Yushu Archives - Holachina.com

Yushu Mani Wall Before The Earthquake

New and re-done photos of the Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall near Yushu, Qinghai Province, China; before the 2010 earthquake that destroyed it.

prayer flags at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China*

The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake: New photos

The Earthquake

Yushu Mani Wall Before The Earthquake. On the 14th of April 2010 in a remote area of China’s remote province of Qinghai, a huge earthquake struck the town of Yushu and the surrounding areas.

pilgrim at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China*

The earthquake resulted in a terrible loss of human life and a vast amount of cultural damage was done to Tibetan monasteries and temples. The greatest cultural loss was the destruction of the Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall, the longest in the world and one of the most sacred for the Tibetans.

The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China*

What is a Mani Wall?

A mani wall is a wall that has been built up over time using rocks, stones and pebbles that have prayers written on them. The most common mantra is Om Mane Padme Hum, but ather mantras are also written or engraved on the rocks.

Tibetan pilgrims often pay to have the rocks placed on the ever expanding walls. The Seng-ze Gyanak Mani wall, just a few kilometers outside Yushu was, and still is, the longest Mani wall in the world. The wall was re-built after the earthquake.

We were fortunate enough to have visted Yushu in the summer of 2009; eight months before the eathquake.Here are some of our photos that I have re-done and some new ones that I didn’t post the first time. The photos still don’t do justice to mind-blowing exerience of visiting the wall.

Click here to read the original travel article and the subsequent article that we posted after the earthquake.

Original travel article: https://holachina.com/?p=1363

After the earthquake: https://holachina.com/?p=1854

The Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall

Mani Walls

As previously mentioned above: Mani Walls are rows of piled-up stones, engraved or painted with orations. The size of such Mani Wallscan vary from the humblest pile to a circuit of several hundred meters. Pilgrims walk round these walls of holy stones in a clockwise direction, uttering prayers and twirling prayer wheels.

The Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall was truly enormous; a sign by its side proudly proclaimed that it is 283 metres long, 74 metres wide, 2,5 metres high and consists of 2 billion stones!

What’s more, the Wall, before the earthquake, was still growing, as we witnessed with our own eyes: devout pilgrims contributed new stones everyday, which were hoisted up on to the pile carefully.

The billions of beautifully carved stones carry the Buddhist prayers “Om Mani Padme Hum” or, “Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus”, and other orations.

Building the Mani wall

building the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China The whole team

I never really sussed out how the system worked. But it seemed that wealthier pilgrims paid more money for bigger stones or rocks to be placed on top of the Mani wall in order to get more merit (I could be wrong here).

As you can see from this series of photos; a pilgrim, a monk and rock carriers were all involved in the process of heaving the rocks to the top of the wall.

Hoisting the rocks and stones up onto the top of the Mani-wall was done by muscle power alone and not only was the toil unceasing, but it was also back-breaking. You could read the expressions of pain and agony on the faces of the carriers as they struggled with the larger rocks.

The muscle and stamina of these guys puts anyone doing exercise in a gym to shame.

I can’t imagine how they must of felt having to put the wall back together again after its collapse in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.

person paying for a stone to be placed at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China. The* pilgrim watches his rocks being place on top of the Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall

The pilgrims

pilgrims at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China*. Pilgrims

The other fascinating part of a visit to the Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall is to observe the thousands of Tibetan pilgrims who come every day to place rocks and circumambulate the wall.

Tibetan pilgrims from all over the Kham region and further afield descend on this huge Mani Wall from dusk to dawn.

Dressed in their finest, they circumambulate the sacred stones in a constantly rising and ebbing flow. The early morning sees a high tide, while the crowds ebb during the afternoon, only to return again in the early evening.

pilgrims — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China. Pilgrims*

The Awesome Hats

amazing tibetan hats at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China.* Awesome hats

The Hats

The Hats! We had never seen anything like them before. Huge, pancake-flat, wide-brimmed, and elaborately-embroidered; these stunning hats seemed to be all the rage in and around the Yushu and Serxu areas of Qinghai and Sichuan Tibetan areas.

pilgrim hats at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China. Awesome hats*.

