Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific B777-300ER Business Class San Francisco to Hong Kong
Asian Adventure: Cathay Pacific Lounge Review: The Cabin at HKG
Asian Adventure: Cathay Dragon A330-300 Business Class Hong Kong to Beijing
Asian Adventure: Regent Beijing Hotel
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Dongcheng District
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Great Wall
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Run-ze Jade Garden
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Sacred Way of the Ming Tombs
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Legend of Kung Fu
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Tiananmen Square
Asian Adventure: Beijing - The Forbidden City
Asian Adventure: Beijing - Hutong Tour via Rickshaw, Tea Tasting, Flying to Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Hotel Shangri-La Xi’an
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Qing Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors
Asian Adventure: Xi’an - Tang Dynasty Dinner and Show
Asian Adventure: Xi’an Wrap-Up, Flying to Lhasa, Lhasa Home Visit
Asian Adventure: Shangri-La Hotel Lhasa
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Market
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Canggu Nunnery and Sera Monastery
Asian Adventure: Lhasa - Potala Palace
Asian Adventure: Leaving Lhasa and Flying to Chongqing
Asian Adventure: Viking Emerald
Asian Adventure: Shibaozhai Temple
Asian Adventure: Cruising the Three Gorges
Asian Adventure: Three Gorges Dam
Asian Adventure: Jingzhou City Walls Tour
Asian Adventure: Wuhan - Hubei Bells Performance and Provincial Museum
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Shanghai Museum
Asian Adventure: Fairmont Peace Hotel, Shanghai
Asian Adventure: Shanghai - Old Shanghai and Yuyan Gardens
Asian Adventure: The New Otani Tokyo Hotel
Asian Adventure: Tokyo - City Tour
Asian Adventure: Mt. Fuji and Hakone Tour Returning by Shinkansen
Asian Adventure: ANA Suites Lounge Review, Tokyo Narita
Asian Adventure: All Nippon Airways B777-300ER First Class Tokyo Narita to Houston
It was our last full day on the boat and by the time we awoke the boat had docked in Wuhan, which is the capital city of the Hubei province. Wuhan is the the most populous city in Central China with over 10.5M residents in the city itself and over 19M in the metro area. That’s roughly 3200 people per square mile, just a little less than Beijing's 3400 per square mile.
Hubei Provincial Museum
Bells Performance
Our tour in the morning was to the Hubei Provincial Museum where we'd listen to a bells performance. I had visions of lots of people ringing hand bells and wasn't overly excited about this but it turned out much differently than I expected. This set of 65 bells were found in the tomb of Marquis Yi who died in 430 BC. He had been the ruler of Zeng, which was a minor state in the region that is now Hubei province.
The bells in question turned out to be zhong bells, also known as Bianzhong, which means that they are made of bronze and are in a lens shape rather than perfectly circular. Opposite sides of the mouth of each bell are cut away so that they appear to have an arch on each side. On the outside of the bell are 36 studs placed symmetrically on it. These allow the bells to be able to produce two different sounds, depending on where the bell is struck. The bells on stage were, naturally, replicas of the ones found in the tomb.
There were six musicians: two played the bells, two played woodwind instruments and two played what looked like large zither-type instruments.
Here's a sample of one of the songs:
After awhile this dancer joined the performance:
If there's another famous Western song more suited to a bells performance than Handel's Ode to Joy, I can't think of it and that was the closing number.
Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng
After the bells performance we had the rest of the morning free to explore the museum. To me the most interesting objects were items that had been removed from the same tomb as the bells.
Marquis Yi was buried in this inner coffin
Which was then enclosed by this outer coffin
The original bells are on display, tucked safely behind glass. Notice the "pillars" that hold the cross-beams from which the bells hang.
Of course there were different kinds of pots in the tomb.
These small jade figures were placed into the mouth of the deceased.
Since you never know what kinds of weapons you'll need in the afterlife, these were placed into the tomb as well.
Wuhan Waterfront
We returned to the boat for lunch and then had the afternoon free to wander the area. It was a lovely day and since it was Saturday a lot of the locals came down to the beach across from where we'd docked. We went for a walk in a nearby pedestrian mall just to people-watch and, for some of us, shop for things to take home.
That evening after dinner we found that Chongqing wasn't the only city to light up their buildings. Wuhan had a light show for us too.
Though we would see the restaurant staff one last time at breakfast, we said most of our goodbyes to our crew members that night. For the most part these are very young folks, often working to pay for college. They work long hours for weeks at a time but always had smiles on their faces even when dealing with us cranky old folks.
No comments:
Post a Comment