Inigo likes Shanghai but it is a mega city, a concrete jungle like any other big city in the world and he is not a city boy. He has been looking forwards to our visit to the Hubei Province with Shifu which we have planned for a long time so that I can visit the WuDang Shan or Wu Dang Mountain, home to Wu Shu Taiji and a famous location for Taoists.

We arrived late at night and stayed in a lovely hotel with the most handsome breakfast spread that Inigo tucked into. Huge thanks to Leping for once again researching and making all the bookings for us.

Our adventure began in the morning with a somewhat scary 30 minute bus ride at speed along winding hairpin bends with sheer drops sometimes on either side! This took us to ‘base camp’ from where we could see the spectacular mountain peak.

First stop a large temple

As you can see the weather wasn’t great but at this point it was warm and dry

The second leg of the journey was up a cable car to a point just below the summit of Tianzhu peak (which means reach to the sky). From here we climbed up some incredibly steep steps and saw some pretty spectacular views.

Tianzhe is 1612 meters high and we felt that we had an ‘eagle’s eye’ view at the top of the world.

Spread below us were soft white clouds between the jagged mountains ranges around. The air was pure and clean.

As a former vertigo sufferer I was curious to see how I would be this high up but as you can see I was relaxed and able to go near the edge with no problems at all.

Once on the summit we walked in a large circle to visit several temples or shrines. The very top being called ‘Gold Top’ (which reminded me of milk bottles from my childhood!).

The steps up to here were the steepest and had chains or rope sound around the balustrade to help you to climb. I was grateful for those. The top here was crowded with a large group from Fujian so we couldn’t get close to the actual shrine. At base camp Shifu had purchased 3 bags of incense so I did all that climbing carrying 2 of them!! Quite an accomplishment I felt.

Built in 1416 as a shrine solely for use by the Emperors and royal family of the Song Dynasty we visited the Taihe Palace, the Golden Hall, the Yuxu Palace, the Gutong Palace and the Jade palace. All small but very impressive that they constructed all this at that time so high up! Imagine carrying all the building materials with no bus/cable car!

Once we had completed the circuit which easily took an hour with lots and lots of up and down staircases we stopped for a bite of lunch. Everything tastes better in the fresh air after all that climbing.

Then the descent began. But first we found a furnace to throw our incense into. Plastic wrapping and all.

Surprisingly it didn’t smell gorgeous there considering that was all that was being burnt! Maybe the fumes were directed into the temple somehow.

Anyway, off we set. It was a 2.5 hour hike and downhill all the way. Or should I say down stairs! Lots and lots and lots of them. Did I mention how high we were?

There were 4 super long staircases which were so long that we couldn’t see the bottom! I just looked at the stair in front of me and kept going. One step at a time. Hanging on in there.

Then the sides of the stairs disappeared and my aging knees were starting to feel the strain. Actually my long time knee injury held up pretty well all things considered as Shifu has been working on it for me over the previous months but the continual descent was taking its toll.

Then about half an hour into the descent the rain came in.

Not just a little bit of rain but heavy rain. The stair treads turned to pools and became slippery and more treacherous (oh great! Just what I needed)

The men were fine and did lots of these steps down with no problem at all but I am not ashamed to admit that I needed a helping hand. By the time we reached the bottom the backs of my knees were painful and the tendons hurt with every step that I took.

The hot shower at the mountain hotel was one of the most delicious we have ever taken. Unfortunately the few supplies that we had brought for this excursion (Inigo carried those) also got damp in the heavy rain so we didn’t really have nice dry clothes to change into which was a shame.

According to my phone’s health data we had climbed down the equivalent of 97 floors. So maybe it was not surprising that my legs were sore the next day. After all I am an old woman!

Tea is a big part of Chinese cultural traditions and nowhere more so than Fujian. In most of China tea is commonly drunk after lunch and into the evening but in Fujian they start drinking before and after breakfast and continue throughout the day.

It was here that we were offered the chance to experience a wide varieties of tea.

All the tea is taken without milk (unlike English Breakfast Tea) and is served in teeny tiny cups. You can have multiple cups from the same serving of tea and the water can be replenished up to 10 times (depending on the tea variety). This means that you are never exactly sure how much you have drunk.

