Silk Road Trip

October 1st in China is a National Holiday celebrating the official creation of the Communist State by Mao Tse Tung.  Everything closes for seven days, similar to our National Holiday on July 4th.  Schools were all closed and the entire country travels during that week.  We took the opportunity to travel the Silk Road.
We flew to Urumqi in the northwest border of China, about 1,000 miles from Pakistan.  This area is 90% Chinese Muslim immigrants called Ughurs from the bordering countries.  It is easy to pick out the ethnic minorities, it hardly seemed like we were still in China, bright colors, middle eastern spices and smells and crowds everywhere.  The city is very modern, 9 million people, huge international airport and a city center that seems like any US city, lots of cars, banks and hotels.  There was a Communist square across the street from our hotel where people gather in the evening dancing

Tai Chi and just hanging out.  The evening was nice and cool but the daytime was hot, hot, hot.

Turpan was the next stop on the Silk Road.  Flamming Mountain, Jiaohe Ancient City, and the ancient underground irrigation system were the stops along the path.  This area is packed with history of establishing Buddhism and the travels of nomads from India to China, invasions and warring parties destroying each others establishments.  A donkey cart ride out to the ancient sights that were somehow preserved around the tribal conquests and the cultural revolution was the transportation for the day. The structures have a strong Islam influences with domes along with Buddha shrines inside.

The number one agricultural crop of grapes, purple, blue, green, seeds, no seeds any kind of grape you can think of is grown here.  The interesting twists however is that most of the grapes are dried into raisins, they have built drying houses for their fruit to keep them from direct exposure to the sun that splits the skin.  Raisin markets are on every corner in the village all run by the locals.

The adventure of the day however turned out to be an overnight sleeper train to Dunhaung.  I can now add that to my resume.  We arrived at the train station on our tour bus at about 9:30pm to board an 11:30pm train to arrive the next morning at 8:00am.  A Chinese sleeper train turned out to be a story to tell for another day.  TOO FUNNY TO TELL-TOO MUCH INFORMATION FOR NOW!

Dunhuang offered the Disneyland effect.  We were scheduled to see Sound Sand Mountain and the Mogao Grottos, which happens to be a UNESCO site, along with at least 2 million other tourists. The Buudha history comes alive when the huge collection of over 1,000 Buddhas and their survival story is related.  Interestingly the majority of the Buddhas again have been preserved predominantly because they are so remote and removed from any access outside the Silk Road.  Some were stolen or purchased by Russians, Germans and Italians much before the value of this site was realized. The constant struggle between the Muslims and Buddhism is demonstrated on the walls of the Mogao Grottos.  Clearly this is a world renown discovery.

Who would not want to take a camel ride?  There were a few brave souls that stepped forward to ride camels on the sand dunes that hot afternoon after spending the morning inside the cool Mogao Grottos.  Somehow it really did begin to seem like Disneyland, parking was an absolute nightmare, our bus actually had a fender bender in the parking lot.  The National Holiday really did step up the tourism and the traffic.  It was most demonstrated in the camel ride, it was merely get on the camel, get in the camel line and follow along for the prescribed ride as the camels seem to tromp along the beaten path.  I had never noticed how big camels feet are until I watched them in the sand.  They need to have huge feet to keep their footing in the sand.  The sand is constantly on the move even along the beaten path.

To date almost every site has tied into the Asian Folklore story of "The Monkey King."  I am still a little unclear about the line between fact and fantasy on this, however we are told there have been movies made, books written and all Chinese children understand the folklore about Monkey King. Our tour guide related the story several times, each with a different perspective as it related to the site we were visiting.  I need to do some research on this event and I hope to begin tomorrow with my students to see what their understanding of  "The Monkey King" is and how it all fits together. I really would like to purchase a book about "The Monkey King. "

Save the best for last was exactly what happened on this trip, last stop Xi'an,  home of the Terra Cotta Warriors. The is beyond belief, Emporer Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify China in 221 BC created an entire army of 7,000 warriors, their armor, chariots and horses to be placed in his tomb upon his death. Those life size pieces were discovered in 1974 and excavation began in 1976.  An entire site of acres is preserved with the continuing excavation work for this site.  It is overwhelming to see the before, present and yet to be discovered as this work in progress portrays the power of a ruling emperor. 

 It is an amazing experience to observe the parallels between ancient societies. We have been fortunate to see ancient ruins in Israel, Italy, Mexico, South America and now China, all different continents but historically linked through the history of their preserved historical religious history. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hinduism all play out on the world stage at the same time but in different places.  I was very curious to understand  the use of AD ad BC time declarations in a Buddhist/Hindu dominated country.  But there it was and clearly stated in the historical information, archives dated AD and BC.The parallels are very strong as all rising civilizations all around the world struggled to establish their own religious dominance.