China's Propaganda Machine in Overdrive

Medical staff in full suits looking after coronavirus patients in Wuhan

The Chinese government is anxious to show it is doing everything to battle the coronavirus, which means all hands on deck in the propaganda department.

There are video clips of mostly men who are seen dashing into police stations or government offices and dropping off boxes of masks or lots of cash and then running away.

It's meant to show people's selflessness, that they are willing to give away their life savings to the authorities to fight the coronavirus. If they ran away, how would they know all these details? Or maybe these people just robbed a bank beforehand?



The first video seemed shocking but sweet, but now there are about 41 different video clips which makes them even more staged. Why would so many people run into a police station or government office, dump bricks of cash on the counter and then run off again? It boggles the mind.

Then today CCTV has a clip of apparently two nurses decked out in full hazmat gear complete with plastic shields and blue suits yellow shoe covers in a coordinated dance outside of the hospital. Apparently they were trying to make light of the situation and enjoying a fun moment.



Really? From the clips I've seen of nurses having mental breakdowns, them dancing like children is completely off the wall and ridiculous. It's so obvious this clip was begging for sympathy.

But then there are uncomfortable video clips of more than a dozen nurses in Gansu province having their heads shaved, calling them "the most beautiful warriors!" in a bid to show their devotion to fighting the coronavirus. These women are crying, which seems to indicate they were coerced into doing this. Why didn't the men go bald too?



And there are horrific stories of nurses being forced to take birth control pills so they wouldn't menstruate (as going to the bathroom would be too much trouble), and they were chastised for asking for sanitary pads and tampons, saying they "lacked the spirit of devotion".

While the propaganda army was hoping these clips of the nurses would make the public sympathize with them, it actually enraged people that the women were being treated this way and vented their wrath online.

Young people in particular have had enough of the propaganda machine, as they can access a lot of information and clips via WeChat or going over the Great Firewall to see what people outside of China are saying about the coronavirus in their own country.

People are still very angry about Dr Li's Wenliang's death

They were particularly angry following the death of Dr Li Wenliang, who tried to warn his former classmates about the coronavirus, and were angry that the police accused him of spreading rumours.

"In the past month, many young people have been reading a lot of firsthand information and in-depth media reports about the epidemic on the internet," says Stephanie Xia, a 26-year-old in Shanghai in The New York Times. She says they are angry and confused about what they learned.

"There's some gap between what the young people are really like and what the government believes what they're like," Xia adds.

For young people today, this coronavirus and how they experienced it is much like other seminal events, like the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the Wenzhou train crash in 2011, the downfall of Bo Xilai in 2013.

How China's next generation is influenced by how they went through this year's coronavirus crisis will forever shape their perceptions of the Communist Party of China and their trust in the government.

One gets the feeling it's not going to be very solid...

Zhang Daqian's Masterful Style

On Route Switzerland-Austria, 1965

 

This afternoon I managed to catch the last day of a special exhibition of Chinese painter Zhang Daqian's work at Sotheby's Hong Kong. This year marks the 120th anniversary of the artist's birthday.

Dunhuang painting, 1942

Entitled "Zhang Daqian: The Master", the show features nearly 60 works from the artist's family and prominent private collections, many of these pieces either rarely or never before seen in public. Many of them are works that he gave to his daughter, Chang Hsueh-liang.

When I arrived at Sotheby's in One Pacific Place in Admiralty around 3pm, the place was already packed with people of various ages, eager to examine the artist's paintings and calligraphy. Strangely not all the works were captioned in English which were otherwise very helpful for me to further understand the paintings.

Nevertheless the pieces show an array of Zhang's styles that ranged from intricate line drawings to his famous splash ink paintings that verge on abstraction. He definitely pushed Chinese painting forward, still keeping with traditional philosophy, but very contemporary at the same time.

Zhang was born in 1899 in Neijiang, Sichuan province and learned traditional Chinese painting from several teachers, including his mother. He copied the works of ancient masters, refining his skills in painting landscapes, birds and flowers, and figures.

In the early 1940s he went to Dunhuang, Gansu province for three years, copying the Buddhist grotto paintings that deeply inspired him to learn more about art from the Tang dynasty. His observations of Tang-dynasty figures were later integral to developing his style.

