Day 6 - 30 August 2008
Yep. Today was part 1 of the Wuhan City Tour. I think the tour was conducted by an external agency. And yep, they gave everyone a round hat, which resulted me looking like a terminally-ill patient going for an overseas trip in the photos. LOL. BTW, it was another raining day! =.=
First, we visited the Hubei Provincial Museum. Most of the collections basically displayed artefact of ancient Chu State, which existed during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States period. An extract from Wikipedia about the Chu State:
"a kingdom in what is now central and southern China during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BC) and Warring States Period (481-221 BC).
Its ruling house had surname mi (芈), and clan name xiong 熊, and originally was of the noble rank of zi, roughly comparable to a viscount.
It was originally known as Jing (荆) and then as Jingchu (荆楚). At the height of its power, the Chu kingdom occupied vast areas of land, including the present-day provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, Henan, Shanghai, and parts of Jiangsu. The Chu capital was at Ying (郢), around modern-day Jingzhou, which is located in what is today Hubei province."
Yep, so to say, Wuhan, which is part of Hubei province, is part of the ancient Chu State during the 春秋战国時代.
Anyway, the artefact are rather interesting and of great historical value. For example, the sword belonging to King Guojian of Yue (越王勾踐), or commonly known as Sword of Goujian. You can read more about it if you want =D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Goujian
Another one would be the Spear of Fuchai, which belonged to King Fuchai of Wu (吳王夫差), arch-rival of Guojian. However, the artefact wasn't at the museum as it was loaned to Beijing for the Beijing Olympics. =(
BTW, you would know who the 2 kings are if you have read before the story, 卧薪尝胆. =P
Anyway, I think the most fascinating exhibition is the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. For this exhibition, I think i should let photos to do the work. =D For more info, can check this website too! I think their explanation is more accurate than what I am going to say. =P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Marquis_Yi_of_Zeng
After the visit to the museum, we went for lunch at the shou yi yuan xiao shi jie. Kind of a food street with a lot local delicacies. Probably everyone enjoyed the best is the Soup Bun (tang bao) AND Beancurd skin (Wuhan delicacy). Quite a wonderful experience because there are a great range of variety of interesting (and weird looking) food. For example, Yuting mistaken the prawns as cockroaches. LOL.
BTW, something to reflect. I realised that (as of now), the foodcourts/centres uses electronic cards instead of cash. Something like cashless purchase like those in Singapore Kopitiam. Is it a trend in China? probably yes. Maybe this is done to minimise 'corruption' and centralise all funds flow in a specific food centre.
After the meal, we continued to move on and go to the Yellow Crane tower (Huang He Lou). It is built on top of a hill. Apparently, there are lots of legends about the origin of yellow crane tower. One of the more famous one involved one of the 8 immortals, Lu Dongbin. Anyway, we went up the tower and took numerous photos. Seriously, the view from the tower is magnificant. rather pity because it was raining. Ohya, everyone complained of cold. =P
In short, the yellow crane tower is a must go attraction in Wuhan. I think. =D
Before i end the post, I realised something about Wuhan. Most of our day today were spent in Wuchang District (also the location of the famous Wuchang Uprising in 1911 against the Qing Manchu Dynasty). Maybe majority of Wuchang is quite developed, the infrastructure is completely different from what I have elaborate (briefly) in Day 1 posts and others. The infrastructure, planning of roads, traffic flow etc are much better as compared to day 1. Maybe this is the 'real Wuhan' people are expecting. Ohya, this could be a result of uneven development of a city? lol
Yep. that's all for today. Take care! =)
P.S. somehow the Yellow Crane Tower was burnt down at least once in every dynasty since Tang Dynasty. =.= The most recent one was in the 70s or 80s, i think.