These photos we taken at the Sang-ze Gyanak Mani-wall.

pilgrims hats at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China. Awesome hats*.

Elsewhere, we had never laid eyes on them, not even in Lhasa or around Ganzi, Litang or Dege.

The Chapals and Prayer Wheels

chapels and pilgrims at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China.* The Chapals and Prayer Wheels

The best way to take in the ambience was, and probably still is, to join in with the pilgrims and accompany them on their walk around the Wall.

The more times you circle the Wall, the more fascinating it becomes.

candles at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China. The Chapals and Prayer Wheels*

Numerous dark chapels and prayer-wheel halls, lit up by thousands of flickering yak-butter lamps, provided a diversion from the routine.

Prayer wheel and pilgrims at the The Original Yushu Seng-ze Gyanak Mani Wall before the 2009 Earthquake — *The Seng-ze *Gyanak* Mani Wall, Yushu , Qinghai, China. The Chapals and Prayer Wheels*

If anybody reading this has been to Yushu recently, please lets us know what it is like now.

selling expensive fungus in Yushu — Buy some fungas at the wall.

Nuodeng The Oldest Bai Village in China?

Nuodeng 诺邓 (The Oldest Bai Village in China – or so they say)

(What to see, where to stay and how to get there)

Nuodeng The Oldest Bai Village in China? There are few places like Nuodeng 诺邓 remaining in China. Local tourist propaganda calls it the ‘thousand – year – old village’ and while this may be an exaggeration, there is no denying that this spectacular hamlet of ancient Ming and Qing dynasty houses and flagstone streets is unique.

: Old-house-Nuodeng

Not a single modern eyesore

Not a single modern eyesore blights picture perfect Nuodeng. Add to this the fact that hordes of screaming tourists and tacky souvenir stalls are conspicuous by their absence, and you get the China of your dreams.

Like Heijing 黑井 and Shaxi 沙溪, Nuodeng was once an important stopover on the salt route, but those glory days have long passed, and only a few salt wells at the entrance to the village are a sign of times gone by. Today, Nuodeng’s residents, members of the Bai ethnic group, earn their livelihoods tilling the fields on the steep slopes of the surrounding hills.

: Old Bai Man

sleepy Nuodeng

Although during our visit it seemed most residents preferred to while away their time chatting and smoking pipes in small groups on the steps of the two main squares, contributing to sleepy Nuodeng´s atmosphere of a time forgotten place.

Radio Programme on Daoism

Radio Programme on Daoism: Anybody who shares my love of Chinese history will find this BBC radio programme on Daoism, In our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg, absolutely fascinating. One of the professors on the programme is one of my old professors from SOAS (The London School of Oriental and African Studies).

Click below to hear the programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00wlgbg/In_Our_Time_Daoism

Click below to read the introduction to the programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wlgbg

Yunlong 云龙 and Taijitu 太极图

Location: Yunlong 云龙 Yunnan Province

China, Yunnan province, 150 kilometres Northwest of Dali.

Yunlong 云龙 and Taijitu 太极图: Having arrived safely in Yunlong after a long and somewhat eventful journey from Xiaguan (Dali City), we set about visiting the sights and exploring the town, which to be honest doesn’t take very long, as there is precious little to see or do.

It’s not an unpleasant place, but definitely a little dull. There’s a nice area by the river for strolling and people watching, but entertainment options and restaurants are conspicuous by their absence.

Yushu Earthquake

Yushu Earthquake: For anybody who has been following our blog over the last few months, you will know that we were in Yushu and the surrounding area last year. It is one of the most stunning and fascinating areas of China we’ve visited.

It’s difficult to express how we feel at the moment. Sitting here in the comfort of our flat in Madrid, the catastrophe in Yushu seems a world a way, and yet so close. We can only hope that the people we met and their families have survived this tragedy.

