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The contents include the complete Analects of Confucius (Kong Tze) on about 120 stones, many examples of beautiful calligraphy, excellent and renowned poems, and famous views. Many are set in walls but the most impressive rise from the backs of large stone turtles. All are carved from a single block. In about the third hall I came to I found what I was looking for, the Nestorian Stele. Many steles had plaques next to them describing them in Chinese and English and it was this that enabled me to find the Christian one. It was as indecipherable as any of the others to my untrained eye but the cross at the top is intelligible enough. The light was in the wrong place but I set my tripod up and took the best picture I could. 

Like all the museums in

I returned to the hostel for a while then went out walking, past the Bell Tower in the centre of town that used to mark sunrise and past the Drum Tower that marked sunset (or was it the other way around – if anyone knows tell me). Near the

Next day I went on a Wild Goose chase. I looked for the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the Large Wild Goose Pagoda and the

I was met at the station by a friendly guy from Xian Shuyuan Youth Hostel which saved me from having to choose between the numerous people touting accommodation. We went by bus to the Youth Hostel. The Hostel is next to the

My train had arrived at ten thirty so after a rest and lunch I set out touristing. The Hostel is close to buses and within easy walking distance of some of the central city tourist attractions. I passed along a street full of art shops and street sellers of art. I was amazed by the size of some of the paint brushes on sale, from very fine to about six feet long with a tip eight inches wide! The only shop I went into was a shop selling local art. Some of this surprised me and attracted me into the shop. As I found with the stoneworker in Xiangfan the proprietor and salesperson was the artist himself. The bonus this time was that Zhao Jianlong spoke English. The first works that attracted me were paintings in a naïve style. These are known as farmer’s paintings as they are traditionally painted by members of local farming communities. Mr. Zhao also produces traditional cut-outs, complex scissor work on bright paper. Traditionally, they are stuck on windows at Spring Festival time. They can be geometric but more often depict scenes from traditional stories. They range from scrapbook size to wall panel size and are always very detailed. He has won many awards for his work and if they were not so delicate I would have bought one. 

I am spending some of my time watching DVDs. They are from a dollar(AU) to $2.50 each and I have acquired a respectable little collection of good films. The quality is inconsistent in the cheaper ones but the shop is willing to take them back without question if I find there are flaws. I was warned that occasionally I would come across one that was filmed in a cinema and actually experienced this with a copy of the last of the Lord of The Rings series. There were a couple of spots where I could hear the audience laugh! I don’t think the major film companies have anything to fear from Chinese pirate DVDs. They are nothing like the quality of the originals and anyone with enough money would buy the original. Maybe the companies should adopt a different marketing strategy here and put out an inferior quality series themselves. They would still be better than watching movies where the kissing noise comes after the kiss finishes! I can’t believe that a couple of foreign teachers I know were such cheapskates that they would watch a movie and then take it back to the shop claiming it was faulty. I took some back but only if they were truly faulty, then I would buy more. 

There are some good reasons why media companies should back off of hassling

On Sunday the Cools took me in their car to Long Zhong, a site covering several acres and a memorial to Xiangfan’s greatest citizen Zhuge Liang. There was a period in Chinese history called the Three Kingdoms Period because three rulers fought for supremacy, not unlike the Tokugawa Period in

We went into a complex of old buildings which was the great man’s school. We passed through a gift shop and temple where his assistance can be sought. Then there were rooms containing large figures of Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei and the two generals who accompanied Liu Bei when he visited Zhuge Liang. Then we came to a room where many scenes of Zhuge Liang’s life had been reconstructed in glass fronted recesses, dioramas. Harry translated the descriptions very capably and I began to realize this man means far more to the Chinese than I knew. I saw him writing poems which are still prized, negotiating alliances, winning battles with little bloodshed through cleverness, changing the direction of the wind through prayer to win a battle fought on land and water, giving wise advice to the ruler he chose to serve, inventing a sort of wheelbarrow for carrying weapons, telling the future from the stars and becoming a regent who never sought power for himself. A Renaissance Man long before the Renaissance; a Moses, a Leonardo, and a Nostradamus in one body. Now I have read the book, ‘The Three Kingdoms’, which is a history more sophisticated than most Western works of the time, and am amazed at the figure of Zhuge Liang portrayed there. 

When we returned I went to my apartment for an hour or two then went back to the restaurant where I ate with the family and some of their friends (a travel agent, a union official and an uncle). We ate a variety of wonderful dishes including some filled bready things which were made especially for me. They have excellent cooks.