Guiyang is the capital of Guizhou province, which lies between Yunan and Sichuan, and adjoins Tibet. Like its neighbours, it is a province of hills and mountains and Guiyang itself has many limestone hills that make it prettier than the many Chinese cities built on river plains. I lived there for a time and especially enjoyed the night markets that line the streets of the city centre and offer tawdry jewellery to wonderful batik cloths that can be had for a quarter of the price in the shops or less.
The riverbank in the city heart has been made into a showpiece, with extensive walking paths and bas reliefs in a stone that appears to be pink sandstone. On the Nanming River stands a pavilion, Jiaxiu pavilion, which was built as a place for poets and writers to dream their dreams and find inspiration to write their masterpieces. The small pavilion in the middle of the river itself is an integral part of a larger group of buildings on the riverbank which preserves many of the writings of the scholars who took advantage of the site and when I visited had photos of the Guiyang which has succumbed to progress. This the place where I met a group of men and helped to write an initial approach letter for one of them who his friends believed was worthy of nomination for the Nobel Prize. See an earlier blog that mentions this. In the morning old men can be seen bringing caged songbirds to the riverside and hanging the cages in the trees to release the birds’ music.
People’s Square in Guiyang is a centre for exercise and the flying of kites. Every morning people, most of them over sixty, gather to do Tai Qi Quan with or without swords. Other groups dance to continue the traditions of their ethnic origins or just to dance whatever takes their fancy. One day I saw a group of lovely old people, with some playing musical instruments and others doing that decadent western style of dancing where one holds a partner by the waist and the couple wanders round in circles in time to the music. They were very happy for me to photograph them.
A group of students asked me to come to Huaxi Park, a scenic spot on the Flower Stream in the city, where beautiful views can be found. It was a little spoiled by neglect and littering but the growing consciousness of tourism in China might improve that little by little. Cleaned up it would definitely be worthy of a more enthusiastic response than mine. Precariously balanced on a high saddle, I rode a tiny Mongol pony there.
Not far from the centre of the city is Qianling Mountain, a steep hill with a fun park at the bottom and a zen Buddhist temple at the top. Brightly coloured cable cars take visitors up the slope, saving the effort of climbing the hundreds of steps which are the alternative. I took the cableway. There are good views of the city from the mountain and the temple is worth the visit unless you have already seen a dozen or so and have tired of them. Often the small things make the day when travelling and I loved some of the weathered walls behind the temple. They put me in an arty mood and I took a lovely photo of a wall with decaying bright red paint and a small green grasshopper.
There are many Chinese minority people in Guizhou and in the street markets they become visible. Perhaps they are visible also as itinerant workers sleeping under canopies of buildings but if the workers are from non-Han groups they do not show it by their dress. If I had gone as a tourist I would have made the effort to find the Bai and Dong villages in the area and visit these well preserved cultures but I focussed on my work as we all must at times.