Tuesday October 18, 2016

Already at 7:00 hrs in the morning, the traffic is roaring on the Inner Ring Road. Christine and I are swimming in the pool outside, at the tenth floor of the Victory hotel. We have a great time splashing around.
Grey smog hangs over all of us in the city, the smell is dirty and grey too. Swimming, we inhale a lot of air and I doubt if this exercise will do us any good? Breathing in and breathing out: is that a good idea, in Canton? A somber looking man is smoking a cigarette on the terrace, next to the pool. He looks a bit like inspector Maigret. He leans against the railing and fixes his eyes on the traffic down below.

He is here for the Canton Trade Fair, has business meetings.

“Canton was a large, densely populated Chinese city. Most of the buildings in this ca. 1800 view (see image) are two- or three-story buildings used both as residences and shops. Prominently featured in the foreground, with foreign flags, the area to which foreigners were confined was a tiny district of several acres on the banks of the river, where thousands of boats collected for trade. Many cities along China’s southern coast had created foreign quarters for much earlier generations of Indian and Middle Eastern traders. The Westerners were just the latest arrivals.” (Source; OCW MIT)

This morning we will visit the Guangdong museum.
The very modern building, designed by the architect Rocco, looks like a dark grey box. Inside, the architecture is inspired by the concentric carving of the legendary ivory balls; it slices through the box, creating interesting spatial patterns which lure visitors into the exhibition rooms.
We see many Chinese treasures: there are porcelain objects from all dynasties: Yue ware, Shiwan, Longquan, Guan, Jun, Yixing teapots, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing headsets, Dehua statues. There are wood crafted artefacts, old stoneware, ink stones and paintings.
We also try to absorb the information about the history and development of the city of Guangzhou. On top of all this, there are geological exhibitions of the various stone types and earth layers of the neighbourhood.
I am particularly impressed by a wonderful Yuan blue-and-white vase.
I also like the Duan ink stone exhibition with the scholar table and the many different Duan ink stones which are on show (with carved

decorations of a turtle, a dragon, a fish or a plum tree in a landscape).

The ink stones are from Duan, so coming from Duanzhou, (now Zhaoqing), Guangdong, where for 1000 years the most beautiful ink stones were crafted.
The clock is ticking fast; we only have 90 minutes for this wonderful museum.
At the reception desk, I had asked for a museum audio guide and was referred to an English speaking lady at the desk. Within no time, I am surrounded by many of her colleagues who do not seem to understand either. I show my yuans and point to my ears - upon which they seize some of those yuans and let me sign a paper. And there is the audio guide.

This is an amazing museum, so big, but so unknown to me; why did I not bother to look it up beforehand?
By the time we meet for lunch, I feel we did not get enough time to see everything, and the others agree. So we ask the guide if we can skip lunch, to gain more time.
The muesli bar in my hand bag serves me very well now. We go back

to the porcelains to take more pictures and enjoy.

The next stop will be Zhenhai tower (yes: the museum I could not find last Sunday), which is in fact a five story pagoda , It was built by Zhiu Lin in 1380 (Ming) on the Yuexiu hill, surrounded by the Yuexi park.

Several times the building was destroyed due to war activities, but each time it got rebuilt.
Poems were dedicated to this pagoda, full of admiration for its steadfastness. Peng Yulin, for example, a defense minister of the Qing, wrote, in 1885, a favourite couplet, well known by the Cantonese:

This tower survives, despite disasters and tragedies
But who now can aspire to greatness or acknowledge the past
Gone are those Kings and lords who used to rule and fight this place
Only I am here contemplating my sword and my tear for the heroes
Peng had stayed at the tower when the Sino-French wars broke out. He was deeply frustrated however. Against his wishes, the Qing dynasty rulers had negotiated peace with the French, even though this enemy had already lost the battle.
Another defense commander wrote “Climbing up the Zenhai tower”. I wish our defense ministers wrote poems sometimes! The Zenhai tower appears in paintings as well, for example in the painting by Guan Shanyue called “Spring comes to the city of goat”, showing a

beautiful tree with, in the background, in the mist, the Zenhai tower.
This museum has over 1000 artefacts related to Guangzhou history.
Guangzhou was the capital for three local dynasties: the Nanyue (B.C. 204 – B.C. 111), the Southern Han (917 – 971 A.D. and the Southern Ming (1644 – 1664 A.D. . It was also one of the starting points for the maritime Silk route; and a key city for trade with China.
During the Tang the main sources of revenue in Guangzhou were excise duties on salt and tea. Ceramics became one of the main export materials from China ever since the Tang.

