Home again, home again, jiggety jig
Well guess what? RB and I have made it back home to Melbourne on Friday 7 April in one piece after a crazy 24 hrs of travel from Hong Kong to Melbourne on 1 train and 2 planes via Guangzhou and Singapore. More about that later...
I want to take the blog back to the last day in Guangzhou (Friday 31 March) before treking off to Macau. I went and visited a monument that hadn't made it into the Lonely Planet guide, but was near to RB's work and he'd recommended I visit. The concert/memorial hall of Dr Sun Yat-sen was rather an eye opener. It was a huge building with the usual pagoda style features, but built in an octagonal shape, at least 2 stories high and in beautiful blue, green and red colours. We had previously visited another memorial for Dr Sun Yat-sen in the park, on a hill, immediately behind the concert hall.
Who was Dr Sun Yat-sen? I had seen pictures of him at university in Hong Kong in the museum, read about him establishing hospitals, and understood he was a revered person. Some call him the "The Father of the Revolution" or "The Father of the Republic." He was a revolutionary who profoundly changed the course of history in China, by trying to end Dynastic rule. Sun Yat-sen based his idea of revolution on three principles: nationalism, democracy, and equalization. He had to team up with the communist party to fight his battles and finally triumphed with the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912 with him as president. He had it cruelly snatched from him by the dictatorial and ambitious Yüan Shih-kai. He died in 1924, with China in ruins, torn by the anarchy and violence of competing warlords. His ideas, however, became the basis of the Nationalist government established in 1928. Interesting to think about democracy in China isn't it?
Not far from there I wandered across to the People's Park. That Friday afternoon the park was alive with people dancing! There were 3 groups of people set up along the main avenue of the park, each with stereos blaring different styles of music and drawing a large crowd of dancers and onlookers. I found this sight a very happy one as people practiced their steps, enjoyed the company of others, and both old grandmas and young pretty girls got into the mix with the couples and moved in their own time and way to the music. It looked like so much fun on a steamy, humid afternoon in GZ!
I want to take the blog back to the last day in Guangzhou (Friday 31 March) before treking off to Macau. I went and visited a monument that hadn't made it into the Lonely Planet guide, but was near to RB's work and he'd recommended I visit. The concert/memorial hall of Dr Sun Yat-sen was rather an eye opener. It was a huge building with the usual pagoda style features, but built in an octagonal shape, at least 2 stories high and in beautiful blue, green and red colours. We had previously visited another memorial for Dr Sun Yat-sen in the park, on a hill, immediately behind the concert hall.
Who was Dr Sun Yat-sen? I had seen pictures of him at university in Hong Kong in the museum, read about him establishing hospitals, and understood he was a revered person. Some call him the "The Father of the Revolution" or "The Father of the Republic." He was a revolutionary who profoundly changed the course of history in China, by trying to end Dynastic rule. Sun Yat-sen based his idea of revolution on three principles: nationalism, democracy, and equalization. He had to team up with the communist party to fight his battles and finally triumphed with the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912 with him as president. He had it cruelly snatched from him by the dictatorial and ambitious Yüan Shih-kai. He died in 1924, with China in ruins, torn by the anarchy and violence of competing warlords. His ideas, however, became the basis of the Nationalist government established in 1928. Interesting to think about democracy in China isn't it?
Not far from there I wandered across to the People's Park. That Friday afternoon the park was alive with people dancing! There were 3 groups of people set up along the main avenue of the park, each with stereos blaring different styles of music and drawing a large crowd of dancers and onlookers. I found this sight a very happy one as people practiced their steps, enjoyed the company of others, and both old grandmas and young pretty girls got into the mix with the couples and moved in their own time and way to the music. It looked like so much fun on a steamy, humid afternoon in GZ!
posted by Polecat at 2:48 AM
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