The Grotto in Luoyang, Henan, China 10-3-2013
First I do not own the music. I picked this particular song because I thought it went with the scenery. It's labeled as a Tibetan Chant, but sounds like Mandarin. Here is the title of the chant and it's link:
Tibetan Morning Chant
I was thinking of adding this as one of my written trips of many written into my diary that I had published in to share with some added information. Not sure if I would do it as one location or the whole trip as a book.
The ones that I have published so far are being used as a fundraiser to pay off my student loans and raise money for One Million Words and Foster Care in Florida. Bringing schools supplies to orphans in Asia and a stable home for Foster kids.
Ralph the Rat is my noble travel companion that my students loved to hear stories from. My nephew who is Autistic found him interesting in some of my early pictures, so added him into the stories and pictures for both the students and my nephew.
Now some information about the pictures made into a movie for you to enjoy.:
The trip was to Luoyang, Henan, China on 9-30-2013 to 10-5-2013. This movie was on 10-3-2013 where I would visit the Longman Grottoes otherwise known as Longman Caves. You have to enter the Dragon's Gate to view them seeing thousands of caves carved into the Limestone walls on either mountain called Xiangshan (香山) and Longmenshan. Longmenshan literally means 'Dragon's Gates Grottoes.' (龍門石窟; pinyin: Lóngmén Shíkū). It's breathtaking views as you go up and down the paths set up so you can view in many of the caves. I was here once before and some were being repaired because over the years between flooding of the river known as the 'Yi River.'
One side has most of the caves with the carvings.
The other side has caves as well and can be a slippery trek. That side also has a couple of other things to see. One is a new museum that wasn't there the first time I came and has some of its flooring over the archival digs to see what they found in the locations that they found them.
'Xiangshan Temple' (reconstructed some time in 1707) one of the oldest temples in the Grotto and can be a real trek up its steps. My knees in some areas were in my chest because how steep the climb is. The temple is named after the spices found growing on the mountain called Xiangge. Inside besides the different temples was the home of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-Ling. It is set up like how it was when they moved in with his picture in almost every room. Looking out of the porch is breathtaking and can see the whole grottoes on the other side.
Next to it is 'Bai Garden Temple' (rebuilt in 1709) and it's very relaxing with all the plants, trees and flowers. You can get lost in your thoughts sitting by a creek thinking and watching the water flow down through the garden.
One other site to see is the 'Tomb of Bai Juyi.' Like the 'Bai Garden Temple' it is very relaxing. He was a poet during the Tang Dynasty. Some of the boulders have some of his poems carved into them and surround his tomb.
As the night came, the lights went on creating a night beauty and lightening up several of the caves giving off a beautiful glow. I would leave over the Dragon bridge catching a ride along the way.
The Tale of the White Snake (白蛇传) 1/2 [English Subtitles]
Scrub to 3:50 to skip the intro.
My amateur translation; original video from operabeijing.com. I feel obligated to say that, as usual, there's a lot that doesn't carry over into English. Feel free to leave translation corrections/suggestions in the comments.
'The Tale of the White Snake' (白蛇传) is one of China's oldest and most famous legends; you can find more info about it online if you're interested (see: Wikipedia, This video is of Han Tian's (1898-1968) jingju adaptation of the tale.
The play has been slightly abridged in this production, probably because the original is very long, most Chinese audiences already know this story very well, and because of artistic license. If you're unfamiliar with this tale and notice anything abrupt or unexplained, it may be because some detail has been left out. The full script can be found at:
An important theme in this play is the Buddhist-influenced idea of yuanfen (缘分), which refers to the forces of destiny that bring people together. If you have a loved one, friend, or enemy, how did it come to be that you two met, that you happened to be in the same place at the same time, that your trajectories -- subject to life, death, immigration, public transport schedules, school district boundaries, your parents' life and work choices, etc. -- happened to intersect? Perhaps it has something to do with yuanfen.
Random notes
-The Bai in Bai Suzhen means White. The Qing in Xiao Qing refers to a bluish color; in some translations, the sisters are called White Snake and Blue Snake.
- Many of the places in this story, like West Lake (西湖) and Broken Bridge (断桥), really exist. No one really knows why it's called Broken Bridge.
-Ten lifetimes might pass...: a famous proverb. Lifetimes as in rebirths.
-Mount Emei:
-Pan An: Another name for the Luoyang poet Pan Yue (潘岳, 247-300), one of the Four Great Beautiful Men of ancient China. It's said he was so handsome that women would throw fruit into his carriage whenever he went out.
-to sweep a tomb: A ritual undertaken during the Qingming Festival in early April.
-Lady West: Xizi (西子), one of the Four Great Beautiful Women. It was the poet Su Shi (1037-1101) who originally compared West Lake to Xizi.
-Gaze through autumn waters: an idiom; i.e. to expectantly wait for someone with tears in your eyes.
-Qing and Bai are sisters, but Qing also behaves and speaks like a servant. I'm not sure I totally understand their relationship.
-As the poem goes: from the poem 琵琶行 by Bai Juyi (772--846)
-Double lotus blossoms: Two lotuses on a single stalk were seen as a metaphor for a devoted couple.
-Mandarin ducks: Birds thought to mate for life. Having nothing to envy of the immortals can mean not fearing death because you have found happiness, and comes from Lu Zhaolin's (637-689) poem 川长安古意
-Lady Huatuo: Huatuo was a pseudo-legendary physician, thought to have invented anesthesia.
-Duanyang, xionghuang:
-With pujian and jiaoshu...: Pujian are sword-shaped bunches of herbs, jiaoshu, triangular bundles of rice; both appear during Duanwu.
-Elixir of Nine Turns: Alchemical term. According to Anthony Yu, 'turn'... refers to the process of cyclical chemical or physical manipulations of the elixir ingredients; hence the greater the number of turns, the more powerful the elixir. An elixir of nine turns would grant immortality in three days.
-Red gauze curtains: Not sure why they didn't use red curtains in this production...
-Mountain of the Immortals:
-Tongxin grass, xiangsi sapling: I think tongxin is some kind of clover, while xiangsi is an acacia. Tongxin literally means same heart while xiangsi refers to lovesickness.
-Dujuan bird: associated with sadness and regret in a legend. In English, a cuckoo.
-Lingzhi:
-Three spirits...:
-This disciple: a way of addressing oneself before a monk; Xu Xian is not actually a disciple at first.
-Leaving the home: One who had become a Buddhist monk was said to have Left the home/family
-Bodhi:
-Dharma power: supernatural, Buddhist-derived power
-Wind and Fire Prayer Mat: A supernatural weapon mentioned in the 16c. novel '封神演义'. It does not appear in the original 'White Snake script and I have no idea what kind of weapon it is. The two painted-face characters that appear after Fahai invokes this mat are listed as Fire General and Wind God.
-Avidya:
-I'm not certain why Bai and Qing sing the duet that they do; it's clearly sung from Bai's perspective alone.
-King Yama: A Buddhist entity who judges the dead.