Kaifeng - One of China's Ancient Dynasty Capitals - A Photo Retrospective
Kaifeng - One of China's Ancient Dynasty Capitals - A Photo Retrospective
It's been at least 5 years since I was there, and since it was so close to Zhengzhou, the city in which my wife and I were living, I travelled to it a number of times, before and after we married. These are some of the photos I took there. Some you might have seen long ago, and some have not been posted on NT before.
"[Kaifeng] was the capital of China during several dynasties, and was visited by Marco Polo. Around 1,000 years ago, when it was the capital of the Song dynasty, Kaifeng was the most prosperous and busy city in China and the world.
Countless foreigners came over the Silk Road and settled in Kaifeng, especially Arabians and Persians, who afterwards formed a new ethnic group in China, named Hui (回族). Kaifeng is also known for a group of Jews who settled in the Bible Hutong (教经胡同; Jiaojing Hutong) around the year 800; the original Jews have assimilated, but some modern descendents have begun to rediscover their history." (Wikitravel)
1 This is the most historic hotel in Kaifeng. We spent a night there (but in a modern room in a new wing).
2 The Iron Pagoda is the most famous structure in Kaifeng. A little history:
Perhaps the best ancient structure to see in Kaifeng is the Iron Pagoda. It isn't made of iron but bricks. It has a dark color like iron. It has been called the Iron Pagoda for hundreds of years. It was built in 1049 by a Northern Song Dynasty emperor when a tall pagoda that was made of wood was hit by lightning in 1044. He ordered the new building of brick to be constructed in its place, and the tower has stood the test of time having survived floods and numerous earthquakes. (China Highlights)
3 A close-up of the detail at the bottom of the Pagoda photo above. It was called the Iron Pagoda because the bricks are the colour of rusted iron.
4 I have never before seen such intricately carved wood as this, under the eaves of the Guild House.
5 How to say "Keep off the grass" in a loving way.
6 We visited an older park that was not much used.
7 It had its share of statues.
8 A small pagoda - something to be found everywhere.
9. A fantastic gravestone in a little cemetery.
10 He could be the Chinese equivalent of a pre-Christmas Ebeneezer Scrooge.
11 But there was a lovely diorama, with a life-size China doll.
12 And some magnificent artwork.
13 And now to the biggest park, Millenium Park. This is an overview of it
14 Note the huge double-facing peacock.
15 Up the steps to the palace
16 They're on their way up to the palace.
17 Wait a sec, I thought the little Emperor abdicated years ago.
18 Some really beautiful artworks in the palace.
19 And finally, a memorial to the women warriors of Kaifeng.
Hope you enjoyed the tour. If there is enough interest I will keep posting restrospectives of my travels through China. Next one could be Luoyang, another of the ancient Dynasty capitals.
Beautiful pictures, Buzz.
Dear Freind Buzz: Super tour.
Many thanks.
We zre all the better off for it.
Gratefully,
Enoch,
All more knowledgeable, perhaps. Thanks Enoch.
Very nice !!
Posted on the front page 90 minutes ago. About 9 members have commented on the front page since then, but not on this artilcle. Seems it's not worth the effort. I'm going to sleep now, and I wonder if when I wake I'll see if any member of NT has even glanced at this.
Posted on the front page 90 minutes ago. About 9 members have commented on the front page since then, but not on this artilcle. Seems it's not worth the effort. I'm going to sleep now, and I wonder if when I wake I'll see if any member of NT has even glanced at this.
I often identify with this feeling … on the FP, every day has become "Flag Day" with mostly the same members doing most of the flagging. Activity in the political threads push most everything else down and off the FP … but those of us who post photos and, your photo essays, Buzz, maintain NT's civil side.
In addition, your photo essays and accompanying text offer something unique and inherently valuable and have established a regular following. Those who have "pearls" to cast must look beyond the "swine".
My two cents.
Very interesting, it's interesting to see the similarities, and the differences of cultures with the Japanese (I lived on Okinawa for 2 years).
Great photo series Buzz.
I especially like the ''keep off the grass'' and Little Emperor photos..
Thanks to those of you who have enough interest in somthing other than American politics to stop by, and for your kind words to let me know you were here. It encourages me to spend the time and effort to provide a little variety to the front page.
Buzz, if you were in America I think there is a good chance you would have more interest in American politics. As you are in China, you find Chinese culture and locations more interesting.
No one denigrates your interest in China, why do you have to keep denigrating American politics?
What makes you think I denigrate American Politics? I put forward my opinions on that topic often enough, and as well I take interest in other matters as well, but tell me, John, do you eat meat and potatoes EVERY SINGLE DAY? I'm not telling anyone to ignore American politics. I'm just shaking my head at those who have interest in nothing else.