We were offered tea in lots of places throughout our two days stay, the hotel reception, the sellers in the TuLous, there was even a tea set in our room. Serving tea was the local way of showing hospitality and we soon discovered that the people here are extremely hospitable!

The lady in our hotel offered to teach me how to prepare and serve the tea. I was delighted to learn how to perform a tea ceremony. It is very intricate and precise. Everything follows a specific order from washing and warming the cups to washing the tea to swilling the leaves and water with the lid.

It should be noted that this method of tea preparation does not involve a teapot as we know it. Nor even the little clay teapots that are also common in China.

We used a Kung fu tea set like this

The clay teapots can only be used for certain brown tea because they can absorb the flavor. Whereas the glazed tea service can be used for any teas, red, green, brown, black or white.

The tea is steeped in the container with the lid and then filtered into the jug.

In Tulou the communities grow their own tea and it is very refreshing. Consequently there were many vendors selling their tea. On the first night when we were wandering around the Huai Yuan Lou building Shifu saw a vendor sitting alone in his downstairs room so he started to chat to him. The next thing we knew we were being invited in for tea.

Obviously he spoke no English at all and in fact in Fujian they have not only their local dialect but the Tulou communities each have their own family language as well! So Shifu had to concentrate hard to understand his Mandarin then he had to translate it for us.

Mr Jian told us all about his TuLou, his family and how they grow and make the tea. We learned about picking, drying and roasting different teas (each tea has its own process). Once the sun had gone in it was perishing cold (they had no heating in the TuLous!) so we were extremely glad of the 3 sets of tea that he served as he talked.

The next day we decided to return to see the building in the daylight and to say hello to him again. He was out collecting his children from school but his friend was there. She was equally welcoming and had obviously heard about us because she seemed to know who we were. She too served 3 types of teas and was also informative about tea growing in particular which types of tea can be used to cure while ailments. We were served a green Oolong variety which was said to help cleanse the blood vessels and reduce cholesterol. As this is currently a goal of mine and as the tea wasn’t bad I decided to buy some. However it was time for us to eat so they said they would weigh and bag everything and we should come back. Mr Jian even gave Kevin some of his home distilled rice wine to have with his dinner!

When we returned to collect our tea purchases (by this time we had sampled 7 different varieties that day), they ushered us in and Mrs Jian was now also there. Kevin said, ‘please no more tea’ but two hours later we were still there because this time they brought out the good stuff. The high quality white tea and a special herb called Anoectochilus roxburghii that is extremely expensive but is know for curing a number of ailments.

In fact this herb is now protected in the wild as animals and birds will eat it if they are sick!

Shifu loved chatting with his new friends and asked lots of probing questions. Tea culture and tea ceremonies, if done correctly, are one way of understanding more about the Tao. I think that these people appreciated someone who was genuinely interested in their way of life. I felt a bit guilty that they had given us so much (even some extra tea in our purchases) so I suggested that we teach them a Qi Gong move to say thank you. They were delighted with this arrangement and jumped up immediately.

We showed them the ‘metal’ moves from Shifu’s 5 Elements QiGong which is good for the lungs. I demonstrated the moves while Shifu explained what was happening and how to do it. They both said that they could feel the qi sensations but when they sat down they both lit up their cigarettes afterwards. Lol.

Tea is a huge part of Chinese culture. It is sociable and healthy (none of the teas we had contained caffeine). The sense of order in the preparation brings feelings of calm and harmony. The tea rituals, the small cups and the respect shown means that this is an unhurried part of life that must be savored and enjoyed.

Today Shifu and Leping took me to Puxi to visit the home of a legendary Chinese cartoonist called Zhang Leping

Born in 1910 to a poor family he displayed a remarkable artistic talent as a child but he was forced to become apprenticed to a woodcarver to earn money to help support his family instead of finishing his education.

In 1928 though at the age of 18 he was supported by relatives to attend art school where he developed his talent.

Zhang Leping’s passion was for cartoons and children’s drawings. He created the character of San Mao which literally translates to 3 hairs. You can see why…

This delightfully charming character quickly gained popularity. Initially Sam Mao was created to convey the hardship of the Japanese occupation in China through the eyes of children. Sam Mao is innocent and funny but portrayed the realities of life. San Mao became a symbol for the victims of the hardships.