The ceramic making technique was constantly improved and many famous kilns were arose between the Tang and Yuan dynasties. They produced Changsha, West Village ware, Jingdezhen, Longquan, Jianyangh and Jizhou ware.
Thanks to the convenient transport and overseas marine system, Guangzhou became a major harbour for exporting Chinese ceramics to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India, Arabic empires and Western Europe. The history in the museum shows its glory over the ages.
After Qianlong’s implementation of the one port policy, Guangzhou was the only Chinese port open for international trade; it was chosen for its superb location. Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs was the only organization for overseas maritime trade.
On its five floors this museum exhibits objects such as city-maps with details of the trade posts at the docks and sea maps showing maritime routes.

We admire a painting referring to the legend of the Five Rams of Guangzhou.
There are miniature houses in pottery; figurines from the Eastern Han; Longquan wares; a great gall-bladder bottle in blue and red, with a red dragon from Qianlong; rooftiles with a fearsome monster with two horns, and much more.
I liked the statues of people working in Guangzhou: the Sogdians, who travelled from far to fulfil jobs in the city. They had heavy beards and deep brown eyes; they believed in Zoroastrianism, Nestorism or Manicheism, and traveled around as merchants, artists or musicians - or servants to the rich.
The Opium Wars get a lot of exhibition space, as Guangzhou was a major city for the black opium market.

On the top floor of the museum we find pictures of Joseph Needham, visiting (and signing the guest book) in the 1970’s. He wrote “Science and Civilization in China” the famous series still read today by so many. The film actor Nicolas Cage visited this museum too; he got famous with the film “Leaving Las Vegas”.
From the terrace at the top floor, I have a good view on the Olympic

stadium. I see the park and the city (in grey fumes of smog, alas).
Time presses onward again. The program is indeed ambitious; every minute is spent to absorb arts in China (or…taste Chinese food, of course). I run downstairs and find the group in the shop. They focus on the books, but only one or two of read in English.
As we walk back to the bus, I see the statue of the Five Rams again, wondering how I ended up in the forest last Sunday (instead of at the museum)…

Our last stop for the day is the Nanyue Tomb Museum. It houses the 2,000-year-old tomb of the Nanyue King Zhao Mo.
At the entrance we put our bags through the scanner. It must be a really smart scanner, as no one looks at any screen!
The tomb of King Zhao Mo, who ruled from 137 BC to 122 BC was discovered in downtown Guangzhou, in 1983. In fact ,it was excavated on the exact spot where the museum is built (it opened in 1988). Our guide finds us a room where a movie is shown about the Nanyue King and the culture of his time.
Even though the tomb is empty now, I feel like an invader. More than 2000 years ago, everyone must have felt something when he died, his concubines were forced to die... Families had to let go of their loved ones.

Zhao Mo got buried with 47 jade Bi on this body and pearls in his mouth. It was commonly believed, that this would preserve his body. Many luxury artifact surrounded him in the tomb - the total amount of jade objects found in the tomb was 224. His concubines were buried in in a separate room.

For the exposition, everything was taken out of the tomb: lots of jade, and porcelain - and.. the king’s teeth. Sam and Marion, both dentists, carefully check them out, using their trained, professional eye.
There is so much to admire. Our group moves on, into the other rooms. I stay behind, trying out a machine which was used for making jade. And then all of a sudden, some guards come in and catch me. Apparently, I am the last one around, and the place is already closed.
Via a secret door through a corridor for personnel we land on the stairs leading to the exit…
It is raining. The bus picks us up and drives us into the evening traffic. Carl speaks with admiration of the porcelain pillows he saw, one with a beautiful poem.
On our way to the hotel we stop at the restaurant TaoRan Xuan at Shamian South street near a park and the Shamian quay.
It is nice and quiet here; we are seated again at a round table. The conversation is lively. Marion tells us interesting things about Hong Kong, Bente talks about the book The White Road, Carl brings up Needham and Christine speaks of porcelain, found in shipwrecks. The food is delicious here. Truke has offered us a bottle of wine.
In the background, we hear a Chinese zither (in Chinese: Guzheng) playing. A fairy tale like lady, very soft and sweet in style, with long black hair and dressed in white, flowing, silk is the angelic source of these inspiring tones. The restaurant is so beautiful and calm…
Back in the hotel, I phone Pieter, lucky me as he is doing great!
Then I drink tea and write these notes in my note book.