成都 Chengdu: Home of Jinsha, Temples, and (of course) Pandas

The last stop of my China trip was the city of Chengdu, famous for its Panda Research Base. Before I went to see the Pandas, however, I visited a couple of other sites around the city, including the Jinsha Archaeological Site and a Daoist temple.

The Jinsha Archeological Site, an ancient settlement occupied from 1250 to 650 BC, was discovered relatively recently in 2001.

The excavation site.

Pile of potsherds.

Intact and reconstructed pottery.

Golden mask. It rather reminded me of the so-called Mask of Agamemnon.

The most famous Jinsha find: "Golden Sun Bird", a gold foil disk with four birds circling the sun.

We also visited a Daoist temple with beautiful grounds.

Quite the fierce turtle, don't you think?

Yin yang, surrounded by the Chinese zodiac.

And lastly, of course, we visited the Panda Research Base. Unfortunately it was an unusually hot day so the pandas were all inside and therefore hard to see, but I did get to glimpse a couple of absolutely adorable cubs.

Anything strike you as strange? Count the pads. Pandas have five fingers and an extra "thumb" that is not actually a finger,
but a wrist bone that has evolved in the panda because it enables them to better hold bamboo to eat.

The youngest panda (can't you tell?).

I hope to return sometime and view the pandas in the outdoor habitats which were very nice. Here are a few other animals in the park surrounding the panda enclosures.

And finally, a view across the river near where we were staying.

And that, only four months late, concludes my time in China. It was quite a year and I am so glad that I went; I learned such a great deal about China, Chinese, teaching, and so much more. It's also been wonderful to be home again, especially with the holidays approaching!

大同 Datong: Hanging Temple

A little ways outside the city of Datong is a so-called "hanging temple". It is built, about 1,500 years ago, into the side of a cliff, 75 meters above the ground.

"Big Beautiful Heng Mountain"

大同 Datong: Yungang Grottoes

I've been remiss in posting my final sets of photos, but we went to some interesting places I want to share with you! After Pingyao, we continued north to Datong, home of 云冈石窟, the Yungang Grottoes. The site has 252 grottoes and over 50,000 Buddha statues! Some of the earliest carvings are thought to date to the fifth century.

First, there's a modern grand entrance and temple complex.

Entrance to the site.

I love the detail and shape of the eyes. They look ringed in kohl.

Modern temples near the grottoes.

After walking through the temple compound, we crossed a bridge and walked through the old grottoes.

Many of the heads were smashed during the cultural revolution.

From inside.

On the larger statues, head-smashing was too difficult, so the eyes were knocked out.

On the left is the entrance for one of the more ornate caves (in which photography is not allowed).

See all those little marks on the surface? I can't imagine how long it took to chisel these.

My, what big earlobes you have...