The Jewels of China

Nov 4 to 18, 2002

Visited some fascinating cities of China.

This journey took us to some important historical and cultural sites of China.  It was not a pilgrimage, but did celebrate the liturgy daily during the trip. 

This is the itinerary for the trip: 

Day 1 – Nov 4: Depart from San Francisco to Beijing

            We took off from St. Victor to SFO without any incident.  Two Southeast vans were at the parking lot at least thirty minutes before the appointed time. At the airport we had enough time to sit down and enjoy coffee before we took off for Tokyo.

            We crossed the international dateline and then literally chased the sun from San Francisco to Japan, the land of the rising sun.  Movies, plane food and more movies kept people from being bored on the twelve hours flight to Narita, Tokyo.  After a two-hour lay over at Narita we boarded the plane for our flight to Beijing.  We left at 6:00 PM and arrive at about 9:00 PM, Beijing time.

Day 2 – Nov 5 – Arrival in Beijing

            Beijing airport at 9:00 PM seemed deserted.  We were the only flight that went through Chinese Frontier Boarder Airport.  Our guide, Jason Wang, was waiting for us at the arrival area of Beijing International airport.  The Chinese call the airport the Frontier Boarder airport because it is the entryway to China area from Tibet and Outer Mongolia.  

            On the bus to the hotel, Jason gave us a couple of pointers on living in Beijing.  He suggested that we changed our dollars to Yuan at the hotel. He taught us some useful Chinese phrases and described some Chinese marriage practices.  Arranged marriages are no longer practiced.

Day 3 – Nov 6 – Beijing

             What a full day!  We went from the Tienanmen Square to the Forbidden City.  At entry ways and exits vendors flocked to us like flies to sell us their wares.  The visit to Matteo Ricci’s tombstone was quite educational and inspiring.  There were tombstones of other foreign priests and religious who came to China more than three hundred years ago.  Ricci introduced Western concepts of mathematics and respected the Chinese culture when he converted the Chinese to Catholicism. .

            The Pearl farm visit was a lesson in aggressive selling. The attendants in the shop followed us wherever we went.  One could not simply look at any product without being attended by a watchful saleslady.  We were treated to an ethnic restaurant at the end of the day.

Day 4 – Nov 7 – Beijing

            Today we visited a jade factory, walked the sacred way to the Ming tombs before proceeding to see the Great Wall of China at Badalung.  The Great Wall is considered as one of the seven man-made wonders of the world.  Built to protect the ancient Chinese Empire from the marauding barbarians, the wall today is an economic and cultural gain for humanity. We came back to Beijing for dinner at a famous Beijing duck restaurant.  Terry Melanson celebrated cut her birthday cake after the delicious Peking duck dinner.   

Day 5 – Nov 8: Beijing to Xi’an

            Father Francis welcomed us at the Immaculate Conception cathedral built by Matteo Ricci.  It was a blessing to celebrate Mass at that cathedral.  The celebrant had to remove his shoes to celebrate Mass at the cathedral altar.  A number of parishioners greeted us after the Mass.  From the Cathedral we headed for the Temple of Heaven, one of the best examples of Ming Dynasty architecture in Beijing.  The famous pagoda built without any nails stands as a worldwide symbol of Beijing.  We took off for Xi’an after visiting the famed temple where the emperors came to pray for good harvest.  Linda Lin, the local tour guide, welcomed us to the city of Xi’an. 

Day 6- Nov 9: Xi’an

            Mass was at 7:00 am in the Frizzell’s room followed by breakfast.  The first place we visited today was the Shaanxi Historical Museum.  After that we headed for the Lacquer factory which sold silk, furniture and rugs.  Then we took off for the Xi’an Terra Cotta museum.  The museum covers four pits that contain the world famous legion of terra cotta warriors guarding the grave of the First Emperor.  The burial site of the Qin (pronounced Chin) Emperor ShiHuang Di made sure that he would be guarded in the next life with sufficient life-size statues of soldiers. 

            Going to the museum from the parking lot was like walking through an army of sellers.  The vendors, old and young, push the objects into your face asking you to buy them.  It was an uncomfortable experience to walk through so many sellers who wanted to sell everyone the same items.

            The Chinese Tang Dynasty show at the Tang restaurant was quite a treat. The Tang Dynasty opera is a performance of Chang’an music and dances that has its origin from the Tang dynasty that exited over one thousand years ago. The music and dances reflect the glory and richness of the Tang dynasty era.  Its melodious music and graceful dances are an excellent end to a hectic day trying to absorb the rich and ancient culture of China.

            After the show we had our dumpling dinner.  They were dumplings of 19 varieties stuffed with pork, spinach, beef and others.