Yushu Gompa Excursion

Yushu Gompa Excursion / Domkar Gompa 当卡寺 / Sebda Gompa 赛巴寺 / Xiewu si 歇武寺 (Drogon Gompa)

Yushu Gompa Excursion

Yushu Gompa Excursion

It was one of those moments you dread when travelling: the old monk poured some strange-coloured liquid from a rusty old vessel into a grimy cup, raised it up to the sky and then downed it all. A yellowish juice trickled down the corners of his toothless mouth and then he motioned us to cup our hands and follow suit. To drink or not to drink? – that was the question. Nights of frequent visits to the rather grim bathroom in our hotel immediately sprang to mind but, on the other hand, we couldn’t enter the chapel without taking the offering. Refusal would have been an offence. Luckily, our driver understood the situation. He took the first swig, emptied the content into his mouth, swilled the liquid around, rather like mouth wash, and then spat it out. The old monk smiled. We did the same and entered the Chapel…

We start our second excursion around Yushu at the nearby Domkar Gompa, scenically located on the mountainside, overlooking the main road. Today, our driver has brought his little son along, a boy of about five, with a Fu Manchu pigtail at the back of his otherwise bald head. Both father and son are in good spirits, as if they are looking forward to the day’s sightseeing as well.

Domkar Gompa

First, we are shown around the Gompa’s main Assembly Hall, which houses an impressive collection of large, gem-studded statues. For 15 Yuan, our business-like guide allows us to take one photo, but no more than one.

Beijing Coma Mǎ Jiàn A Book Review

Beijing Coma (北京植物人) Mǎ Jiàn (马建) A Book Review

Beijing Coma Mǎ Jiàn A Book Review. This book should come with a health warning: unsuitable for first-time visitors to China, for they may well decide to cancel their trip. Even old-time China-lovers, such as myself, should proceed with caution, as some of the things you’re about to read may put you off going back there forever!

“ ‘They aren’t evil, they’re just products of an evil system.’ ”

Having suffered through some graphic descriptions of the unspeakable suffering, and the cruelties Chinese people inflicted upon each other during the Cultural Revolution; having shuddered at the inhumane way the death penalty is carried out and gasped at its utterly immoral connection to organ transplants, I found I had to keep repeating the words Dai Wei, the protagonist, says to his girlfriend, Tian Yi, as if they were a kind of mantra: “ ‘They aren’t evil, they’re just products of an evil system.’ ” (p. 504).

Synopsis

Dai Wei is in a coma; unable to move a muscle, though aware of his surroundings and with his memory intact. Through his memories, he relives his life, from his early childhood, when his father returns from a 22-year stint in a series of reform-through-labour camps, to the fatal denouement at Tiananmen Square, during which he is shot in the head. At regular intervals, Dai Wei’s attempts to return to his past are interrupted by his awareness of present events – the visits of his girlfriend or friends, his mother’s comments – or interspersed with clinical observations on the deterioration of his own body, as he is after all a Biologist.

a traumatic first arrest for ‘immoral behaviour’

From his family history, childhood and adolescence, with a traumatic first arrest for ‘immoral behaviour’, we move gradually to his university days, first in Guangzhou and later in Beijing. At university, Dai Wei’s political awareness, a vague feeling of anger and frustration that until then had lain dormant, is shaken when he starts reading his father’s journals from his camp days.

children of parents who suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution

Over time, he becomes increasingly keen to shake off the ‘stigma’ of being the son of a ‘rightist’ and to make a success of his life in a better society. Dai Wei and his fellow students, all children of parents who suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution, vaguely imagine this society as a place with freedom of speech and thought, freedom from corruption and oppression and justice for all.

Yushu Jyekundo 玉树

Yushu / 玉树/ Jyekundo (before the 2009 Earthquake)

Yushu Jyekundo 玉树. Note; everything below has changed following the 2009 earthquake. We visted two month before the disaster.

