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Hi, We set sail on the Yangtze River about Midnight last night. All three of us slept like babies. We wanted to get up for a Tai Chi lesson this morning. I was up at 6, but my mom and dad didn't get up until 7, so we missed it. Maybe tomorrow. We ate a wonderful breakfast and then docked in Fengdu. In Fengdu, is a place called Hell Mountain. You could either hike up or take a chair lift. My mom and I hiked up, and everyone else took the lift. We climbed up over 200 stairs and a big slanted hill and we actually beat the chair lift. That was funny. At the top of the chair lift, is what they call Heaven. It is below Hell in this particular case. In Heaven, there are three bridges. We had to cross the first one on our way up to Hell. The first bridge represented "Love." You had to cross it using nine steps. It symbolized that if you crossed the bridge correctly, that you'd rejoin your spouse in Heaven when you're reincarnated. After crossing the bridge, we entered a chamber that had a 7 meter statue of the God of Heaven. Next, we continued up the mountain to "Mommy Chamber," which symbolized that your mom was always watching over you. Finally, we made our way to Hell. Each of us had to balance on a rock in a pit for three seconds. If we could balance and then jump out of the pit without falling, that meant that we were "Innocent." My dad couldn't do it. I wonder what that means. Ha Ha. Finally, we entered the "Chamber of Hell," where there was a big mean looking statue. He was the "God of Hell." He would judge all people, good and bad, and decide if they deserved to be reincarnated as a privileged child born with a silver spoon in their mouth, or spend 500 years in hell. I forgot to mention that when people pray to the statue in Heaven, they light two candles, which represent the God's eyes; three incense which symbolize three generations, and they bring one thin yellow piece of paper that they write their family name on and burn it. The yellow piece of paper symbolizes a passport that will get them to hell quicker so that they can be judged and then make their way to reincarnation faster.
When we got back to the boat about noon, we had a great lunch and then went and listened to a presentaion of the Yangtze River. The Yangtze River is the third largest river in the world. The Mississippi is the fourth largest. It's only 150 km shorter than the Yangtze. The Yellow River in China is the fifth largest river. The Yangtze is 3,900 miles long and the Yellow River is 3,400 miles long. The Yangtze River is divided into three portions: The Upper, the Middle, and the Lower Yangtze. The upper Yangtze starts in the Tibetan Plateau, and ends in the city of Yichang. The Middle Yangtze starts in Yichang and ends near Wuhan and the Lower Yangtze starts near Wuhan and ends in Shanghai. The Yangtze River banks are home to 1/3 of China's entire population. That means approximately 450 million people live on the banks of the Yangtze River. That is the entire population of the United States, plus 100 million. When the built the The Three Gorges Dam that I'll talk about tomorrow, the goverment of China relocated about 2 million people! Here are some more facts about the Yangtze River: It moves 500 million tons of silt per year; 4,000 tons of garbage are dumped into the river daily;traffic on the river, is 80% of inland transportation. That is equivalent to 40 railroad systems.
At 4:00, I'm going to a calligraphy class. I'll let you know how that goes. At 6:00, we're going to the Captain's Cocktail Party. That should be fun.
Well, that's about it. There will be a test on this for all of you when I get back. :) Have a nice day!
- comments
Yvonne I love that you and your mom hiked to "Heaven" and beat the chairlift, also interesting that your dad didn't pass the "innocence" balancing test! Hmmm.... :) So interesting about all the symbolism. I love all the rich details in your blog entries. I feel I'm right there experiencing what your family is experiencing!
Aunt Wende & Uncle Bob Hi Tony. We hope you got a good photo of your Dad riding the chair lift as you and your Mom walked past him on your way up to the top of the mountain. :-) Your writing is wonderful, Tony. We look forward to seeing your entries every day. Love you.