An Ancient City of Classical Gardens and Canals

Personally, I think the classical gardens of Suzhou, listed on the World Heritages by UNESCO in 1997, are definitely the highlights of this ancient city. The Humble Administrator's Garden, Lingering Garden, Lion Grove Garden and Tiger Hilletc, all have history of over hundreds years and full of fascinating stories. Take the Humble Administrator’s Garden as an example, Wang Xianchen, an administrator in the Ming Dynasty who was disappointed in the governmental administration, returned to Suzhou after his retirement.  Wang said, “Gardening and growing vegetables is the way of administration of a clumsy person like me”. It turned out that such saying later took the name of the garden. It is indeed a masterpiece of nature and artificiality combination with crystalline lakes, verdant hills, pavilions, terraces and chambers.

To experience the unique culture of the Wu Region, I would recommend seeing the Kunqu (Suzhou Opera) and Pingtan (storytelling). The latter is a kind of story-telling art in Wu dialect dating all the way back to the Tang and Sung Dynasties. A pair of performers, usually a man and a woman, sing and tell serial stories of romances. The singings are accompanied by folk musical instruments such as the “Pipa” and “Sanxian” (Banjo).  Their crisp and delightful tune of ballad singings are definitely impressive. 

Tibet is an isolated region that outsiders are intrigued by its mysterious religion and magnificent natural scenery. The journey included the few major cities in Tibet - Lhasa, Gyangze and Xigatse. We took a flight from Chengdu to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region at 3,700 meters above sea level. In fact, the mild headache I suffered in the first few days did remind me that I was standing on the rooftop of the world. We visited a number of monasteries including the “World Cultural Heritage” – Potala Palace. The huge red and white palace is a landmark of Lhasa, which situates proudly on a mountain guarding this holy city. Potala Palace has been witnessing the past 100 years changes of Lhasa and fortunately, it could be remained. Today, it is the most important and memorable historical building for the Tibetans.

We have been to one of the three major monasteries of Yellow Sect Buddhism – the Deprung Monastery, and have seen the famous “debating” amongst the monks, which is a key activity of training monks. The monks were shouting and arguing to each other with their body gesture as if they were about to fight. By having such fierce debates, they were indeed going through a process of learning and understanding their religion.  Away from Lhasa city, we passed through the snowy-white mountains and the Mt. Kangbala at 4990 meters altitude, reached the lake Yumzhog Yum, one of the 3 holy lakes in Tibet. We had a picnic by the lakeside to enjoy the beauty and quietness of the nature. The lake was in deep blue color sitting at the bottom of the mountain. The water was calm as silk. The sky was also in blue and was so close to us. The scene was wonderful. For a city person like me, having a lunch in such an unspoiled environment was definitely a deluxe experience.

The life of Tibetans is harsh. For most of the families, they only live with their basic needs, without beautiful house and luxury items. However, Tibetans are devoted to their religion and choose to live a peaceful life. When we passed by a village on the way back from Xigaze to Lhasa, a Tibetan family welcomed us into their home. Their settlement was simple and crude. The whole family was living in a little hut and their only property was two yaks. Our visit aroused a sudden excitement of the children in the village. They were curious to foreign visitors and blissfully happy to receive our candies. For Tibetans, their lives are simple but easy to fulfill. They own the nature, live with it and the most important is, they are spiritually rich. 

The ease of restrictions in once-forbidden areas allows travelers to have a closer look at this amazing Buddhist kingdom. Visiting Tibet is a cultural, spiritual and natural journey.

Echo Ng
Aug 2006 (published in the Silk Road E-news Aug 2006 issue)