First Impressions: Pre-earthquake Yushu

I’d been racking my brains out, trying to find an adjective with which to describe Yushu. Beautiful it isn’t; old and quaint neither. Calling the town modern and vibrant would perhaps be going a bit too far, but then again, modern and boring wouldn’t do it justice.

Is it ugly? In some ways yes, the new buildings are pretty bog-standard Chinese white-tiled affairs. But that would be too harsh a verdict: the surrounding mountain scenery, the ramshackle old monastic quarters, but most of all, its people lend Yushu a special air. And that’s when I hit upon the epithet ‘funky’. Yes, Yushu is pretty funky.

Where is Yushu?

One more thing you can say about Yushu is that it is remote. The town is situated in one of the remotest areas of one of China’s remotest provinces, Qinghai; so getting there takes a bit of an effort. It is actually a pretty uncomfortable 16 to 18 hour bus ride away from Xining, the capital of Qinghai (though the recently opened airport will change all this).

This feeing of discomfort, characteristic of any Chinese sleeper bus, is heightened by the extreme altitudes at which the bus has to travel: On route there are several passes over 4500 meters and the Qinghai Plateau never drops below 3000 meters.

Yushu’s remoteness also has its advantages: for instance, currently Yushu’s population is still roughly 97% Tibetan, which is quite a miracle when compared to many towns in Tibet proper, where recent Chinese immigrants have formed sizable communities.

Big Breasts and Wide Hips 丰乳肥臀

Big Breasts and Wide Hips

丰乳肥臀

Author: Pen name: Mo Yan 莫言. Real name: Guǎn Móyè 管谟业

(First published in 1996 in Chinese; 2005 in English)

Big Breasts and Wide Hips 丰乳肥臀 is the second novel I’ve read by Mo Yan, the first being The Garlic Ballads天堂蒜薹之歌”. Both novels are set in Mo Yan’s native Shandong Province, in the village of Gaomi, but any similarities end there. The Garlic Ballads is a depiction of corruption in rural China in the early 1980s, a period when the old certainties of communism fade and unbridled market forces are unleashed.

long journey through the tumultuous history of 20th century China

Big Breasts and Wide Hips is a long journey through the tumultuous history of 20th century China: it’s a saga of endless wars, revolutions and violent political persecutions; a desperate time when bayoneting Japanese soldiers, marauding Communist and Nationalist troops, famine, starvation, murderous family infighting, corruption and a whole cast of vile characters all play their part in wreaking havoc on Gaomi village.

Shanguan Lű

The heroine is Shanguan Lű. From her birth, in the middle of a massacre during the Boxer Rebellion, her life is an incredible story of survival and the irrepressible will to live on, through some of the most desperate situations a human being may have to endure.

Trangu Gompa / Thrangu Gompa / 禅古寺

Trangu Gompa / Thrangu Gompa / 禅古寺 Yushu, qinghai Province

(Latest: Thrangu Gompa was completely destroyed and many monks killed in the Yushu earthquake ) The Monastery has now been rebuilt.

Trangu Gompa / Thrangu Gompa / 禅古寺. Just off the main road between Yushu and the airport，on the other side of the river and up the hill, is the Trangu Gompa 禅古寺. The main chapel is a modern building, surrounded by traditionally built monks’ living quarters. The complex might seem rather unremarkable at a fist glance, and a little bit ramshackle.

don’t let first impressions put you off

However, don’t let first impressions put you off: once you are inside the main building, you’ll be dazzled by a feast of vibrant colours and stunning paintings that will bring about a “wow” reaction even from those who may have seen one temple too many. Our local driver was shaking his head in disbelief that he hadn’t known what was inside the main monastery building; “tai piaoliang, tai piaoliang (it’s so beautiful),” he kept repeating.

Trangu Gompa / Thrangu Gompa / 禅古寺artists from Tongren (Repkong)

The monastery employed artists from Tongren (Repkong), the most renowned in the Tibetan world and whose works can be found in Tibetan monasteries as far as Lhasa, to paint the inside of the chapels. Exceptionally, the artists actually travelled to Trangu and painted on site.