday chores from rural area to busy city streets. It was reported that the per capital income was the highest in the world.

Here was how it all began. The last emperor of the Northern Song dynasty, Emperor Huizong, commissioned an imperial artist, Zhang ZeTuan, to capture the life of his citizens in a painting. That seemed to be an impossible task but the talented artist painted the various scenes of people's life along the river, from country side to the capital. That river was an important transport route bringing in goods (provisions, etc) from the south to the north where the capital was situated. It was reported hat over 7000 vessels sailed along the river each year. Life was exciting at each stage of the river showing the life style of the people and the things they did during those time. This was vividly recorded by the artist who was known to have only produced this painting in his whole life.

The painting began from the country side where farm houses bare trees were drawn. This indicated the season was autumn as the trees had shed all their leaves.

From the farm houses, one can see a wooden bridge followed by an entourage of merchants coming to town. These were traders who came from every corner of the country to do business in the capital.

 

Mean time, there was another group of people, husband and wife with servants, leaving the town. They were leaving their dwelling place for a reason only known to them.

 

 

In close-up view, one can see the woman turning her head back to check on her husband, It was customary that time for the wife to travel ahead of the husband. Both were cladded with woolen cloth and hear gear, just to remind you of the cold and chilly weather. The servants are seen carrying the things needed for the journey ahead.

 

Husband and wife team leaving town

 At the far end there was yet another group of people coming to town. There was a sedan chair and a servant in front shouting to people not to obstruct the path of some important person. Obviously, this was the entourage of a court official who usually had some one ahead of him to clear the path as he did not like to be delayed or obstructed by common folks. In those days, court officials were VIP and enjoyed good treatment from the state. What a way to get yourself out of a traffic jam.

 

The noise created by this group of people upset the tranquility of the country side. This prompted a woman carrying a baby to come out of her farm house to check what was happening. The farm equipment and a cow could be seen not far away.

 

At some stage in the painting the river appeared and boats could be seen along the river bank. People were seen loading and unload goods. Where you have boats stopping over, you would find shops and settlements.Businesses would strive only where there were people. People were seen eating and drinking, most likely the place must be a restaurant or modern-day café.

Boats were essential transport equipment

One can also see clearly how the boat was made those days. The hull was adjustable to cater for the different levels of tides on the river.

 

Even the shops carried all sorts of flags, in a way to promote their goods and services. If you notice the houses were no longer farm houses made of hay. People were still busy with their daily chore as things were stuffed in front of the houses.

 

As more and more boats were seen, life got more exciting now. There were people working o=inside the boats, some repairing the roof, others were moving their goods. One man was even seen cooking inside his boat. He was obviously too poor to afford a decent meal at the restaurant onshore.

 

This two chaps were seen greeting each other, may be they had not seen each other for a long time. Ideally, thy would settle for a meal at the eating house on the right. They would drink , eat and talk the whole night for old time sake. Many shops and eateries could be seen in the vicinity.

Here there was a big ship where people were seen hoisting up the mask. Everyone was busy doing his own work.

A lot of activities could also  be seen inside the ship. The artist was very careful about details as he recorded the things people do at each stage of his painting.

 

Somewhere one can see a woman staring outside, she was away from home for a long time. As she gazed into the water, she must be thinking of her home town and the friend and relatives she missed.

 

On top of the ship, people were seen doing different type of chores. Their emotions and feelings could also be gauged at the small scale painting of their figures.

Can't tell you what they were doing, honestly, as I have not seen the painting myself.

Life away from the river can be as exciting!


Anyway, will stop here and continue my story later. It is just too many things to report on this very unique painting done some one thousand years ago. May be when you are in China, yo can explore the details yourself.

To be continued.

SEA Aquarium in Sentosa

Recently my family and I visited the SEA Aquarium in Sentosa, a holiday resort for locals as wells as tourists. This place is renowned for its beautiful beaches, Universal Studio and of course, the Resort World Casino; one of two casinos in operation in Singapore.

Money making place

Resort World at Sentosa

The SEA Aquarium is  the latest addition to a series of creational activities at the small island off the coast of Singapore. This Aquarium showcases Asia's maritime heritage and it is also home to more than 100000 marine fishes from the small crown fish (Nemo) to the giant sharks. In all there are over 800 species of marine animals spreading over 49 different habitats. At one exhibit, there were sunken ship wrecks and fishes are seen swimming around happily as if they were looking for the hidden treasures in the wrecks. Some exhibits are very large in size and house a large variety of marine species while others are small containing individual type of fish. The colorful marine fishes and the corals decorations are exciting to look at. It is indeed an eye-opening experience, especially for kids who ran around clicking their cameras.

Angel fish

Beautiful marine plants

Sea dragon

 

 

Christmas for the fishes

A strange thing I noticed at the aquarium was that even fishes were celebrating Christmas in their own way. They swam around the Christmas tree joyfully. The white Christmas tree was also well decorated with gifts and boxes at the bottom. Judging the mood of these fishes, one may think they might be even singing Christmas songs and greeting each other merry Christmas.

A wet Santa

Not far from this Christmas tree, I could also see a Santa waving and dancing in the water. What a wet Santa he was. So you can imagine Christmas is celebrated everywhere in Singapore.

The Nemos

I particularly liked this exhibit where a bunch of crown fish playing around happily. I ever kept marine fish before and crown fish is really hardy and they can survive even if conditions are harsh. I always use this fish as guinea pig to test the conditions of a freshly prepared marine tank. Looking at crown fish also reminded me of the adventure of Nemo, a popular cartoon film for children and adult alike.

 

This was the central exhibit which kept the crowd motionless. Take a look and you will know why.
And not to forget the sharks and lots of them.