OUR 10-day journey through China’s Jinan (Shandong Province), Zhengzhou (Henan Province) and Xian (Shaanxi Province) from June 19 to 28, 2017 was exciting and rewarding.
The all-expense-paid trip, hosted by the Consulate-General in Kuching of the People’s Republic of China, was called ‘Sarawak-One Belt One Road Historical and Cultural Visit Tour.’
It was the third such activity organised by the consulate-general for the media people; the first was held in 2015.
The just-concluded three-province journey is so far the longest and covered the most places, according to China’s Kuching Consul-General Mr Fu Jijun.
Eight media representatives including the writer from Sarawak-based newspapers and radio were in the team as invitees of the Chinese Government. The other journalists were from Sinchew Daily, International Times, United Daily News, See Hua Daily, Borneo Post and Tea FM.
Apart from the first and last days which were mostly spent in planes and airports from Kuching to Jinan (almost 16 hours) and Xian to Kuching (almost 17 hours), our eight days in China were packed with actions. Fortunately our feet did not fail us despite having to walk under the hot summer sun for hours every day.
JINAN – CAPITAL OF SHANDONG
Our first destination was Jinan, known as the ‘City of Springs’ because of its many springs. In the morning of June 20, we were taken to visit the Shandong Provincial Museum.
It is a gigantic, tall building displaying tens of thousands of items including relics of up to 2,000 years’ old, paintings, calligraphy pieces and all types of tools, weapons used by the ancestors of the tough, straight-talking Shandong people. Ancient Lu and Qi States appear to be staring at visitors. The museum is one of the few in China most visited by the locals as well as international travellers. The museum official who took us around said as many as 20,000 people visited the place a day.
The museum visit was followed by a meeting between senior Shandong Province officials and the eight visiting Malaysians who were briefed on Shandong’s economic development and cultural richness.
In the afternoon, we visited the famous Daming Lake noted for its history related to the past dynasties and its numerous swinging, soothing willow trees.
Our tour guide then led us to another popular tourist spot, the Baotu Spring, the most famous among Jinan’s 72 artesian wells. The pure, sweet and drinkable water, flowing at a rate of 240,000 cubic metres per day, gushes from the underground caves. At times, a thunder-like sound can be heard.
The following day, we headed to Taiann to climb the famous 5,000-foot high Taishan Mountain.
The experience of climbing up and down the mountain which lasted three hours was awesome and unforgettable.
The journey to the top of Taishan Mountain where a Confucius Temple is located is a combination of bus-ride, cable car-slide and plenty of legwork.
The views along the route and from the mountain top are breathtaking, to say the least.
NEXT STOP: ZHENGZHOU
We took a high-speed train in the following morning from Jinan to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province. The 3 ½ -hour ride was fast and comfortable.
Zhengzhou is where the world-famous Shaolin Temple is located. The sprawling Shaolin place is the cradle of the Chinese martial arts that provides the inspiration for numerous Kung Fu movies. It is huge and its many ancient structures on the 2-km land fire the visitors’ imagination on the many Shaolin stories and the ways of life led by the devoted monks.
Our busy schedule in Henan also took us to the famous Millennium City Park, Longmen Grottoes, Lung Ting, Magistrate Pao Temple and White Horse Temple.
While the scroll ‘Qingming Festival by the Riverside’ painted one thousand years ago by the famous artist Zhang Zeduan depicting the daily life, customs of Song Dynasty people takes visitors back to time, a stroll along the Kaifeng streets is intriguing knowing that beneath the streets lies the ancient Kaifeng town which was completed submerged by floods several hundred years ago.
LAST DESTINATION: XIAN
From Zhengzhou, we arrived at Xian, the capital of Shaanxi, after a 3-hour high-speed train journey. The 9-million-people city, the imperial capital of 11 dynasties in China, was the last leg of our 10-day visit-China tour.
Xian’s history goes back 3,000 years and is home to the world-famous Terracotta Warriors, the life-sized guards of Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The culture-rich city, Athens, Cairo and Rome are the four major ancient civilization capitals of the world.
Known in the past as Chang’an, it was home to the ruling house of 13 dynasties notably the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang.
As the eastern terminal of the Silk Road, Xian is on the natural westward land route out of China into Central Asia.
Our two days in the fascinating city were solidly used visiting Emperor Qinshihuang’s Maosoleum Site Museum, Xian Beilin Museum, Forest of Stone Steles Museum, Daming Palace Site, Defu Lane, Bell Tower and Tang Dynasty Palace.
FRUIT OF WELL-SPENT TRIP
China, the world’s second largest economy, is today a supremely confident, prosperous and helpful nation.
Its achievements in the past six decades since becoming a republic have been phenomenal, considering that it has a huge population to feed and was for thousands of years a divided nation.
People in the Confucius-influenced country are enjoying a good standard of living, thanks to its rapid economic development and political stability.
Their contentment and confidence for a better tomorrow can be measured by the orderly big crowds at tourist spots, shopping malls, market places and even property development company sale outlets.
Their famous overseas shopping sprees running into billions of dollars in recent years have undoubtedly helped those nations that badly need the cash.
China’s One Belt One Road Initiative is a genuine effort by the Asia economic powerhouse to lift the economic standard of other nations especially those neighbouring her and those underdeveloped.
For a nation that is creating a few millionaires every day, it is clearly capable of and is doing it now.
