Zhejiang Province with Photography Club
Before I leave China, I have always wanted to go to see the Graffiti Village which has street art on the buildings in this small quaint village.
I decided to take some members of my photography club there on a weekend excursion in which we stayed in an old small town, saw the village, went to a lake and walked around, went to a cave and to a very famous Buddhist Temple.
The town we stayed in called Hou’an which was a small village that had a rather quaint feel to it. People selling snacks on the small streets, no big cars allowed, children helping with laundry in the local river, and fresh food being served were all things we witnessed. The home stay was quite nice as we were able to relax and base out of this small village.
Of course the meals here were outstanding with the freshest food coming from farms and fields all around the area…
We were able to take a quick stop by Hanshan Lake which is a popular lake in the region, although it looked as if it was closed up for the winter with no people around. A quick jaunt around the area to get some photos and it was off to the graffiti village…..
Even though this is not close to being a tourist attraction in China, after seeing pictures of it, I have always wanted to go (probably because of my love of street art). Walking around the area for a couple hours was more than enough as the village is not that big. There was plenty of murals with different art on it that was more than pleasant to look at and photograph. Some of them like all good art was hidden in small nooks and crannies, while others were in plain sight. Most of the artists were Chinese, but I saw a few pieces from other artists in perhaps different parts of the world….
We had a little extra time to kill so we went on a couple hour hike up a mountain to see a massive cave that had a hole in the top with water trickling down. Standing under it was beautiful with not enough water coming down to give you a shower, but enough to sprinkle you….
If any student from the 2022-2023 AP Comp Gov Class sees this, please email me immediately
One of the most famous Buddhist Temples in China and the initial site for the creation of the Tiantai school of Mahayana Buddhism is Guoqing Temple. It was founded about 1500 years ago and has gone through a few different renovations since then and has lost some artifacts from the Cultural Revolution. It is a very beautiful temple located on Mt. Tiantai in Taizhou. You can walk around here and see how the people revere Buddha and the different ways they show their spirituality from lighting incense, to candles, to prostrating in front of the statues, etc. It is really a quite relaxing place and one of the less crowded temples I have been to in Asia, yet being one of the most important…