The lotus is a favourite subject for Zhang, this painted in 1973

However, because of the impending revolution in China, Zhang left China in 1949 and went to live in places like Argentina, Brazil, California, and Taiwan. He became exposed to modern Western art developments, like the Abstract Expressionists, and even met Pablo Picasso. It was then that he began developing the splash ink style and using vivid mineral colours.

The exhibition has Zhang's line paintings from when he was in Dunhuang. There's a dynamic painting of a girl dancing with ribbons and it comes alive with elegance and grace. Another shows a woman presenting an offering in a flowing robe.

A particularly impressive painting is called Spring Clouds Amid Autumn Landscape done in 1948. He gave this painting to a friend of his (he had many friends he gifted with art) who turned 50 years old, and this particular painting is so detailed it's mind-boggling to think he painted every single pine needle on the trees and every wave in the sea. Not only does it show his attention to detail, but also his ability to paint so finely.

And of course Zhang is well known for his lotus paintings using the splash-ink style. The leaves are lively from his large brushstrokes, and yet anchored by the deliberate lotus flower stems that are detailed with dots on them. It's more about the leaves than the flowers themselves.

A screen of a landscape painting for Zhang's daughter

There is a screen that he gifted to his daughter Chang when she was getting married. It features an abstract landscape that spreads across several panels. Chang wrote that her father seemed sad about her leaving home soon and it took him a long time to finish the screen, as if hoping that if he didn't finish it, she wouldn't leave. But eventually he did finish it and her brother brought it over for her wedding.

The landscape paintings -- of places outside of China are very interesting because they are painted in a Chinese ink brush style, though viewers are encouraged to use their imagination. One called On Route Switzerland-Austria looks more like a Chinese landscape, but it has a brilliant colouring from the blue-green palette, evoking greenery, but also there is contrast from a waterfall in the distance that creates a giant mist further down, or are they clouds? that create a backdrop for the chalets on the mountains.

A woman Zhang painted that's printed on the foam of a coffee

What a treat to see all these paintings. I also got a cup of (cold) coffee -- with one of Zhang's paintings printed on the foam! A few of us took pictures of each other's coffee cups. One woman didn't want to drink her coffee to ruin her print-out of a woman's face. Eventually she did drink it...

Wanda Gets on Red Tourism Bandwagon

"Red" tourists take part in re-enacting the Long March in Yan'an

Chinese tycoon Wang Jianlin is back in the limelight again -- this time to show off his patriotism.

His company Wanda Group announced this week it will build a theme park in Yan'an, the birthplace of the Communist Party to cash in on "red tourism".

The description of the project already sounds like an eye-roller -- located in the loess plateau of Shaanxi province near Gansu and Shanxi, the theme park will feature shopping malls, indoor parks, theatres and hotels built in the style of the 1930s, when Yan'an was the headquarters of the Communist Party.

Wang Jianlin's Wanda will promote "red tourism" in Yan'an

Construction on the 1.26 square kilometre project will begin in the first quarter of next year and expected to be completed in 2021, in time for the party's centenary celebrations, Wanda said.

"Wanda is committed to the Yan'an spirit and will turn the Yan'an Wanda City into a new brand for red tourism," Wang said in a statement.

For the past year the developer, China's wealthiest man in 2017, according to Forbes, was laying low, after he dispersed his US$9.4 billion in hotels and tourism assets to rivals Sunac China and Guangzhou R&F Properties to relieve Wanda from its heavy debts.

In October, Wanda disposed of its last remaining stake in its tourism projects for 6.28 billion yuan.

The company had attracted the scrutiny of China's banking and securities regulators for over leveraging acquisitions it made overseas, such as for yacht builder Sunseeker, AMC chain of cameras, real estate around the world, and even Iron Man races.

Mao Zedong's modest cave in Yan'an during the Long March

But now it seems Wanda and Wang are back in the government's good books with another 20 billion yuan project in Lanzhou, the start of the ancient Silk Road, and this Yan'an theme park, that would take advantage of the 484 million tourists who pay homage to 436 historical sites around China that hold special significance to the Communist Party.

