Chinese Culture

Longmen Grottoes

Took a little trip to the Luòyáng , China this past weekend as part of a culture trip hosted by the University!

Pronounced something like “loi yahng,” this beautiful home to the National Peony Festival (I’ll add an update on the Peony Garden later) is one of the “cradles of Chinese Civiliazation” and one of the ancient capital cities of China (Henan has 2 of them! – Luoyang and Xinzheng). The city itself is amazingly clean and open, the streets are unlittered and it’s pretty modern.

The best part of my visit by far though was the Longmen Grottoes and the Peony Garden. This week was part of the 2 week festival they have each year for the Peony festival, so people were everywhere despite the rain.

The Longmen Grottoes themselves are absolutely mind-blowing ~ an amazing feat of human design and capability. To imagine that such intricate design, specific carvings, and gentle touch art were feasible so many centuries ago is one of those things that always stops me in my tracks. I know a lot of people aren’t as interested as I in history and stone statues (several of the teachers I was with were fairly denigrating about spending so much time in a “Stone Garden). But to me, standing on the same ground, touching the rocks they touched, seeing the art they created, glimpsing pieces of hearts long past. It’s simply miraculous.

The Grottoes are home to thousands and thousands of carvings on the stone faces of the mountain cliffs. Most are of Buddha or his followers, some are pagodas, buildings, and other designs. The varying stone colors used to frame and decorate the statues, each one different from the rest. Carved over a period of centuries (5th – 15th Century AD), each set was designed by a different artist, many from completely different times. You can trace the changes, both in religion and philosophy (skinny to fat Buddhas for example) and in art styles.

One of the other reasons the grottoes is so stunning is the River Yi (pron. ee) that runs alongside the valley in front of the rocks. The river is clean and beautiful, sweeping along a lovely walkway as antique-style dragon boats float up and down. Stone bridges line the view, criss-crossing over to the other side that offers views of antique buildings lining the mountain paths.

It’s just a beautiful way to spend a day

“Kenyans learn Chinese culture at festival in capital”

via “Xinhua News Agency“

Kenyans learn Chinese culture at festival in capital

NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) — Many Kenyans thronged a Chinese stand at the Third Nairobi Cultural Festival to learn more about the Chinese culture during the international event held Sunday.

China was represented at the festival held at the National Museum of Kenya by the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi during the event that attracted 15 countries and two international organizations.

Guo Hong from the Confucius Institute led the staff in displaying Chinese traditional clothes, food, calligraphy, games, and masks among other exhibits.

“This is the first time China is taking part in the event, and we are in Kenya to teach people Chinese language and culture and let people know one another,” Guo told Xinhua.

Peter Kimura, a visitor at the festival, said he came to the stand to learn more about the Asian nation’s culture after reading in books about the diversity of Chinese culture. “As China and Kenya forge closer international relationship, it is important to learn some aspects of the Chinese culture,” Kimura said.

The festival, conceived in 2013 by the Liaison Manager of Research Institute of Swahili Studies of Eastern Africa at the National Museums of Kenya, Munira Mohammed, in a bid to promote the Swahili culture at first and finally becomes an annual event.

“In 2013, we attracted nine countries, whereas in the second year 12 countries participated and come next year we anticipate the figure to soar,” Mohammed told Xinhua.

Mohammed said the aim of this year’s event is to unite the world through heritage and diversity of cultures.

Other countries that participated at the event included the United States, Switzerland, Somalia, Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, Spain and Indonesia.

Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Sports Culture and Arts, Hassan Wario, was welcomed at the Chinese stand by the choir from Confucius Institute that received him with a Chinese rendition of “Karibu Kenya” (Welcome to Kenya).

Wario emphasized the importance culture plays in life and promised to make the event a bigger carnival next year.

“Food and music are part of culture,” said Wario, adding one does not necessarily have to visit the respective countries to learn about other people’s culture. “You can even learn some aspects of customs from a forum like this.”