After Datong we had another smooth ride on the Chinese high-speed rail network. Destination- Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province.

There is a lot to see in Taiyuan, but unfortunately my time was short, so I really only was able to squeeze in a visit to the twin pagodas.
My friend Jim had even less time because he was flying to Nanjing in order to get back to his hometown of Tongling in time for work.

The inside of one of the pair of pagodas was open and one could (theoretically!) climb a dark slick staircase up to the top of that pagoda.
From that location there is a view over the city.

I soon began to question my judgement and my decision to ascend. Fine for younger, more nimble bodies. But this slow, tired old man of 69 decided that about halfway up was plenty far enough!
Well, as is often the case going down can seem more dangerous than ascending!

Adjacent to the towers was a temple complex.

Lists, lists, lists…. China has had many historic capital cities over the many centuries, no millennia! of its existence. Lists of these capitals generally follow the format of: the 4 greatest ancient capitals… the 6, the 7, the 8…
In the near future I will be working on the sixth and final installment of my “Capital cities of China”. That set of videos mostly focused on the capitals of provinces and autonomous regions. But the last installment will include an overview of the 8 most important ancient capital cities of China. Included in that list is Zhengzhou due to it’s role during the Shang dynasty (roughly 3,600 to 3,000 years ago!)
Among the relics from that period are the earthen remains of the city walls of “Xiao” (as Zhengzhou was known at the time).

An important reason for my visit to Hangzhou was to visit a recently restored historical site dating to the Southern Song Dynasty: Deshou Palace.

But that attraction did not open until 9:30, so first we casually ambled around a lovely nearby neighborhood.

Deshou Palace was an absolutely wonderful site. The building was a reconstruction carfully designed to match the original appearance. It was paced full of artifacts as well as artwork related to the history and culture if the era. Various panels provided text that gave historical background .

An interesting modern twist was a huge interactive video display with a seemingly random collection if Chinese written characters that floated downwards. If you touched a character, it triggered the screen to display a relevant poem!

Historically this palace had been a sort if retirement quarters for the emperor. It had included extensive gardens of which only a small section has yet been restored .

A beautiful place! I could easily have spent a whole day there. It was a shame that our train tickets forced us onward to Tongling, where Jim wanted to show me his hometown!

Decent weather today! No sign of rain!!

First I spent some time exploring the area around the Grand Canal. I viewed the canal from walkways along its bank. I also rode a “water- bus” to the picturesque Gongchen bridge.

Later I went to the far side of beautiful West Lake, and visited Leifeng Pagoda.

Still later I met up with my good friend Jim ( the ” young scholar”), and we returned to Hangzhou by one of the wooden tourist boats that cross West Lake.

Refreshing plum juice, and a dumpling snack.

Nanjing: the “Southern Capital”. This was my fourth visit to this former imperial capital city (also capital for a while during the Republic).

During this visit my focus was seeing my friend Violet, and a pair of historical sites related to Zheng He, the renowned admiral during the early Ming Dynasty whose immense “treasure fleet” explored southeast Asia, India, and even areas of Africa’s eastern shores! Unlike typical “western” expeditions, the goals were trade, goodwill, and world investigation.

Unlike the later Christopher Columbus, Zheng He actually *did* arrive in India, and was not so stupid as to confuse new, unknown regions with India.

Nor did Zheng He spread disease and enslave the people he met.