Sunday October 16, 2016

The hotel wakes up, the blazing sun is all over Shamian Island. Since my room is at the backside of the building, the traffic noise is not very noticeable.
Breakfast is wonderful, soup, lots of dumplings, rice, fruit. I phone Pieter to tell him all about it - but forget that, for him, it is only 3:30 AM ... He sounds very sleepy, so we keep it very brief and short.
The terrace next to the breakfast room is full of sunshine already, and wonderful, potted plants. This would be a great place to relax with a book, if only there were not so many cars outside riding on the Inner Ring Road. One plant on the terrace may be Bougainvillea, also some exotic lilacs and white and red flowers show their hearts, they look lovely in their red and blue pots. An employee of the hotel walks around to pour them water out of a can.

From the Shamian North road I cross the pedestrian bridge over the

Inner Ring Road, I reach the other side of this nine-lane road, where I discover the Herb Market (aka as Qingping market). This is a cluster of literally hundreds of little boots and shops, but also supermarkets, which are in the business of selling herbs. One could easily stroll around here for hours.

I am amazed at the size of this market and the huge quantities of herbs you can buy here, at unbelievably low prices. Located in the middle of this huge market, there is also a Traditional Chinese Medicine Center. I’d like to make an appointment here, just to better understand and experience the healing impact of the herbs. In the pharmacies, dried snake skin, dried spiders, crumbled turtle shells and many other peculiar medicines are offered for sale.
After this Chinese spectacle, I plan to take the metro to get to the Museum of Folk Art. Passengers around me kindly assist, gesticulating - but you need to be quick. After metro arrives, the doors open and close within a very short time span. I am not used to that, so the first two metros leave without me. In the meantime, I get a selfie request: I am really a rare foreigner here. A young kid looks intently at my eyes. Once in the metro, it is very warm; all passengers

are packed together. In general, however, the metro system is very modern and well managed. The metros ride at regular intervals, as instructed by computer programs.
All signs read in the Chinese language, and quite soon I have no idea where I am. So I decide it’s better to step out and do some orientation first. Marvelous place here! I see a building with beautiful roof tiles. They remind me of Clarence Eng’s recent lecture - at a KVVAK meeting in May 2016 - about his book on exactly this subject: Chinese roof tiles. I look upwards once more: is that Prince Min riding the Fenghuang on the roof?
I walk through a gate with River gods painted in all kinds of color. This gate leads to the buildings and inner squares of the Chen Clan Academy (1893) which are often considered as the “pearl of Lingnan architectural art”. These wonderful buildings are covered by Gods, animals and is full of figurines on the roof. The Chen Clan Ancestral

Hall was founded in the 14th year of the Guangxu reign (1888) and completed in the 19th year (1893). The funds came of the various clans of Guangdong, all with the Chen surname.
The heat is overwhelming. Artists are sitting outside under wooden pergolas, carving figurines; painting and drawing scrolls. I enter a garden with green, lush trees: it serves well as a safe haven from the heat. On one of the (six) inner squares I note some splendid Bonsai trees in big pots; I would love to take them home!

There is also a museum with a wide variety of high quality folk art: calligraphy, ink stones, paintings, wood carvings, furniture, jewelry. A Chinese poem written by Guo Moruo says: “A visit to this place is better than ten years learning from books”. I do indeed get a lot of inspiration here. I also enjoy the porcelain and old furniture – this is indeed a nice place to visit. It is easy to find your way via the corridors. In front of me a man walks around with a pile of water and a

broom. He is one of those working people you note everywhere, silently flip-flopping among the tourist crowds, cleaning up behind them.
In the museum’s bookshop, there are wonderful books on art and folk art, but there is only one book that reads in English - about Guangzhou’s trade with Europe. It is slightly damaged but the price is reduced. Within minutes it passes into the hot little hands of its new owner, me of course. I also buy a hand painted fan with a dragon and a phoenix; and some Chinese aquarel brushes in a small green box. All very cheap.
Well preserved and magnificently decorated, the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall is the largest architecture still extant in Guangdong. It covers a local area of 15,000 square meters with a construction area of 64,000 square meters. Its 19 individual units are connected by long corridors with halls, rooms, pavilions. It is a good example of the traditional Chinese academic buildings with courtyards neatly arranged to provide comfortable living space. For the decorations, a great variety of materials and techniques, such as wood carving, brick carving, stone carving, stucco relief, pottery figures, iron and copper ornamentation, surface painting and murals were deployed to create