Yan'an is revered in particular, as it was here towards the end of the Long March that became the focal point of Chinese Communism. In 1935 Mao Zedong took the Red Army from Jiangxi province on an over 9,000-kilometre trek to Yan'an in 370 days.

We can't wait to see what Wanda does with its "red" theme park...










Wanda came under the scrutiny of China’s banking and securities regulators for the outsize leveraged acquisitions it undertook overseas, for such assets as the Sunseeker yacht builder, the AMC chain of cameras, real estate around the world and even the Iron Man races.

Silk Road: Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves

A view of Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves at the foot of Flaming Mountain

Buddhism came to China through the Silk Road, and the first contact point was in what is now Xinjiang. Early on the Uyghurs were Buddhists and Turpan became the centre of the religion.

One of the lasting tributes to Buddhism is the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves that are located at the bottom of the Flaming Mountains, 45 kilometres east of Turpan.

There is a range of painting styles that can be found here

These series of caves are quite amazing, in the middle of nowhere, much like the Mogao Grottoes, and whatever is left is quite impressive. The caves were built during the Southern and Northern dynasties or the 5th century through to the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties or 14th century.

Inside the caves are beautiful murals of Buddha in the past, present and future, along with his disciples and followers painted in various styles depending on the dynasty. Some of the murals still have some vibrant colours with very intricate designs that cover every inch of space.

However around the end of the 13th century Buddhist Uyghurs were converted to Islam during a holy war when the they were conquered by the Muslim Chagatai Khanate ruler Khizr Khoja. Therefore, interest in Buddhism declined, while Islam was introduced.

The skin colour of these figures used to be pink long ago

As a result, these caves became neglected, while in subsequent centuries later robbers cut out and stole entire pieces of murals, or Muslims who were anti-Buddhist came and gouged out the eyes of and mouths of figures on the walls.

It was a pity to only see a few caves -- that are guarded nowadays by Uyghurs to ensure no one took pictures of each -- but you can see why it's so important that these caves be guarded.

Strangely these caves are not considered to be good enough to be national treasures on par with Mogao Grottoes as these ones are some of the earliest known Buddhist art work dating back to the 5th century; the Mogao Grottoes date back to the 4th century.

The intricate paintings are impressive

Some patches of murals can be seen in museums around the world, such as the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Tokyo National Museum, the British Museum in London and national museums in Korea and India.

Apparently some of the best pieces were afixed to the walls of the Museum of Ethnology in Berlin, but during World War II, they could not be removed and were thus destroyed in the bombing of of the city by the Allies.

It makes you wonder how many Uyghurs today know their history with regards to Buddhism and would they consider converting back?

Silk Road: Riding the Train to Turpan

Train staff checking to see if the platform is clear before moving on

Our visit through Gansu province was over and now it was time to board the train to Turpan in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Dunhuang train station looked spanking new -- two years old we were told -- and right at the entrance we had to deal with security checks, showing our passports and putting our luggage through X-ray machines before even getting into the building.

Staff at the entrance have riot helmets and gear ready...

We arrived early so we had time to hit the loo (pretty clean) before heading to our train. Originally our Gansu-based tour guide was not going to join us -- we were going to go on our own and then meet our Xinjiang guide in Turpan.

However, we felt it was best he help us out just in case and we're so lucky he did.

Our second-class train tickets were bought months in advance; in that time period, some people had renewed passports so their passport number was different from the one printed on their ticket.

At least one person had a lot of hassle because of this and in the end had to refund her ticket and buy another one, which meant she could not sit with us. Our guide was on hand to help her out with this.

A high speed train ready to go (not ours)

If that wasn't all, there was the issue of luggage. One would think traveling by train is straight forward, but in China it's not. We easily took the escalator up to go across to the platform on the other side, but when we wanted to go down, there was no escalator, only stairs and a very steep slope to drag suitcases on the far right.

Needless to say it was a complete disaster -- people's suitcases rolled (or slid) faster than their owners and it created such mess that it was just easier, but more muscle work to carry suitcases down the stairs.

That resulted in our tour guide having to go up and down to help many of us bring our suitcases down several flights of stairs which was quite stressful given the sheer number of people also doing the same thing, and having to lift heavy loads.

