Chinese Civilizations

[Editor's note: apologies for the delay in posting, mainly due to busy schedules and unreliable wifi; photos coming soon, hopefully!]

Ndjodi’s taken up the blogging baton today.

Many will concur that today was by far the most eventful day! Cherry picking what to blog’s a tough ask (no pun intended, birthday girl Cherry). We woke up to the most modern of civilizations – white linen and western buffet breakfast. We then dashed off to experience earliest of Chinese civilization at the Chengdu Jinsha Archeological Site Museum. Touring the site, we marveled at preserved evidence of the Chinese way of life spanning over three millennia.

I am no archeological fundi - others in this cohort of scholars would certainly be better poised to provide an informed opinion on the value and riches of the site. However, the physical and virtual representations of Chinese rural way of life strikingly resonated with me as I thought of my small home farming village thousands of miles away. Green, lush landscapes without the obscurity of skyscrapers; the humbling simple yet magnificent life as hunter-gathers; times when man and beast co-existed in relative harmony. In contrast, a quick Google search reveals the bleak present and future of the Asian elephant and rhino populations, which are decreasing alarmingly as poaching sophisticates and natural habitats are cut down exponentially. Depressing thoughts in a breathtaking place!

For much of the afternoon we roamed around a traditional Chinese marketplace as we tried to negotiate lowered prices with merchants without a common lingua franca. Chinese artwork certainly amazes. And not to forget the sensational ear cleaning service some of us indulged in! On our bus talks, we had lectures on a series of topics ranging from the one child policy, family names, and ethnic harmony in China.

Fittingly, the day concluded with contemporary Chinese cultural performances as we feasted upon a diversity of Chinese dishes.

Day one in Chengdu certainly brought together the civilizations.