10/27/06 ~ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

On the Rio: Santana ~ Wishing It Was

The other highlight of last weekends trip was a visit to the village Hongcun, where the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed. I need to re-watch the video now. The city has also been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Here is the bridge leading into the village.

The village is arranged in the shape of an ox: a nearby hill (Leigang Hill) is interpreted as the head and two trees standing on it mark the horns. Four bridges across the Jiyin stream can be seen as the legs and the houses of the village form the body. Inside the "body", the Jiyin stream can be seen as the intestines and the lakes - such as the "South Lake" (Nanhu) - as the stomachs.

This is the South Lake. The buildings are where the fight scene in the movie occured.

Hongcun was built during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279). The architecture and carvings of the ca. 150 residences dating back to the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) Dynasties are said to be among the best of its kind in China. One can tell the difference between the architure, as told to us by our guide Lacey, is that the Ming woodwork is round and the Qing woodwork is square. This is Lacey.

As one wanders along the path of the village, painters can be seen everywhere. This is the South Lake Academy. Children of the Wang family used to be able to attend here for free. [Wang is one of the 8 most popular surnames in China, and happened to be Lacey's last name. I also work with 3 people with that last name, as well as 3 Chen's, 2 Zhang's and 2 Zheng's. ]

This academy was built in the reign of emporer Jia Qing in 1814 of the Qing Dynasty. It is a typical building consisting of the Hall of Zhidao (Learning), Pavilion of Wenchang (Refined Culture), Pavilion of Qimeng (Primary Learning), the Pavilion of Huiwen (Literacy), the Lake House and the Zhi Garden (Respect).

This is the Zhi Garden Room, where students would pay homage to Confucious.

And a closeup.

It's getting late, and I have to get up early for the fantasy basketball draft. Go Shanghai China Cats!

To Be Continued........

Oh, I'm back. I was checking CNN before I went to bed, and here was this posting link about going to HuangShan in October. Please tell me my posting was much more interesting than this! http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/10/27/china.mountains.ap/index.html

My next career will either be a travel writer or a bird pet store, I swear.