Inside our train which is quite new

Finally that was sorted and gathering ourselves together we boarded the train, again our tour guide helping put many of the suitcases in the racks above. Some of us sat three to a seat, so six of us faced each other on the right, while on the left there were two seats.

The train started up quickly and we thought the staff would check tickets but they never did, and because there were many free seats some sat in other places. And then after one or two stops more people got on so we had to sit in our designated seats. 

By the way the food selection is quite dire -- there's instant noodles, drinks and chips -- including cucumber flavour. My uncle got soy bean drink with red bean, but it was the powder version which needed hot water and it turned out lumpy. One bright spot was having Haagen Daz ice cream!

One guy sitting near us had a dumbfounded look on his face watching us the whole time. He wore a black leather cap, black vest, T-shirt, glasses and boots. Sitting next to him was a woman on our tour who reported he had terrible body odour!

Finally he got off at one stop, but another man randomly sat next to her and he too stared at us. He didn't seem to belong in that seat, but what can you say? He looked a bit shifty, but that's because he felt uneasy being in a second-class cabin when perhaps he should have sat elsewhere.

Four hours later we finally arrived in Turpan, in time for dinner -- but wait we still had to deal with getting our luggage off the train and down the stairs again...

So that was our experience riding the train. One would expect it to be more convenient than the plane, but having to carry our suitcases up and down was too much!

Silk Road: Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass

Yangguan Pass is surrounded by a fence

We visited the two westernmost frontiers in China during the Western Han Dynasty in Gansu province near Dunhuang. Well, three to four hours' drive from Dunhuang. They were both important points along the Silk Road.

Yangguan Pass was built by Emperor Wu in 120 BC and was considered a military lookout post, while Yumen Pass, also known as Jade Gate, was used during the Han Dynasty where people went through here along the Silk Road to get to Central Asia.

Visitors can go through Yumen Pass, that's like a fortress

Yumen Pass had a museum that visitors could go through before heading outside to see the actual structure, a giant brick structure that looked like a fortress that you can walk through.

However Yangguan Pass requires a golf cart trip to get to, and then it's surrounded by a fence. Both look like shadows of their former selves... but that's what happens thousands of years later when they fall out of use.

Nevertheless, both are points along the Silk Road that should be visited, though driving to get to both points (north and south) was a slog!

Silk Road: Dunhuang Celebration

Learning about the story of the Mogao Grottoes through an outdoor show

To extend our Mogao Grottoes experience we got to see a show related to the caves. We didn't quite know what to expect, but then again, what else are you going to do in the evening in Dunhuang?

Our tour guide didn't know the show would be outside, so it did get a bit chilly, but given that an audience of several hundred were packed together, we were able to generate some body heat.

Special effects like these fire-related splashes were a bit much

The stands where the audience sat could move and it turned at right angles around four times to face four different stages. It's described as "luxury live desert theater", but how is it luxurious if you have to brave the natural elements? And the plastic seats aren't very comfortable... are we asking for too much?

The story is about a painter called Mo Ding who works in Dunhuang, painting in the caves. It is highly dubious that he and a princess fall in love, but we suspend our doubts, because there's conflict in that she is betrothed to a warrior leader in order to have peace in the area.

The smitten couple escape and hide for a while, but then the barbarian leader finds her and takes her back -- she apparently later dies of depression! In the end, Mo Ding continues his mission by expressing his love for her on the murals at Dunhuang.

Some of the projections are pretty neat, creating a 3D effect, or at least adding another layer to the production, while other scenes, like in Dunhuang town dancing in the streets and couples standing by windows were irrelevant. There were also some fire special effects used that again were not relevant to the story, but were there to keep the audience interested.

A romantic ending with some 3D projection

The ending was kind of tacky, women dressed in white with the dresses covered in LED lights, while Mo Ding and the princess danced on a huge crescent moon...

Having just been to New York where the performers on Broadway are thrilled to be on stage, the dancers here looked at it as a job, some appeared bored, others managed a smile or two.

The performers stood on or by the stage as the audience left, and a few elderly women pinched some of the young women's cheeks as if to check if they were real or not. Did the performers get this kind of treatment all the time? How bizarre!

It was an entertaining show for the most part, though it's heavily promoted by the government which makes us wonder who gets how much of a cut out of it. Since it's the only show in town, there's pretty much a captive audience every night...