Day 7 – Nov 10: Xi’an to Chongqing/Yangtze River Cruise

            It was a short flight from Xi’an to Chongqing, a hilly city of thirty million people. Ben, our local guide told us that Chongqing is the biggest city in the world in area as well as population.  The area is a semi-tropical.  Bananas and bamboo can be seen planted all the way from the airport to the city. Ben made arrangements for us to have Mass at the cathedral of Chongqing. The parish priest spoke to us before we said Mass at the cathedral.

            After lunch we visited Erling garden.  It was a short steep climb from the gate of the garden to the peak of Erling where one could view the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers. Unfortunately the fog was so thick that we couldn’t see much of anything. 

After lunch we had some time to visit downtown Chongqing on our own.  Chongqing looks like any Asian metropolis – crowded, noisy and chaotic traffic pattern.  Most of the people stayed in a hotel lobby until it was time to go the boat where we were going to sleep for the night.  It was an awful experience going down a steep flight of stairs to reach the boat “Sunshine China”.  It looked like hundred of young men offered to carry our hand carried luggage for a fee.  It was the scariest experience of the entire trip negotiating the steep stairs to go to the cruise ship. Hopefully this situation would be resolved once the river is a flooded and appropriate pier constructed.

            We slept on the boat that night.

Day 8 – Nov 11: Yangtze River Cruise

            The boat promptly left at 9:00 am.  We passed by ancient villages and cities that sat along the Yangtze River for centuries.  Along the river banks there were markers –135 and 175 meters - indicating where the water would reach when the river is flooded.  Any town or city below the 175 mark would be flooded.   One of the cities to be inundated was Fengdu also called the Ghost City.  Two thirds of the city has already relocated to the other side of river to a higher area.  The rest of the people would be relocated by December 20002.  Fengdu is named Ghost City because of the series of temples built on a hill overlooking the city.  On this hill were figures of people who were punished for failure to follow the ancient Chinese values.  We needed to get on cable cars to get up to the hill.  On the way up we hear the constant hammering as workers tear down buildings that had been there for hundred of years.

Day 9 – Nov 12: Yangtze River Cruise

            After the visit to Ghost City we continued cruising on our way to the three gorges of the Yangtze – Qutang, the Wu and the Xiling gorges.  They will all be flooded when the dam is completed by the year 2003.  We woke up early in the morning and celebrated Mass in a small section of the recreation hall of the ship. After Mass we joined the rest of the people to see the sights of the Qutang and the Wu gorges.   The Wu gorge is the most beautiful of the three gorges. 

The most exciting part of the trip was getting off at Shennong and going up the Shennong River on a sampan pulled by skillful Mud people.  In going up stream some sections of the river was so low that one could hear the bottom of the sampan scrape the river pebbles.  Going downstream was a breeze.  The purpose of the trip was to see the ancient burial sites located way up the cliffs.  .

Because of the high level of traffic we had to stay overnight some place before entering the Xiling gorge.  There were apparently a number of cruise ships going up river and only one ship could travel at night in that gorge.

Day 10 – Nov 13: Yangtze River Cruise/ Yichang / Wuhan

            We had Mass at 6:15 am so we could be ready to see the Xiling gorge when the boat left at 6:45 am.   It was a relatively short trip to a place called Yiching.

            We got off the boat at the Maoping river station and we headed for Three River Gorges dam.  Unfortunately it was raining so much that it was impossible to see the dam.  Instead we saw instead the model of the dam.  The guide explained that the dam would supply 12% of China’s electrical power.  It would take three hours for each boat to go through the locks.  The dam would be operational in the year 2003. 

Because the government closed the Gezhouba Ship Lock no ship is able to go toWuhan.  Thus we had to take a bus from Yichang to Wuhan.  The rain and fog did not give us a chance to see the countryside.  The newly built freeway was so bumpy and uncomfortable making it difficult to have a restful ride to Wuhan.

Holiday Riverside hotel at Wuhan was elegant.  We didn’t have much time to do anything when we arrived at the hotel except have dinner and get to bed so we could wake up early to go to the airport to fly to Shanghai the next morning.

Day 11 – Nov 14: Wuhan / Shanghai / Suzhou

               Today we woke up early to take the flight from Wuhan to Shanghai.  However, the wake up call didn’t happen. A computer glitch messed up the wake up call for our group.  Fortunately, everyone was at breakfast and we took off promptly at 7:00 am for the airport!  The flight was short.  After we collected our luggage we were on the way to Suzhou, a two hours ride from Shanghai.  Our local guide Thomas took us first to lunch after we arrived at Suzhou, also known as the garden city.  Suzhou food tends to be sweet and free from hot spices, a welcome relief to some members of the group. 