the best effects.
The Academy served as a short term accommodation space for members of the Chen clans who came to Gaungzhou to sit through provincial imperial exams; or members awaiting assignment postings to other regions. It also accommodated the tax administration and the judicial system.
I still want to visit the Guangzhou Zenhai Tower museum so at 15:30 I run out through the gate and wait for a taxi in the stifling heat and smog.
The highway is busy. I jump up and down and wave hands, but it takes half an hour before a cab stops to pick me up. I get out at the entrance of the Yuexi park and need a small bus which will take me through the park and then to the museum. I am just in time to catch the last bus of the day. Instantly, the Chinese passengers ask me for a selfie. I accept, because it takes more time to refuse them. I now realize what well known stars must feel like, being chased where-ever they go. The small bus has an open roof. The park is still crowded with people.
The bus arrives at the museum: I jump out and run up many steep stairs, passing families picnicking on the side. I get another request

for a selfie, and another and another. I need to hurry up; I will have only 45 minutes to see the collections. There will be celadons, Dehua, and more.

It is all in vain. After having run into the statue of the five Rams, a symbol for the city of Guangzhou, meant to command admiration and radiate power, it dawns on me… that… I took the wrong stairs.
The gatekeepers at the exit of the Yiuxue park kindly let me out…
Metro again. It runs from the park station back to the center, I need to switch once. Seems easy and straightforward, but I get lost again.
Travelling up and down the line, I finally take the right metro. I am so happy; I get more more selfie requests and more and more kids are trying to look closely and curiously at my skin and eyes – but I don’t mind.
Passing through the herbal market again, I see the vendors packing up their stuff to go home. The evening has begun and it will get dark quickly. The traffic is still incredible. My throat hurts; the smog is just everywhere.

Before I leave the market, I want to buy some real Chinese medicine.
The pharmacist lights a cigarette. He sends over a girl to assist me. Ah, ginger, that is real Chinese! I point my finger and buy a plastic bag, with that real Chinese stuff. When the deal is done, as if struck

by inspiration from heaven, the girl calls out to me: “From the Americas!”. And indeed, on the bag, it says "Wisconsin"...
I cross the pedestrian bridge for the second time today in order to get back to the hotel. There are so many cars passing under my feet, that - in this heat - I feel like being grilled to the bone. Sweat gushes down my back.

In the hotel lobby, because of my dirty looks and soaked clothes, I try to keep myself out of sight to the extent possible. I do want to quickly ask though, if the rest of the group has maybe already arrived during the day? It is hard to communicate with the receptionists: they struggle with their English. Then, all of a sudden, I hear a familiar voice calling out: ”ALICE!!!!!!!!!!!”.
It is Bente! And she looks soooo chique and dashingly lady like. And, oh gosh, there are more members of the group!
I greet and hug Bente, Carl, Christine, Marion, Stephen and Truke – each of them looking so fresh and elegant. They let me go to my room to make myself a bit more presentable.
Then I join them at the big round table in the hotel restaurant. From this point onward, I am part of the group schedule.

Dinner is delicious with lots of vegetables. Two trainees are serving our table, and they do that really well. We are happy with them, we write on paper notes how happy and content we are; these young ladies will use it for their marks.
Then a picture is taken with them, which is most likely against the “rules of the house”: the young ladies are seated in chairs and the group encircles them, looking at them in admiration!
I join Bente and Truke for a walk outside.
The moon is up, it shines above the Our Ladies of Lourdes Chapel.
Along the river bank of the Pearl river we walk, turn left and return to the hotel.

Photos:
1) Flowers on the terrace of the Victory Hotel
2) The North bridge and the Victory Hotel
3) The Victory Hotel
4) Passenger bridge towards the Herb market and hotel
5) The Guangdong Folk Art Museum or Chen Clan Academy
6) Roof ornaments Foshan style
7) Duan Ink stone
8) Bonsai
9) Ornaments on the outer walls
10)Administrator's room

11)Gold plated wooden construction
12)Folk art
13)Mao plate
15)Folk art statues
16)Folk Art wooden corridor
17)The Five Rams statue in the park Yuexiu Park
18)Detail of the Five Rams statue
19)Chapel of Maria de Lourdes on Shamian island
20)Shamian view of the Pearl river