Silk Road: Mogao Grottoes

The Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu province

About 10 years ago when I was in Beijing, I checked out an exhibition that was a replica of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.

There are over 400 caves, but only a handful shown publicly

I didn't know anything about them but it sounded fascinating and was so glad I went. Afterwards I was thinking, I have to see the real thing... wherever Dunhuang is!

It took me a decade to finally go see the place in person and it has to be appreciated on so many levels in terms of art, history, and society. It all started in 366AD, when a Buddhist monk named Le Zun was traveling in the area and had a vision of a thousand Buddhas. He built a cave here in hopes of reaching nirvana.

Others soon followed, digging out their own caves and began decorating them with paintings. It's here in these caves or grottoes that one can see not only the artistic skill that spans over 1,000 years, making it a kind of library of art history of that time, but also how Buddhism was depicted and studied.

Some caves reveal intricate artistic detail and vivid colours

Some pilgrims paid artisans to decorate caves for them, and so it must have become a mini industry in the middle of the desert to demonstrate their devotion to Buddha. Apparently there were some 1,000 caves, but when they were abandoned, the desert sands took over them; there are 735 left, of which almost 500 are decorated.

While most of the caves feature three Buddhas -- the present, past and future, along with musicians and dancers that seem weightless in the sky, there were also more down-to-earth portraits of wealthy patrons, such as the Cao family, featuring women in long robes and make-up. Others captured daily life, such as farming and the foods they ate.

Musicians in flowing robes performing for Buddha

We only saw about seven caves and the ones we saw were not all in good condition. Some figures had black faces, but that's because the pink colour had oxidized over the decades and centuries. Some caves had glaringly empty spots where sculptures used to be and had been stolen, or the "eyes" of Buddhist disciples scratched out because they used to have gold on them.

One cave had a giant Buddha lying on his side after death, his disciples mourning in grief, while another had Buddha standing up 75 feet tall.

Black faces are from oxidation of the paint on the walls

A reminder of foreign theft was shown in one cave that had stored 7,000 manuscripts including the Diamond Sutra that was published in 868AD and were gone, now in the British Library. The caves are individually locked with padlocks which our guide has to use a key to open each one and lock afterwards.

We were lucky to come here just before the Golden Week rush, so there wasn't a massive crowd of people, and we came early in the morning too. We wished we could see more, and the prime examples of caves, but alas, our guanxi wasn't good enough.

But just to have the experience of being in these caves and seeing the majesty of the art work was enough to satisfy our curiosity. Will we come back? Not sure, but at least we saw a slice of it.

Some have large statues housed in them with disciples

No wonder artists like Zhang Daqian came here to copy many of the murals, staying here for months at a time. I managed to see some of his works from his time there in August when there was an exhibition in Macau.

Silk Road: Singing Sand Mountains

One of the giant sand dunes that make up Singing Sand Mountains

China has a lot of different geographical terrain, and while Gansu province has some lush green areas thanks to land being near the Yellow River, there are other areas that seem very parched to the point of becoming desert.

One such spot along the Silk Road is the Singing or Echoing Sand Mountains about 5km from Dunhuang.

A guide leading a string of camels and tourists

When we reached the site it was literally desert with sand dunes. Some of our fellow travelers came prepared wearing masks -- they were worried about possible sand storms, and the mountains get the name singing or echoing because when the wind blows the sand here, it makes an eerie sound apparently.

But the day we went the weather was perfect -- not too hot -- though a hat helped shade from the sun, and there was a gentle breeze.

The tourist site sold bright orange tall boots to cover people's feet from getting sand in them, but we decided it wasn't necessary. Lots of local tourists were taking camel rides at 100 kuai each, and with each guide leading four to five camels strung together, that was big business, as there was a non-stop stream of camels walking along the sand.

Meanwhile there were others who climbed up a giant sand dune, much like hiking up a snow mountain and then riding a sled down the sand slope. It seemed like a lot of work for about 20 seconds of fun.

Crescent Moon Spring has been here for hundreds of years

The site also has a walkway so tourists won't get sand in their shoes. My aunt and I chose to walk the 1km route and along the way we saw lots of greenery amid the desert, which was man made. The washrooms here were very clean -- they even had soap and toilet paper! When we came out we admired the nearby fruit trees and saw they had fruits on them.

