The Temple of Heaven in the summer of 1983 during my first visit to China. You’ll notice that there were very few people in the premises. It was a different
China entirely. The tallest building in Beijing (called Peking then) was just 10 stories high. The newest hotel was a kind of 2-story motel with a Western cafe that served hamburgers.Boating on West Lake, an imitation of the one in Hangzhou, in the Summer Palace outside of Beijing. Umbrellas taken in Fengdu, a temple to the dead.
A boat on one of the canals in Suzhou, the Venice of the East.
A window on one of the towers in the Great Wall in Badaling. Also taken in 1983 early in the morning. We took a taxi at 4 AM from our hotel in Beijing because we wanted to watch the sunrise and avoid the crowds.
A mountain in western China taken from a train that took th group from Shanghai to Chengdu, a 2-day trip through picturesque countryside and farmland
A pagoda at Dufu’s Thatched Cottage outside of Chengdu, Sichuan in 1983. A friend and I took bicycles to the poet’s legendary residence where, at one time, he and his friend Li Bai spent a summer.
Action star Cynthia Rothrock demonstrated her Jian/sword postures for me outside of the hotel in Chengdu. We were part of a 20-person group that traveled from the US to Shanghai and finally to Sichuan to study contemporary Wu-Shu. Cyndi has since then become famous in martial arts movies.Xiao Xingpeng, the famous Monkey King, who was my teacher in Monkey Fist and Cudgel. Pagoda Tree in front of the Xi’an Xingjiao Wild Goose pagoda in Xian. The temple, destroyed and rebuilt over time, was in honor of Xuan Zang, the
Buddhist monk who traveled to India over a 14-year period. He was the monk who was featured in the epic novel Journey to the West. It took me 2 years to finish the 4-volume story. Worshippers lighting red candles at an urn infront of the temple. You hardly see white candles because white stands for grief, Autumn, the West and death. At the Terracota Warriors museum. There are many spots to see in Xian aside from the Terracota Warriors. Xian, after all, is an ancient city, the start of the Silk Road.
A window in one of the classic gardens of Suzhou, probably in the Humble Administrator’s Garden. Suzhou is famous not only for its canals but also for its gardens. Traditional musicians play in the tea pavilions on weekends.
A scene from the cruise down the 3 Gorges. I love this photo. It took me a while to get the sun, the bridge and the boat to align. I was on the Princess ship taking in the a 4-day trip to the great dam that had just been finished.
Hongcun Village in Anhui Province became popular because it was featured in the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Nothing much has changed in this old village. When we visited, art students were painting the scene. That’s Lolit in Huangshan, the Yellow Mountain, considered the most beautiful mountain in China. I woke up at 4 in the morning to take these shots of the sunrise. It was quite dark when I started my trek to the mountain top. Fortunately, two women from Hong Kong brought flashlights with them and loaned me one. In my memory, no sunrise can compare to the one I saw that day. It was actually like a live stream that took about an hour from start to finish as it slowly unravelled its magnificence to its fans who waited in silence in the dark.
That’s me doing Tai Ji Quan in Huangshan. Wherever I was, I’ve tried to do a forms to experience the Qi of the place.
That’s one of the stairs that makes access to the different spots easier Well, if you get tired you can always hire a different mode of transport! It was just $45 but the carriers chanted “Tip! Tip! Tip!” in unison. It was apparently the only word they knew.