I personally liked the panel where he gets crushed by books!

Zhang Leping’s house in Puxi was a museum to 1930s Shanghai elegance with its interior bathroom and art deco features.

We had a lovely time learning about this influential author and illustrator.

Walking around Puxi’s busy streets afterwards we also saw several very strange buildings

Look at the shape of this one. It’s a wedge. How small is that angle at the back! And it even has windows. What could you possibly put in that space?

It was wonderful to be in temperatures in the low 20s after starting the week in below zero conditions.

We drove from Xiamen to Yunshuiyao in the Fujian Province (approx 2 hours through fairly empty but very well maintained roads) to visit the TuLou or community of round houses. Tu means ‘earth’ and Lou is ‘building’. This area is famous for the round village buildings.

Originally a quite remote rural community these small villages became popular destinations for Chinese visitors after their use in a 2005 Chinese film called Yun Shui Yao (it’s just a name & I don’t know what it means). Then in 2020 one of the round houses was the setting for part of Disney’s live action Mulan film. In this the young Mulan chases a chicken over the circular rooftops. Since then ToLou has seen a steep increase in foreign tourists and is now firmly established as a must see destination. As such it has been on my bucket list for quite a while and I definitely wanted to see it before we leave.

These houses were built over 1000 years ago when migrants from Luoyang (which we visited at the beginning of this vacation making quite an uncanny connection for us).

There are many of these clusters of dwellings but this one is quite famous because it is built on the principle of the 5 elements. The ‘earth’ element is the square in the centre and the circular buildings are ‘metal’, ‘water’, ‘wood’ and ‘fire’. Chinese culture runs very deep and pervades many aspects of life which makes it all the more interesting if you understand what you are seeing.

Each round house contains an extended family with small family units occupying a ground floor, first and second floor unit. The kitchen is on the ground floor and the 1st floor is for food storage. Living spaces are on the upper floor so you need good knees.

One of the big houses that we visited has housed 26 generations of the same family which is quite incredible if you think about it.

The founder was this guy, a wealthy government official, who traveled from the Henan Province to settle here in 871 to find more security and better living conditions for his family.

He brought his 3 wives pictured below

These two photos are from the central family shrine which every unit has. The family makes offerings to these ancestors each year to thank them for providing this community. In the wall was a list of his founding tenents about sticking together in peace and harmony as a family to protect each other and to grow strong.

Each circular unit contains approx 120 rooms (all the same size) which can house anything up to 800 people. The males always stay there but the girls leave to go to their new husbands’ family. So each building contains many generations and all have the same family name. Apparently the males all get along very well but the women (who are all from the other villages) are the ones who bicker and squabble. All in all though these are very tight knit family communities who can all trace their lineages back over a thousand years.

Each tulou is made from a bamboo and stick inner structure which is packed with local clay or mud to make walls of 2 meters depth at the base.

These taper to become 1 meter at the top and this design has proven to be very strong and robust. The small wooden main doors are constructed from a local hard wood and can allegedly withstand battering rams and even cannon blasts. These made strong, self contained family compounds that were safe from marauding bandits and even earthquakes which accounts for their longevity and preservation.

Our guide was very accommodating and even let us see inside one of his rooms.

This man remembers helping his grandfather to build some of this house as a youth. The men would have friendly competitions to see who carried the most stones. The winner each day would qualify for an extra steamed bun!

Then when the cultural revolution happened many members of the family were dispersed and only a few people remained in the buildings. In the time following Chairman Mao’s rule the government began to realize that these communities were a national treasure so they found all the family members and brought them back. Now they are all given 2000 rmb per year to live there. (That’s approx £220), so not great but it all helps.

When this gentleman came back he was given ‘orientation’ classes but it turned out that he knew more about the traditional building techniques than the government teacher!

Our guide was so friendly he invited us for lunch.

The locals here grow their own tea, vegetables and keep their own livestock so they are pretty self sufficient.

I had to ask! And the answer is that the toilet facilities are minimal. Each bedroom will have a chamber pot but the rest of the time the residents use the public conveniences set up for the tourists. These also contain the community washing areas.