They were small, but too tempting to pass up, so I climbed up a pear tree and managed to pick seven or eight of them! I tried them afterwards and they were quite sweet!

The path we walked along led to Crescent Moon Spring -- it really is that shape and interestingly has never been covered up by the sand. Visitors along the Silk Road would stop here for a drink -- it definitely was not a mirage.

Three of the small pears I picked from the tree!

Today there are gift shops and refreshment stands near Crescent Moon Spring... the modern version of freshening up.

We walked in the sand for a bit, and it was very fine, soft and warm from the heat of the sun. What an interesting experience, seeing sand dunes, camels and picking ripe pears.

Silk Road: Jiuquan Park

General Huo Qubing who celebrated his victory using spring water here

An interesting stop we went to is Jiuquan Park in Gansu province, which has a beautiful lotus pond, shady covered walkways and another pond with white swans.

This spring water doesn't freeze during the wintertime

The highlight is a square well that has spring water in it. The story goes a young general named Huo Qubing who led his troops to a victory against the nomadic Xiongnu.

To celebrate, Huo only had some Chinese wine, but not enough for hundreds of soldiers. So he poured a vat of the liquor into this spring water, which was enough to quench the thirst of his army.

Beautiful lotus flowers still in bloom in the lily pond

What's interesting about this spring water is that it's still bubbling to the surface and even in the wintertime it never freezes. The water is very clear, but no we didn't drink it -- there were many coins that had been thrown in there.

Silk Road: Jiayuguan and the Great Wall

Visiting Jiayuguan, the western outpost of the Great Wall

Jiayuguan was the last part of the Great Wall before heading towards Central Asia. It was built during the Ming Dynasty with stones, bricks and rammed earth, those these days it's been fixed up for tourists.

Tourists sampling some Peking opera at Jiayuguan

It was here that people had to have passports if they wanted to travel beyond the Great Wall along the Silk Road. The passport was a document in calligraphy that had their name and the emperor's seal on it. Outside of the Great Wall were the nomads called Xiongnu, Mongolians and Tibetans, basically barbarians.

Today's tourism officials have tried to spiff up Jiayuguan by making tourists feel like they are going back in time. There are "guards" standing by the gates and later on they parade around a "prisoner" in a wooden shackle before they start showing off some amateur martial arts routines.

Around the corner up on a high but small stage are Peking opera performers in costume complete with musicians. Did the audience really have to crane their necks to see the show back in the day? Just wondering.

One tourist giving his best drumming performance

There were also some odd-ball amusements -- literally. Our tour guide was so excited to shoot tennis balls from a mini cannon at a target that he did it twice, for 20 kuai for each round.

One of our fellow travelers paid 10 kuai to be able to hit a massive drum 10 times. However, instead of just banging the drum, he did a little dance routine as well, much to the amusement of local visitors.

Tourists could also purchase the "passport", where your name would be written in calligraphy and stamped with the Imperial seal. Strangely not many interested in getting the "modern antique" document.

People needed to carry passports to go beyond this pass

After our visit, we headed to a nearby part of the Great Wall, called The Overhanging Wall. It's called that because it looks like it is clinging onto the cliff. It also apparently has the nickname "Western Badaling" because it looks similar to the popular part of the wall near Beijing.

Our tour guide challenged us to climb up to the top, so five of us women took it on with aplomb. It took around 20 minutes to get up, and climbed over 400 steps. My aunt and I were the first to go, and it wasn't too difficult a climb, just that it got steeper and we stopped periodically to catch our breath.

When we almost got to the top, I heard a small boy's voice shout, "Ayi, jia you!"

I climbed the Overhanging Wall!

I looked up to see a boy, about five years old looking down at us and smiling with three other male adults. He kept shouting, "Ayi jia you!" "Auntie, add oil [keep going!] and I thanked him for the encouragement.

I regret not taking a picture of him before he scampered off again to the next section of the wall. We soaked up the amazing view below, celebrated our summit with three others before making it down again. Now I can say I've visited four parts of the Great Wall -- Badaling, Mutianyu, Simatai all near Beijing, and now the Overhanging Wall in Gansu province!

