All posts by Cassidy Tse

Traditional Fermented Bean Curd

Fermented bean curd, is a traditional Chinese folk delicacy, which also exists in Southeast Asia. Bean curd is usually divided into three categories: green, red and white.

White bean curd is represented by Guilin bean curd. Guilin bean curd has a long history and is well known, as far back as the Song Dynasty. It is one of the three treasures of Guilin. Guilin fermented bean curd has a set of processes from grinding, filtering to shaping, pressing dry, mildew, and material selection is also very careful. The fermented bean curd is small, fine and soft in texture, orange transparent on the surface, delicious and fragrant, rich in nutrition, improve appetite, help digestion, is commonly used food, but also cooking seasoning. In May 1937, in the National handicraft products Exhibition held in Shanghai, Guilin curd was highly praised, and thus sold well at home and abroad. In 1983, it was rated as the national high quality food.

The raw material of fermented bean curd is the “white blank” of dried bean curd. White billets were inoculated with the right kind of mold, cultured under the right conditions, and soon white hairs grew on them — and the mold multiplied. These white hairs may look scary, but there’s no need to worry about them, because they don’t do any harm. All they do is break down the proteins in the white body and produce amino acids and some B vitamins. To the long hair of the white billet rubbing hair treatment, and finally salt, become curd.

Shaxi is located in the southwest of Jianchuan, Yunnan Province, China, between Dali Scenic Spot and Lijiang Ancient City. As an important post station of the ancient Tea horse Road, Shaxi was once flourishing, but with the fading of the role of the ancient Tea horse Road, it was abandoned by civilized society.

Shaxi, an ancient town, has gone through a process of development, expansion, glory, and decline, leaving only silent stone Bridges, ancient roads, and ancient streets quietly telling its past. Compared with other ancient towns, there are few tourists in Shaxi. There are also many local people living in the town. There are many characteristic art shops, small bars, and b&BS along the streets of the town, and the names of each shop are full of a romantic atmosphere.

Shaxi is quite peaceful in the twilight, with a full moon hanging on the ridge of the ancient stage as if you can hear the sound of the stars flowing.

Mount Gongga

Mount Gongga is known as the “King of Shu Mountains” not only for its charm, but also for its difficulty. For nearly a hundred years, mountaineers have left glory here, but also regret and grief. Mount Gongga is  Located in the Hengduan Mountains at 7,556 meters above sea level, it is the highest peak in Sichuan Province.

Mount Gongga has not only a unique vegetation distribution, but also many glaciers. One of the most famous is hailuogou Glacier, the lowest glacier in Asia. These glaciers are all Marine glaciers, which have sufficient material supply, fast flow speed and more severe erosion of mountains.

Sanqing Mountain

Sanqing Mountain is located at the junction of Yushan County and Dexing City, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, China. Because of the jade Beijing, jade xu, Yuhua three peaks just like Taoist jade qing, Shangqing, Taiqing three gods sit on the top of the mountain named. Among them, Yujing Peak is the highest, with an elevation of 1,819.9 meters. It is the fifth highest peak in Jiangxi province and the highest peak in Huaiyu Mountains, as well as the source of xinjiang River. Sanqing Mountain is a Taoist mountain, world Natural Heritage site, world geological park, national natural heritage, national geological park.

The granite microlandforms of different genesis are densely distributed in Sanqing Mountain, showing the peak forest with the densest distribution and the most diverse forms among the known granite landforms in the world. 2,373 species of higher plants and 1,728 species of wild animals constitute the most biodiverse environment in East Asia. The Taoist history of more than 1600 years has bred rich Taoist cultural connotation. The Ancient buildings of Sanqing Palace arranged according to the eight diagrams have been evaluated as “the open-air museum of Ancient Taoist architecture in China” by the Expert group of Cultural Relics Research of The State Council.

Mountain of the world heritage committee said: in a relatively small area shows the unique granite columns and peaks, rich modelling of granite stone and a variety of vegetation, variation of landscape and the climate of shocking spectacle, created the unique landscape aesthetic effect in the world, and presents a fascinating natural beauty. National Geographic of China selected it as one of the five most beautiful Peaks in China. Chinese and American geologists agree that it is “the most beautiful granite at the edge of the western Pacific”.

Mangkang county, located in Tibet autonomous region, the thousand-year salt wells existing more than 3000 pieces, and retain the relatively complete ancient salt production in our country.

The ancient salt wells can be found on both sides of the Lancang River. There are a lot of salt wells, the turbulent Lancang River through the middle, and the cliff with wooden piles is the salt fields, but they look abandoned for a long time. These are the ancient ruins of salt wells, under the action of external force, such as soaking in the water, and many ancient salts brine well wood pillar by varying degrees of damage, and in the lancang river rose water every year, they have been washed out of the dangerous river, because the ancient salt brine well is under a steep slope, there exist the possibility of a landslide, saved thousands of years is not easy.

To save the ruins, the local government set up the protection of cultural relics protection working group with professionals, also let us feel the wisdom of the ancient working people. After all, in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, far from the sea, it’s not easy to have such a large salt well.

The Small Seven-hole Bridge

Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Spot, located in Libo County of southern Guizhou, bordering Huanjiang and Nandan of Guangxi. It covers an area of about 273 square kilometers, and was listed into the list of World Natural Heritage site in 2007 for its fine examples of karst scenery.