Here I was offered more cigarettes than any other place that I have visited anywhere in the world. It turns out that they even grow their own tobacco and roll their own cigarettes!

This lifestyle must be good though as the community has high levels of longevity with a large percentage of the residents being in their 80s or 90s.

As you have probably spotted I was able to dress up for the day as part of the deal that Leping organized for us with our hotel. This was a Tang Dynasty style outfit 618-907 AD. It was great fun to imagine being one of the original ladies walking the cobbled streets and made for some fantastic photo opportunities at different locations. Shifu is a great photographer and has a great eye for the light and composition. Here are some of my favorites:

Gulangyu or Gulangyu Island is a beautiful island in the Fujian Province near to Taiwan. In fact on a clear day you can even see across the water to Taiwan.

Shifu very kindly offered to take us so we flew into Xiamen, the nearest big city on this short break. Then a ferry ride full of diesel fumes was i

over the water to this enigmatic island.

Once a haven for colonialists this small island is now a popular tourist destination. Many wealthy Europeans settled here in the early 1800s bringing westerns musical and artistic talent as well as a penchant for eclectic architecture.

Narrow winding alleyways snake up the central hillside revealing hidden gems of colonial beauty at every turn.

Gulangyu literally means islet of the drumming waves because the sound of the ocean waves hitting the reefs sounds like the thundering of mighty drums. We didn’t actually get to hear that.

Now a UNESCO world heritage site this charming 2 square km island is also a traffic free zone meaning no cars, scooters or even bicycles are allowed. Goods are moved from place to place by handcart and the overall effect is one of historic nostalgia but with extremely clean air!

For a while Gulangyu was the only international settlement outside of Shanghai. Its southern location, tropical climate and sandy beaches made it very attractive to Europeans.

This is the 44 Bridge, called so because there are 44 corners on it! It must be the wonkiest bridge I have ever crossed!

The British played a major role in setting up and running the settlement. Much of the architecture has Victorian influences. Missionaries set up churches schools and colleges. Unlike Shanghai though this was not a location for trade. Instead cultural activities flourished, in particular music. Many of China’s most famous musicians were born or trained here.

The island has a local population of approx 20,000 but copes with over 10 million visitors every year. Most people are day trippers but staying overnight gave us the opportunity to wander the quaint streets and narrow alleyways enjoying the soft evening air. Even though it was January it felt like a British summer’s evening.

With the invasion by the Japanese in 1942 the international contingent on the island departed leaving many of their houses unoccupied. This has led to a growing number of stories among the locals about ghosts and the island now has a reputation for being haunted (we didn’t see any though)

A highlight of the day was a visit to the Piano Museum. I mentioned before the musical talent that emerged from the fusing of western and Chinese culture in this place. I was surprised to see how many pianos there were on display, mostly of European origin.

Apparently there are 5000 pianos on the island itself, which is one for every 4 people. Quite a surprising ratio.

Finally, we saw this which is a public clothes line. I have never come across anything like this before. I guess it’s great when you have a small apartment and no garden. It reminded me of the village common with communal grazing rights back in medieval England.

One of the main reasons for visiting the Henan Province was to go to the Temple where there is a statue of Javi doing Taiji.

The temple is a Buddhist/Taoist fusion one in a remote part of the region. Supported by the Zhang family it was built after Shifu’s grandfather’s cousin had a dream about an elephant. Being an uneducated farmer he did not know what an elephant was. So he walked for many days to consult a monk who told him that the dream was auspicious and that they would set up a Temple there.

One of Shifu’s other uncles was the Kung Fu and Taiji Master. He was Shifu’s Shifu and the first generation of Zhang Family style of Kung Fu.

Taiji originated in family clans and was passed down through the generations. Lineage is extremely important as being authentic versions of a particular style, there are several popular styles such as Yang, Chen, Sun or Wu. Each version is slightly different.

My Shifu is the second generation of the Zhang family tradition and Javi and I are the third generation. Because Javi has been learning for a long time without giving up and teaching this style in Spain, the monks raised funds to put up a statue of him.

The temple is in the middle of fields and a long way from anywhere (China is a BIG country). It is only partially built and funding for the building projects stopped during COVID. Normally 5 monks live here but as it was winter 3 were traveling to raise funds and only two remained to greet us.

