“Incredible China” Tour
China Daily, the Beijing-based state-owned English newspaper, arranged an “Incredible China” Tour to explore the ancient historical relics and modern attractions of China. They invited 12 journalists and photographers from eight counties including South Korea, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Brunei, and Nepal. BusinessKorea joined the tour representing Korea.
The tour visited three cities of China: Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, Taiyuan in Shaanxi Province, and Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu Province. The former two cities in west and north China have rich historical relics, while the last is emerging as an economic center and international harbor in China’s east. All the delegates arrived at the airport in Xi’an on May 21.
Xi’an: Starting Point for China’s New Era as the Heart of Ancient Culture
The tour with the 11 days’ itinerary started from Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province, with guides and staff from China Daily attending as well.
Shannxi Province is the starting point of the ancient Silk Road from China, which has linked Asia and Europe for more 2,000 years. The Silk Road tour would bring you to taste the ancient inland trading cities surrounding the Taklamakan Desert and see historical relics of the encounter between East and West over one thousand years ago.
Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to build the Silk Road Economic Belt when he visited Kazakhstan last September. His proposed idea would affect areas that total nearly three million in population in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey, and would boost China’s cooperation with Central Asian nations.
Xi’an, or sometims Changan, is China’s ancient capital, and currently the capital of Shannxi Province. It is well-known for its Qin Dynasty Terracotta Army. Xi’an’s history dates back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and houses rich historical artifacts, attracting tourists from all over the world. Air routes between Xi’an and South Korea are open, connecting Xi’anyang International Airport to the three airports in South Korea; Seoul, Busan, and Jeju. Xi’an is located in northwest China, with a total of 9,983 square kilometers of land and 7.53 million people. The Korean IT giant Samsung Electronics started operations on a cutting-edge 3D V-NAND semiconductor factory in Xi’an in May, for which it injected a total of US$7 billion.
The three night and four day tour program in Xi’an consisted largely of the tours to the sites that present historical relics from the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), including Tang Paradise Xi’an, a huge park which was full of the perfume of Qin Dynasty; Shaanxi Historical Museum with a total space of 70,000 square meters displaying 370,000 unearthed cultural relics; Xi’an City Wall constructed by Qin Shi Huang but maintaining its original shape up to now; Xi’an City Wall-Shuyuan Gate built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD); and a Han Dynasty Museum full of the historical relics of the first emperor Han of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD).
It rained the whole second day of the journey in Xi’an when we visited the Terracotta Army Museum containing more than 8,000 warriors, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. Despite the uninterrupted rain, many visitors came and were moving around the amazing museum.
We also had the chance to have a glimpse at the daily lives of ancient Chinese people by visiting Chen Lu Town on the hilltop at an elevation of about 1,300 meters. The town enjoys the reputation of the “Living Fossil of the Oriental Ancient Town of Ceramics.” We also visited another ceramics site, the Yaozhou Kiln Museum, listed as one of the “100 Great Archaeological Discoveries of China in the 20th century.” The ceramics museum was reflecting more than 1,300 years of Chinese ceramic history from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) to the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912 AD).
During our stay in Xi’an, we were served lavish food for lunches and dinners, sometimes watching wonderful shows at nice traditional Chinese restaurants such as the Tang Place Theatre, Tang Palace and De Fa Chung, with municipal officials present together.
Taiyuan: Center of Convergence of the Old and the New
On the night of the 4th day of the journey, the delegation arrived in the airport of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, where the municipal officials of Taiyuan and China Daily’s branch staff welcomed us. We were expected to stay for another three nights and four days’ trip in the city.
Taiyuan is famous for its leading role in the commercialization and civilization of China from the Ming Dynasty. Shanxi Merchants had been the strongest and most dominant commercial power in China, expanding its trade routes to all the directions beyond China to South East Asia, Japan, and even Europe. Shanxi Merchants’ Museum is one of the symbols representing it with historical relics throughout to Qing Dynasty. The museum has a hundredyear-old ancient style, but was constructed just four years ago.
One of the distinctive tours in Taiyuan was to visit huge factories. One of them was China’s famous brand, the Shanxi Shuita Vinegar Industry, that produces various alcoholic and nonalcoholic liquors with 38 production bases throughout China. We tasted some liquor there.
We also visited Taiyuan Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), which was set up in 1934, has its own electricity, rail track, gardens, town, schools, swimming pool, fitness center, and other facilities over 7.8 square kilometers of campus. The company employs 20,000 workers. TISCO has an annual production capacity of over 10 million tons of steel with its annual revenue amounting to more than 100 billion yuan. The steel company made a technology assistance agreement with Korean steel giant POSCO in 2000. Even with no operating profits, TISCO was likely to spare no money in investing for the welfare of the employees. The company seemed to also make efforts to reduce pollution by creating large gardens. Interestingly enough, the company produces “Tai Gang” mineral water, which is provided for free to the employees.
Another example of their efforts to reduce pollution was well-shown in creating parks such as Kang Pei Forest Park and Yuquan Forest Park, both of which were built on the previous garbage dumps.
The delegation also had the chance to see some religious sites including the ancient Jinci Temple with 3,000-yearold trees, the Taoism-tinted Tao Temple located on the summit of Mengshen Mountain, and another temple with a 1,500-year-old huge statue of Buddha, the second largest in all of China. To see all this, we had to travel up three mountains including the scenic Tian Longshan Mountain (called “Fangshan Mountain” in the ancient times) at an elevation of about 1,430 meters.
Here in Taiyuan, music and dancing seemed to melt into the daily lives of the citizens. We could sense their current daily lives, which are always with free and joyful dancing and performances. In particular, Yingze Park, which we visited early in the morning of the final day in Taiyuan, looked like a heaven for elderly citizens. The elderly persons were enjoying tai chi or qigong exercises to music, which demonstrated the healthy life culture of the Chinese. We joined them and enjoyed aerobics by copying their motions.
In addition, we experienced Chinese joy even in the traditional food market when we visited the half-kilometer-long Taiyuan Food Street, where various kinds of Chinese traditional foods were available. Some merrymakers including magicians and dancers were performing live, in between stalls loaded on both sides of the street.
During our stay in Taiyuan, many lavish lunches and dinners were served in honor of the delegation in attendance with company managers and/or officials of the municipal government, too. In particular, we cannot forget the lavish dinner at a famous Chinese restaurant, which Ms. Liu Jin Chun, who is in charge of the Taiyuan Food Street area as a municipal official, hosted. Owing to our next event, we had to leave the restaurant in a hurry. We missed enjoying much of the excellent food.
Leaving municipal officials of Taiyuan behind us at Taiyuan airport, we took a flight for Shanghai in Jiangsu Province. We thanked those who had stayed with us during the whole Taiyuan tour very much and they even came to the airport to see us off.
On the flight to Shanghai, the “Goddess of Mercy of 1,000 Hands Show,” which had been performed at Youths Palace Arts Center in Yaiyuan, was still lingering in my eyes. The Chinese ancient history-based show was the most memorable experience to me in the tour. The other delegate members also must have left Taiyuan with the amazing and wonderful show in their memory and heart, where the delegates were served as VIP guests and guided to the stage to take pictures with the famous national artists of China.