On Newstalkers, there are very few topics on sports, very few on food, very few on movies, very few on philosophy or even science. Many subjects other than your photos get basically ignored so we can have more threads about lesbians trannies, gay rights, snowflakes, Muslims, conspiracy theories, communists , Christian persecution etc. Things are so out of whack on this site it's not even funny.
Then you, of all people, who posts on many different topics, shouid not be critical of my being upset that I believe that the site should display through its Front Page more balance - there are too many times when a topic OTHER than American politics can even be seen there.
You mention movies, and in that respect I do my best to keep posting articles of interest about classic films to keep the group in view on the front group page, and I know you do the same with your music group, but I am just about the only one who posts articles there and very few others even comment. What to do, John? Do you have any suggestions?
I think a site named Newstalkers should feature the news of the day, as well as other things. Trump is the news of the day, because he is the most incompetent and unqualified president of the United States we have ever seen. It happened.
People need to use the folders that contain the other subjects more. When they only react to the latest comments this is what we get.
You posted that instantly after I asked you for suggestions - good anticipation. I believe we think relatively alike on this issue, John. Of course the news of the day is probably the most important content, especially of a group that even calls itself "TheNewsTalkers", but there is more news happening in the world than Trump.
What wonderful pictures!! How I wish I could go there! I love the architecture, and the artwork... I recognized the pictures of little Puyi, because I loved that movie!
Thanks for these!!!
I really like these pictures! If I ever get to visit China I'll definitely put Kaifeng as a place to stay a while, there's so much history it'd be impossible to miss out.
Other than Beijing and its surrounding locales such as The Great Wall and the Summer Palace, there is considerable history in Kaifeng and also in Xi'an. I will be doing a retrospective photo essay on Xi'an soon.
Wow!
Magnificent!
My next photo essay will be about Luoyang and its surroundings. It is the site of the White Horse Temple, where Buddhism was first brought to China by Monks from India, the Longmen Grottoes (Caves), a nearby Geological Park and the Yellow River.
I envy the sites that are available to you to shoot.
I'll bet there are a lot of things not far from where you live that I've never seen and would find interesting. Have you ever thought of photographing one of your cruise holidays, such as things on board the ship? For example, the buffet lunch/dinner table, a nighttime scene on the deck. I've never taken a cruise.
Get someone to take your photo at the very bow with your arms out shouting "I'm the king of the world!!!" LOL
I have taken a bunch of pictures of our cruises. Thousands actually. We have been to Acapulco five times and Cabo more then that. I have some in Taxco (about 4 hours inland from Acapulco) where the best silver mining in Mexico is that I am thinking of posting. Also, as bizarre as it sounds considering that I am an atheist, I love taking pictures of old Mexican churches and cathedrals. To me the amount of work, considering it was all done by hand and the architecture is fascinating. I have a bunch of some cathedrals in Puerto Vallarta, Taxco and Ensenada. I have to sort them all out as they are just in huge files on my old Dell desk top computer in the other room and the portable hard drive that I have. Unfortunately the portable's USB doesn't like the USB port on this Dell laptop for some reason. If I really went through them I could post hundreds of pics, but they are all taken with old cameras, mostly with one that I believe is just a 5.0 pixel.
A.Mac has posted photos of a cathedral in Montreal that are magnificent. I'd love to see the photos of your adventures. And, as you know, they don't have to be perfect - A.Mac and I can help to make them very worthy, even if you don't think they are.
Well I'll through some of them and move them over to this laptop or fire up our old laptop that is just sitting on a shelf restored to new when my wife bought a new one. There is nothing on it and it has 500GB storage, so I could use it just to post. What the hell, it'll give me something to do, though as I said, these are 5.0 mega pixels and I never took them to post. Just to look at as memories. In there are a couple of hundred of our favorite Mexican town, the little fishing village of Zihuatanejo, which is the town the main character in the Stephan King story and movie "The Shawshank Redemption" wants to escape to and we could see why. The only reason we kept going to Acapulco was that the next spot up the coast was Zihuatanejo. We spent a considerable amount of time and effort looking at condos to buy there, but eventually decided that it was just too far away from the U.S. to retire to. I am not so sure we didn't make a mistake. If something happens to Joan I may be moving down there alone.
My next photo essay will be about Luoyang and its surroundings. It is the site of the White Horse Temple, where Buddhism was first brought to China by Monks from India, the Longmen Grottoes (Caves), a nearby Geological Park and the Yellow River.
Second time around I saw things that I missed the first time around.
A lot of the photos I'm posting in these "retrospectives" are ones I've posted before, probably years ago, but they are newly edited with a program I did not have access to before. You may well have seen a lot of these photos before. But if you mean you are looking at this article a second time, I fully understand that. I can watch a movie over again and see something I missed before.
I'm seeing the article for the second time and enjoying it again because I'm seeing things that I didn't see the first time around, Buzz.
So did I. They are the kind of photos you have to study.
I still love these pictures! Great job!!! Thanks for sharing them again! Love you, Buzz!