On this trip Javi needed to clean his statue

Then he and his family lit incense sticks and made ceremonial bows.

Javi and I are Shifu’s high level students. The term for us is ‘tu di’. As a Tu di we also lit incense sticks and placed them in the burner at the front of the Temple.

This 75 year old monk was quite sprightly. He even helped Kevin up and down the steps. He was so excited to have us there (I don’t think that they get many, if any, visitors) and he wanted to give us a gift. He had no material possessions, so he gave us from the beautiful things that he found in the earth. When he was meditating by the river he found pretty stones so he gifted them to us. It was so sweet and pure and we felt blessed to receive them. They were, however heavy in our luggage!!!

After the ceremonies at the Temple we went into a further field to the site of the tomb of shifu’s father.

Shifu lit incense , made obeisance and introduced me to his father. It was a great privilege to witness and to take part in these ceremonies. It enabled me to make very strong connections with the origins of our Taiji family.

This location, if properly funded and developed would make a fantastic retreat centre. Maybe one day…

Ostensibly a tourist trip, we went with Shifu and his Spanish student, Javi and family around the Henan Province. We visited many lovely places but on one day we revisited the Shaolin Temple and here I felt a huge leap forwards in my Qi.

Inside each courtyard in the temple as you ascend are a series of carved lotus stones. As the others looked around at the buildings I did the lotus walk as a meditation (I had seen the courtyards before). I walked each step slowly and deliberately pausing on each stone before taking the next step. As I walked I felt the qi in my chest rotating forwards. As you practice more the 3 dantien balls in your body wake up and the chest is the second of these. This has recently happened for me and I have been feeling sensations across my chest when I do the Taiji or qi gong moves. This feeling got stronger and stronger with each step that I took. This was a wonderfully strong sensation that has stayed with me.

I heard later that many monks don’t bother to do the walk and think that it is just a story for the tourists. Shifu told me that he too has done the walk and felt strong sensations. Sometimes the people who are closest take things for granted. Shame.

The temple itself was as amazing as last time. Here are some of the pictures that we took.

Shaolin is the home of Kung Fu and there are over 1000 Kung Fu academies in the surrounding area. Here are some of the kids doing their morning training. Temperatures were below freezing.

Kung Fu is all about strength and balance. They practice their moves on these poles. Shifu has lots of strength and balance.

After lunch we went up the cable car to the Shao mountain behind the temple. Last time we did this hike I was extremely nervous and not keen on the heights but now after practicing Taiji my vertigo is greatly improved. I walked twice as far and in icy conditions. I wasn’t as scared and didn’t feel the need to hug the mountain. lol I even went close to the stomach churning steep drops.

The others went on ahead of us up a steep bit and just made it back in time to catch the very last cable car back down. Phew! There is a path down but it was covered in snow and ice and with no lights at all whatsoever it would have been a tricky descent to say the least. I was SO relieved that they made it back in time (Shifu had our tickets!)

Shaolin is the birthplace of Kung Fu so I just had to do this pose

But my favourite picture of all is this one. Shifu with his two Tu di (me and Javi) in front of the Temple gate.

Christmas holidays 2023.

First stop was Luoyan, 500 miles from Shanghai and over 5 hours on the high speed train. This was the ancient capital during the Tang dynasty and where the infamous Wu ZeTian (for whom I get my Chinese name) ruled.

We traveled 1st class which was very comfortable and still cheaper than going from Lancaster to London by cattle class!

First stop was Wu Zetian’s office and splendid it was too

Chinese Emperors use the Dragon as their symbol, the dragon being the most powerful animal. You see dragons all over the Forbidden City or older Royal palaces but dragons are male and so for an Empress the symbol used is the Phoenix. Luoyan is the only place where you will see this as Wu ZeTian was the only female ruler in the whole of Chinese history.

I am named for Wu ZeTian because she was a strong woman and good at Taiji not for her other attributes, that of killing all her husbands and children to stay in power! (Kevin is relieved)

Empress ZeTian wanted longevity and so she slept with younger men. Allegedly she had a different one each night and if they didn’t please her she had them killed! She had so many male concubines that she even set up an office to manage them. Two of her favorites were the Zhang brothers who apparently also committed lots of crimes. Born in 624 AD Wu ZeTian died in 705 aged of 81 in an era when most people died early, so ladies maybe there is something in her method!