The scenic area mainly consists of the Xiaoqikong (Small Seven-hole Bridge) Scenic Zone, Daqikong (Large Seven-hole Bridge) Scenic Zone, Shuichun River Scenic Area and Zhangjiang River Scenic Area. The former two, dubbed “Little Jiuzhaigou”, unveil a wide array of waterfalls, streams, lakes, forests and fantastic caves.

Fengjing Ancient Town

Ancient Town of Fengjing is located in the southwestern corner of Shanghai. It has long been known as a typical ancient water town in the southern Yangtze with profound significance of history and culture, as well as one of the four most famous towns in the south China. The green water, low houses and the boats moving slowly on the river make up a tranquil and picturesque water town. Others which enjoy similar reputations are Nanxun Ancient Town, Wangjiangjing in Zhejiang Province, and Shengze in Jiangsu Province.

Fengjing Ancient Town has a history of over 1,500 years. Demarcated by the boundary river in its center, it was governed separately by Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces from 1430 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

In the town, many buildings are mainly two-story structures of brick and timber with white washed walls and black-tile-covered roofs. Each has wing-rooms, dooryard and walkway. The total area of old residences in the four main streets reaches 12 acres, and nine locations among these are included in the Shanghai Unmovable Cultural Relics.

Another specialty in the town is local food delicacies, such as the yellow wine, pork trotter, Zhuang Yuan Cake and Tian Xiang Dry Bean Curd are all known as the “Four Treasures of Fengjing”.

China Snow Town

China’s Snow Town, a beautiful village, aptly named “the home of snow”. Located in the Shuangfeng Wood Farm in Hailin City (under the jurisdiction of Mudanjiang City), the village is about 280 kilometers away from Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province. White snow, red lanterns and blue skies make here a very charming place in winter.

The village is at an elevation of 1,500 meters and covers an area of 500 hectares. It consists of around twenty wooden houses decorated with strings of golden corn and red chili hung to dry. In winter the snow here can reach up to two meters which creating a winter wonderland. With its fascinating snowy scenery, this is a must-visit place for photography enthusiasts.

Though endowed with the pure and beautiful snowscape in the world, the Snow Town was not known to the outside world until it was discovered by some shutterbugs and their photos won the international reputation in several years ago. Since then, a lot of TV shows and films were shot in here. After that, China’s Snow Town is regarded as a dreamlike paradise in winter. Its high mountains, local traditional wooden houses, animals, trees and the sunrise are all greatly different from those in the other world’s snowy areas.

Dunhuang Mingsha Shan (Echoing Sand Mountain) and Crescent Moon Spring

The crescent moon lake is a magnificent lake in Dunhuang city. It is quite literally an oasis in the desert. The spring’s name derives from the crescent moon shape the small pool of spring water has taken between two large sand dunes. Although the area is very dry, the pool doesn’t dry up as one might expect. The width between north and south is only 54 meters. It is really a mini lake surrounded by sand.

The Singing Sand Mountains are famous for the sounds the wind makes when blowing over the dunes. Through the ages, by “mountain spring coexistence, sand water paragenesis” (a sign of the scenic spot) the marvelous landscape is celebrated worldwide, with the reputation “a pearl north of the Great Wall”.The length between east and west is 40 km while the south and north is 20km. The Mingsha mountain’s peak is like a knife’s edge. From far away, it looks like a dragon but also resembles mighty waves in the sea .It is really a magnificent sight to behold. In 1994 it is listed as the national key scenic spot. Mt. Mingsha, the crescent moon spring and the Mogao Caves art landscape merges into a whole which has become a popular tourist attraction all around the world.

Bingling Temple, One of the Noted Four Caves in China

Bingling temple is located in Yongjing County, Lanzhou city. Bingling thousand Buddha cave in the temple is one of the four famous Grottoes in China, second only to Mogao Grottoes in terms of artistic value, and was listed in the world heritage list on June 22, 2014. Bingling temple, founded in the Western Qin Dynasty, has a history of more than 1600 years since it was expanded in the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Ice cream means “Ten Thousand Buddhas” in Tibetan. Bingling thousand Buddha cave was built in the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316). These caves were excavated many times in subsequent dynasties. There are 183 niches, 694 stone carvings, 82 clay sculptures, and 900 square meters (1076 square yards) of murals in good condition. Bingling qianmiao Grottoes is famous for its stone carvings. It is located on the West Cliff of Dashigou, about 200 meters (about 600 feet) long. The main characters are Sakyamuni, Guanyin, wuliangshou Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, etc. With elegant posture, elegant robes and ribbons, statues are the same as life. Among these caves, cave 169 is worth mentioning. Produced in the Northern Dynasty (386-581), it is the most magnificent and exquisite clay sculpture to preserve Guanyin, Dali Buddha (Dali means powerful power in Chinese). Dali Buddha has a round face and sits cross legged. When we see this sculpture, we will feel its expression is very solemn. On both sides stood Bodhisattva, dressed in hair and waving with bare arms. Color shows us the Buddha and Buddha. No. 125 cave, where Sakyamuni stone sculptures are preserved, should not be missed.

At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the yellow school (Gelu school) of Tibetan Buddhism was introduced into Bingling temple. On the basis of inheriting the folk art of the previous generation, Bingling Temple Grottoes absorbed and integrated the foreign Buddhist art, and created a vivid sculpture image and painting art with a new posture and simple technique.