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MTP Member Photos - Zhejiang
MTP Member Posts - Zhejiang
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2017 Jun by Michael Novins |
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June 2017 -- I made a day trip by train from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to Hangzhou East Railway Station, from where it was easy to take the Hangzhou Metro to Fengqi Road Station and walk to West Lake. West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou was inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2011. I had lunch at Lou Wai Lou, which has been operating on the lakeshore since 1848. | |
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2013 Mar by Jorge Sanchez |
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Marco Polo affirmed that Hangzhou was the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world, as I could read in a plaque beneath the statue devoted to him in the West Lake.
I had to take a bus to reach that lake, which is located far from Hangzhou downtown.
I walked around its perimeter for about a couple of hours, admiring the interesting places, such as pagodas and statues representing well known personages in the history of China.
Enjoying the lake there were many Chinese tourists from other provinces, as well as several foreigners. Many ofthem made excursions by boat around the lake. All the cafeterias and restaurants were full with tourists. Indeed, Hangzhou is one of the most touristic cities in China.
The West Lake is beautiful, that is why UNESCO declared it Patrimony of the Humankind.
Not far from the statue devoted to Marco Polo I stopped to another monument dedicated to the tomb of the singer Su Xiaoxiao, who is very respected and loved by the Chinese. There was even a line of tourists waiting to take a picture of the monument. I too, had a picture besides the the plaque.
Su Xiaoxiao was born in Hangzhou in the V century. She was not only beautiful and intelligent, but a wonderful poet. Her poetry, full with humanity, is a song to the beauty and love for this world. She died when she was only 19 years old. Her tomb had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but afterwards had been rebuilt.
I was accompanied by two boys. One of them worked as receptionist in the hotel where I had spent the previous night. The other one was his brother. Both helped me finding the most interesting places in that crowded town of Hangzhou, with over 8 million inhabitants.
After lunch we went by bus to the famous Hefang pedestrian street, where we spent several hours strolling around. And in the evening I caught a train to visit a famous Taoist monastery in Songshan, Henan province.....................................................................
IN SPANISH: Me gusta visitar los lugares donde han estado los grandes viajeros del pasado, a ver si se me pega algo de ellos. Por ello viajé en tren a Hangzhou, ya que allí estuvo Marco Polo, quien afirmó que Hangzhou era la ciudad más bella del mundo. Una placa junto a su monumento así lo afirmaba.
En una cafetería a la salida de la estación del tren a Hangzhou conocí a dos hermanos chinos y como ellos también tenían la intención de conocer la ciudad, decidimos irnos juntos. Eran muy agradables y pasamos varias horas juntos recorriendo el perímetro del Lago del Oeste, deteniéndonos ante sus pagodas y estatuas representando personajes notables de la historia de esa ciudad. Muchos chinos afirman: Arriba está el cielo, y abajo está Hangzhou.
Había excursiones en barco por el lago y muchas estatuas con loas por haber sido objeto de inspiración de poetas y escritores. Uno de los monumentos más tiernos era el dedicado a la poetisa Su Xiaoxiao, una joven muy hermosa e inteligente. Su poesía exhala amor hacia la vida. Había nacido en el siglo V en Hangzhou, y murió en esa ciudad cuando sólo tenía 19 años.
Como vieron que me conmovía la historia de Su Xiaoxiao, mis amigos me hicieron una fotografía junto a su monumento y comimos en un restaurante cercano que llevaba su nombre.
En uno de los jardines observé el signo de UNESCO, y es que los chinos están muy orgullosos de pertenecer al segundo país con más Patrimonios de la Humanidad del mundo, tras Italia.
Pero no todos los sitios interesantes de Hangzhou se circunscribían a ese lago. No muy lejos de él se localiza la calle peatonal Hefang, con muchos atractivos turísticos y una imponente mezquita frecuentada por los chinos musulmanes.
Cuando empezaba a oscurecer me despedí de los dos hermanos para reanudar mi viaje por China, dirigiéndome a las grutas budistas de Longmen, otro Patrimonio de la Humanidad de UNESCO, adonde también viajó un sabio indio, a la par que gran viajeros (y fundador del Budismo Zen en el monasterio de Shaolin, otro sitio UNESCO que también visitaría días más tarde), al que los chinos veneran: Bodhidharma, que los chinos conocen por Da Mo. | |
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2006 Dec by Veikko Huhtala* |
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We arrived to Hangzhou by train from Shanghai. Hangzhou is the capital city of Zhejiang and has population of eight millions. For us it was only two hours stop without staying over night. Our next destination was Fuzhou in Fujian. | |
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