Wu ZeTian was known for her exceptional intelligence and her shrewd political acumen. She has become one of China’s greatest leaders due to her strong governance which made China one of the most powerful nations in the world at that time.

We also visited a gallery of Wu ZeTian’s fashion as she was quite influential on the styles of the day. During her reign she promoted both Buddhism & Taoism in what became a period of open mindedness. Consequently her fashions also reflect this philosophy.

In the Longmen grotto there is a giant Buddha which bears the face of Wu ZeTian

Honestly someone should write a mini series about her for the BBC

During the rise of Communism Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of the Nationalist Party in China fled to Taiwan. We have been to the Forbidden City and seen the empty buildings, stripped of their contents. We have done a historical walk in Shanghai and been shown the place where all the treasures were stored. Now we are here at the National Palace Museum to see the treasure itself.

There is so much that was removed from mainland China to Taiwan that only about 1% of the collection is on display at any time. Nevertheless there was much to see.

Although it was relatively easy for us to travel here this is not the case for our Chinese friends. They have to get a special visa which is possible to obtain but apparently only a limited number are issued each year. There are people in China who would dearly love to see this part of their heritage but who can’t.

The weather today was weird. From the look of this photo it was beautifully sunny and whilst it was warm and bright it was at the same time, rather strangely, spitting with rain!

Once inside the (dry) building we spent several hours viewing the artifacts. There were so very many beautiful things. Here are just a few to give you a sample.

But my favorite piece was this.

Exquisitely crafted from the natural colors of jade it looks so lifelike. There is even a locust carved on it which symbolizes fertility.

All this and more was brought here. Just imagine what the Forbidden City would be like if these were in situ! And allegedly several thousand boxes went ‘missing’ in transit!

I love the simple elegance and shape of this Chinese design

Apologies for the photo dump. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience. I wanted the audio tour but the queue to get it was too long! It’s a popular place.

Finally we met up with Ginny who we haven’t seen in ages and who lives round the corner from us in Shanghai but happened to be home this weekend too. Seeing her was a treat as she took us for dinner in Tamsui, a port part that we wouldn’t have thought to visit but was very lively

Thankfully working in an American school means that we got Friday off to celebrate Thanksgiving and so Kevin and I made the most of the long weekend with a little jaunt over to Taiwan. It is only a two hour flight so this made a nice break.

What is Taipei like? Well, much like China in many respects but with subtle differences. They speak Mandarin here (but use traditional characters). There are many more foreign brand shops available and LGBTQ+ areas. You can also easily access the internet. Goodbye VPN – I can’t tell you how liberating that is! And uploading this blog is SO much faster.

After the gleaming skyscrapers of Shanghai, Taipei felt a little as though it hasn’t had much money spent on it. Maybe that was the district we were staying in. For some strange reason Kevin really struggled to get us a hotel and there was only one free room in the whole city this weekend. This was in a budget hotel which was good for the wallet but reminded us of a 1960s Blackpool guesthouse with wallpaper everywhere and cheap fittings. The bed was comfortable though which was the main thing.

The atmosphere in Taipei is more relaxed than in China with many more night markets touting delicious smelling. street food (except for the stinky tofu stalls – enough said). China closed many of theirs down worried about illegal trading but lost much of the ambiance which these night markets bring.

Perhaps Taipei should be compared more to a provincial city which doesn’t attract masses of funding than the Tier 1 cities of Beijing and Shanghai. China has a whole army of street sweepers who keep the streets at home extremely clean so that was a noticeable difference.

Unlike in mainland China, here in Taipei you see homeless living on the streets and walls with much graffiti. We are so used to seeing this in other countries that it made me realize that I haven’t seen ANY in Shanghai at all. One of the advantages of living in a communist country I guess.

Taipei has a new craze: Gachapons

These are Japanese style vending machines where you get a mystery toy. They are hugely popular and are on every street corner!

Also popular were these mini KTV booths in the metro stations. We saw several people using them. Karaoke is a staple entertainment in Asia but they are usually in big halls. These were the first micro booths I have seen

And finally we paid a visit to Taipei 101 which was sparkling very festively.