After lunch Thomas took us to the Garden of the Master of Nets, a beautiful Chinese classical garden.  It was once a private mansion, but now a museum.  Built during the Song dynasty (960-1279) it is where beauty and tranquility are intertwined in graceful proportions – an excellent example of the Ying and the yang principle.

The next stop was a silk factory where we were shown how silk was produced.  Thomas first showed us the stages of a silk worm life and actually gave us the opportunity to see the various stages of the silk worm preserved in bottles.  He then took us to the actual machines where the silk was extracted from the cocoons.  It was then time see the finished products - lovely silk scarves, comforters, pillows and other work of art.  Needless to say we bought souvenirs for our loved ones.  We then headed for the hotel and celebrated Mass in one of the private dinning rooms before dinner.

Day 12 – Nov 15: Suzhou / Tongli / Hangzhou 

               After breakfast we visited the Silk Factory and Embroidery Institute.  We didn’t see much of silk, but we saw the delicate and intricate process of needlework.  Women literally painted pictures of people and nature with their needles.

               We then visited a wealthy man’s retreat. Built during the Ming’s dynasty the mansion gave us a sense how a wealthy person lived during that period.  In that retreat we stopped briefly at a room to see the ancient art of paper cutting.  It was wonderful to see how a young man, a third generation paper cutter, could produced marvelous work of art with the use of scissors.

               We proceeded then to Tongli, an ancient site of of rivers and lakes 23 kilometers (about 13 miles) north of Suzhou.  Tongli retains the traditional style of buildings used in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Many of them are large residences and the famous historic sites are the two halls and the three bridges.  It was also a shopper’s paradise.  With a calculator three ladies were able to get good bargains from the local merchants.

               Thomas, our guide, left us at this city and we proceeded to Hongzhou where Royal Hsu, our local guide, met us at the Dragon hotel, a refurbished hotel built in 1987.  Interestingly enough, the hotel manager allowed us to use a conference room for Mass, but he asked Fr. Lim if he or our guide could stay and watch what we were doing during the Mass.  Fr. Lim showed him the missalletes; he took a quick look at it, but nonetheless stayed for the whole celebration in the next room.  The hotel, I later found out, is government owned.

Day 13 – Nov 16: Hangzhou

               Our first stop today was at the cathedral of Hongzhou; a church built in 1611 by the Jesuit Martino Martini.  Fr. Joseph Wang Zhao gladly welcomed us to the church.  He told us later that the Red Guards did damage to the beautiful church. 

There were people in the church who attended the Mass too. A group of deaf and mute who were working on the grounds also attended the Mass.  The local tour guide, Royal Hsu, was so thrilled to have attended Mass for the first time in his life.  He said he saw portions of the Mass celebrated on television, but he was here attending it in English.  We next visited the Six-Harmony Pagoda.  It was used in the past to warn people of the possible tidal wave.

The next stop was at the Dragon Tea Plantation.  We touched the tea plants and later we saw how the tea was made.  The guide then took us to a small room where we sampled the dragon tea.  After the tea party we proceeded to have lunch and then took a short boat ride on the West Lake.  It was a leisurely trip on the lake that has the source of inspiration for countless poets and writers.  The day ended with a visit to the Spirit Seclusion Temple, a functioning Buddhist temple.

Day 14 – Nov 17: Hangzhou / Shanghai

               We took off for Shanghai at 8:30 am.  The sun greeted us warmly on our way to Shanghai; the first time we had ever saw the sun since November 8.  It was foggy, cloudy or raining the past few days.  The drive from Honghzsu gave us a chance to see the countryside of the Shanghai area.  We saw farmers’ houses all along the highway.  The houses are usually three stories high and with a pagoda like structure sitting on the top floor.  They were decorative and used as TV antennas. 

               It was a quick check in at the hotel at about 11:00 am and it was time to go for lunch.  We had Mass at the St. Ignatius cathedral of Shanghai. The gothic cathedral of Shanghai sits in the middle of high rises.  The priest came and helped us prepare for Mass.  A Mass server served Mass for the community.

               The local guide, Grace, took us then to the Yuyuan jades garden, a beautiful oasis in the middle of what looked like a market in Shanghai.  We did the last minute shopping after touring the garden.  It was then time to see the Bund on the bus.

Day 15 – Nov 18: Shanghai / San Francisco

               Thus ended a happy and joyful trip.  It was a trip of a lifetime.  We took off from Shanghai to Tokyo and then flew from there to SFO.  We left on the 18^th of November and arrived about 15 minutes earlier than expected and so we had to wait on the tarmac until the immigration people were ready to accept us.

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