Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Kate's Chronicles
It might only be spring but we are certainly getting some HOT weather.....averaging 35 each day...so heavens knows what summer will be like! The heat seems to have bought everyone out of hibernation so all the parks are now full of people...suddenly I've realised that I am living in a big city and some days it seems like all 7 million are on the streets at one time!
Some of the sights you see on the streets are amazingly funny and/or gross but worst of all is we get used to it and then I forget to tell you so I'm going to share some with you tonight. I've had to get used to people spitting constantly as they walk down the street (gross) and then there are the little kids wearing kaidangku......literally split pants so they can just squat down and 'do their business" where ever they please!! Of course in a country this size its hard to find work for everyone but I was sitting in a park the other day watching this man doing his job....walking along behind a truck with a mop?!? Took me a while to work out his job.....he was washing the brackets that hold up the fence dividing the road - didn't touch the dirty fence but we had lovely shiny green brackets attached!! And the things you see people carrying.....such as the man walking down the street with a double bed mattress on his back!! I never get bored when I'm out and about as I'm never sure what I might see next.
Nanjing prides itself on its cultural history and many of the old handicrafts are still readily available today and I have had the pleasure to view and/or buy some of them. These include the Nanjing Cloudy-patterned Brocade, Nanjing Yuhua Shi Pebbles, gilded gold foil artwork and many beautifully designed lanterns to name a few.
I'll start off with this blogs history lesson for you......Among all the ancient fabrics, silk fabrics known as "Jin" represents the top industrial arts. Nanjing Brocade concentrates all the advantages of advanced silk fabrics arts and technology of ancient dynasties and ranks first in quality among the three well-known categories of silk fabrics. It had been used as tributes to the loyal families in the three dynasties of Yuan, Ming and Qing. Owing to its rich cultural and scientific connotation, it is honored by experts as "the last milestone in the technological history of Chinese ancient silk fabrics". It is acknowledged by the public as "oriental treasure", "China's wonder" and is also one of the rarest historical cultural legacies in China and the world. I haven't got to the Brocade Institute yet but have seen many fine examples during my sightseeing.....now if I can just save some $$$$ I might be able to afford to buy some!!
Nanjing Yuhua Shi (Rain Flower) pebbles also has a story behind them....legend says that in the Liang of Southern Dynasties (502-557) when Master Monk Yunguang was expounding the texts of Buddhism at Jubaoshan Heaven was so moved that it rained flowers. So the colorful pebbles with beautiful patterns and veins in the mountain are called rain flower pebbles.
Yuhuashi is a compound of quartzite, flint and agate, and has a popular name rain-flower agate. They come in some magnificent colours and you can buy them just a stones or made into jewelery.... I'll leave you to guess which one I opted for!!
Nanjing is also quite famous for the production of gold foil which originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty Forging techniques of gold foil refers to the skills of forging gold into thin foils. The gold foil is often used to decorate Buddha Statues ornamental wares or utensils. There are over ten procedures passed down from ancient times that are still adopted in the current production of gold foil. Amazingly beautiful works can be seen in many places around the city.
There is a huge lantern festival held across the country in February or March each year with lanterns of various shapes and sizes hung in the streets. Some are simple,some elaborate but they all have an exquisite beauty and make such a colourful sight.
I've added a few photos to give you the idea of all the wonderful handicrafts I've seen so far.......there is still so much to see and do!!! We have VERY limited internet access and no email access atm so please bear with me.....seems to be a problem between the Uni and the ISP...and is being fixed on China time!!! Extremely frustrating but no use worrying about what I cant fix. Fingers crossed that this uploads successfully and I'll be in touch again as soon as I can.
Bye for now. xxx
Some of the sights you see on the streets are amazingly funny and/or gross but worst of all is we get used to it and then I forget to tell you so I'm going to share some with you tonight. I've had to get used to people spitting constantly as they walk down the street (gross) and then there are the little kids wearing kaidangku......literally split pants so they can just squat down and 'do their business" where ever they please!! Of course in a country this size its hard to find work for everyone but I was sitting in a park the other day watching this man doing his job....walking along behind a truck with a mop?!? Took me a while to work out his job.....he was washing the brackets that hold up the fence dividing the road - didn't touch the dirty fence but we had lovely shiny green brackets attached!! And the things you see people carrying.....such as the man walking down the street with a double bed mattress on his back!! I never get bored when I'm out and about as I'm never sure what I might see next.
Nanjing prides itself on its cultural history and many of the old handicrafts are still readily available today and I have had the pleasure to view and/or buy some of them. These include the Nanjing Cloudy-patterned Brocade, Nanjing Yuhua Shi Pebbles, gilded gold foil artwork and many beautifully designed lanterns to name a few.
I'll start off with this blogs history lesson for you......Among all the ancient fabrics, silk fabrics known as "Jin" represents the top industrial arts. Nanjing Brocade concentrates all the advantages of advanced silk fabrics arts and technology of ancient dynasties and ranks first in quality among the three well-known categories of silk fabrics. It had been used as tributes to the loyal families in the three dynasties of Yuan, Ming and Qing. Owing to its rich cultural and scientific connotation, it is honored by experts as "the last milestone in the technological history of Chinese ancient silk fabrics". It is acknowledged by the public as "oriental treasure", "China's wonder" and is also one of the rarest historical cultural legacies in China and the world. I haven't got to the Brocade Institute yet but have seen many fine examples during my sightseeing.....now if I can just save some $$$$ I might be able to afford to buy some!!
Nanjing Yuhua Shi (Rain Flower) pebbles also has a story behind them....legend says that in the Liang of Southern Dynasties (502-557) when Master Monk Yunguang was expounding the texts of Buddhism at Jubaoshan Heaven was so moved that it rained flowers. So the colorful pebbles with beautiful patterns and veins in the mountain are called rain flower pebbles.
Yuhuashi is a compound of quartzite, flint and agate, and has a popular name rain-flower agate. They come in some magnificent colours and you can buy them just a stones or made into jewelery.... I'll leave you to guess which one I opted for!!
Nanjing is also quite famous for the production of gold foil which originated in the Eastern Jin Dynasty Forging techniques of gold foil refers to the skills of forging gold into thin foils. The gold foil is often used to decorate Buddha Statues ornamental wares or utensils. There are over ten procedures passed down from ancient times that are still adopted in the current production of gold foil. Amazingly beautiful works can be seen in many places around the city.
There is a huge lantern festival held across the country in February or March each year with lanterns of various shapes and sizes hung in the streets. Some are simple,some elaborate but they all have an exquisite beauty and make such a colourful sight.
I've added a few photos to give you the idea of all the wonderful handicrafts I've seen so far.......there is still so much to see and do!!! We have VERY limited internet access and no email access atm so please bear with me.....seems to be a problem between the Uni and the ISP...and is being fixed on China time!!! Extremely frustrating but no use worrying about what I cant fix. Fingers crossed that this uploads successfully and I'll be in touch again as soon as I can.
Bye for now. xxx
- comments
wayne wow like the split pants that could save a fortune in nappys........your looking good alldressed up .....warm weather can only dream about it...Govt cuts will catch up with my contract in june and I'll be self employed again.....still enjoying the teaching .....my friend laurie is teaching in Shanghai and he cant getover how rude his class is.........take care