Silk Road: Zhangye Danxia Geological Park

Minerals and sandstone helped create these colourful rock formations

One of the highlights of the Silk Road tour was visiting Zhangye Danxia Geopark. It took a while to get there, and once we arrived, we had to board the park's own buses to tour around the place in a kind of hop on, hop off style to four different spots.

Located in the county of Zhangye, in the foothills of the Qilian mountains, the park covers 322 square kilometres and it's very impressive -- the hill formations look "rainbow" coloured, with layers of colours formed due to deposits of sandstone and other minerals over a 24 million year period.

Each spot in the geopark looked amazing

And the colours and the rock formations really are cool -- it's kind of like the Chinese version of the Grand Canyon, but with brightly coloured hills in layers of red, orange, white, green that seem to go on and on.

Each location seemed more amazing than the one before, providing dramatic backdrops for people interested in selfies and group pictures. It was quite hot that day, not scorching, but enough to warrant a hat and some sunscreen.

For the most part people were respectful of the environment, though a few did go out of bounds to get what they felt was a better shot. Our tour guide quickly reprimanded them and they complied. One more step and they could have fallen down the hill...

Some areas allowed visitors to have a good overview

There was a sign that said no aerial cameras, probably meaning drones, but there were lots of selfie sticks...

We were so lucky to come just before Golden Week so there weren't that many tourists. And since the park is so spread out, there was lots of room to move around freely and take good shots. Somehow I feel like the pictures I took didn't even capture this awe-inspiring place properly...

Silk Road: White Pagoda Temple

A bronze statue of Tibetan Lama Sagya Pandit with a reconstructed temple

North of Lanzhou is the White Pagoda Temple, a massive white stupa set against the blue sky and roses. It was built in honour of a Tibetan Lama, Sagya Pandit Gonggar Gyamcan, who came here for talks with Mongol prince Gotan, about Tibetan submission to the Mongols.

The ruins of the original temple with an offering urn

This also led to the spread of Tibetan Buddhism to Mongolia, as Sagya Pandit taught for five years until his death in 1251. He was buried here.

The original temple was destroyed and rebuilt a few times before its current incarnation, a large white bulbous stupa. But after you walk past it, you can see the ruins of the original temple which are even more interesting.

It looks like a pile of old bricks that only amount to part of the base of the temple, but they seem to have more meaning than a shiny bronze statue of the Lama completed in 2012.

A very old gate within the Confucian Temple

Our Tibetan guide was keen to pay his respects here, circling both the new and old temple, saying prayers and bowing three times.

We also visited the Confucius Temple in Wuwei that was built during the Ming Dynasty in 1439 on instruction from the reigning emperor at the time. It took two years to build it, but various extensions were added on later.

A statue of Confucius

Wandering around here is nice -- there's hardly anyone else around and lots of architectural details to photograph. One wonders though if it still has as much significance today as it did centuries ago...

Silk Road: Leitai Han Tomb

The Flying Horse in its glory finally revealed at Leitai Han Tomb

When I was a kid, I remember my father bringing home a statue of a horse that was running so fast it was captured balancing on one foot. He glued it onto a granite slab, and while I thought the horse looked pretty cool, I didn't understand the significance of it -- until decades later.

An army of soldiers and horses led by the Flying Horse

It is known as the Flying Horse, galloping so quickly that it is stepping on a bird. The original statue was found at Leitai Han Tomb in 1969 when some farmers stumbled upon the tomb of an official from the Han Dynasty which held funeral treasures. The horse was quickly adopted by Lanzhou as its official symbol and you can see replicas of it displayed everywhere, like the airport and other government buildings.

The actual statue is quite tiny, along with an entire cavalcade of soldiers, horses and chariots. They can be seen in a museum, while much larger versions of them are displayed above ground.

It is believed the rest of the treasures were stolen by robbers...

Visitors can also go down into the actual tombs, which entails going down a long dark narrow path before you finally reach the end, which is very cool, but there's nothing to see, except the ceiling that is made of brick but reinforced with a metal web.

Farmers would pray to the God of Thunder

We went down into two tombs when once was plenty.

Above ground is Leitai Temple, Leitai referring to the God of Thunder, that farmers would pray to for rain to have a good harvest.