Looking up at the temple from the shuttle drop off point.
Yishan is an interesting place. It is not as famous or tall as Taishan, but it was important in the traditional worship and the emperors did come here for some rites. It is known as “little Taishan”. Fortunately the climb was not as intimidating either.
We were really fortunate because we caught a re-enactment of one of the imperial rites at Dongzhen at the base of the mountain when we came back down.
It was interesting to see how the things we see were used.
Two different views from the middle of the same road (but at different intersections, and in different years) near where my sun used to live in Weifang, China. Because the street was so wide I often wound up having to wait for another walk light in the middle.
Weifang claims (as do a few other locations) to be the “Kite Capital of the World” and every April they have the International Kite Festival.
Traditional Kites
Making kites with bamboo frames and hand painted designs is a traditional art in the area around Weifang.
Painting butterfly wings.
Once they are dry they are ready to cut out.
AsAssmbling bamboo frames
Display of several traditional kite designs.
Family getting ready to fly a traditional butterfly kite.
Traditional butterfly kite soaring during the International Kite Festival.
Flying Kites for Recreation
Many people fly kites for enjoyment and relaxation. There are a couple of public squares where people come to fly kites, on weekdays this seems to be mostly retired men. On the weekends with good conditions everyone comes out. On my first trip to Weifang I was fortunate to be invited to come along to watch. My post A chance encounter tells about this.
A few pictures of people in the park (including me):
Jpeg
Kite Making Industry
In the countryside around Weifang City you occasionally will see a display of bright, billowing kites at the entrance to a narrow dirt road. These indicate that if you wander down that road you will come to a kite factory.
Bamboo frames.
Kites ready for delivery.
Butterfly bodies…should I call them Larva?
Painted butterfly bodies.
Here is a picture from the shop owned by this particular factory:
International Kite Festival
It is held at “The beach of Happy Sea of Binhai development zone in Weifang City, Shandong, P.R.C.” It is a long trip from the city center. I’ve been twice. Both times I took public buses, a great deal but not for the feint of heart.
The first time it poured rain, I spent about 4 hour there and was wetter than I have probably ever been. It was still fascinating to see the wide variety of kites. The post I wrote about that experience is Kites and Umbrellas. The next day, naturally, was gorgeous, we spent it at a special kite field day at the school where my son taught, the post about that is Kites and Kids.
Dedicated kite fan.
The grey sky gives a good backdrop for the wide variety of fun shapes and bright colors.
The people give you an idea of how large these kites are.
The dragon had landed before I got there to see it.
Last year, the weather was beautiful, and so were the many beautiful kites. Because I took a bus after breakfast and missed the big opening. But there were many families out flying kites on the beach in addition to the extra large and fancy ones. It was a pleasant day, in town it was in the 80’s but at the beach of Happy Sea it was cooler.
I’m hoping to get there again this year. Maybe I’ll finally get to see the big dragon in flight.
I just came across these pictures from a couple of years ago. In Wiefang (Shandong Province) while visiting my son I made use of the time while he was working to wander around the city. In several spots they had parks between the streets that made a pleasant way to get around. A little longer but much quieter than walking along the busy streets.
Shouguang has a large indoor, or at least under-roof, marketplace. It seems to sell everything
from bright red undies for good fortune:
to brooms and other cleaning supplies
to seafood, meats, bread, spices, oils, lots and lots of vegetables, and several things I couldn’t identify.
This gallery may seem overwhelming…but then so is the market. It was so large that people were riding scooters and driving their three wheeled scooter “pick up trucks”.
I loved this wonderful park along the west bank of the Mihe River. It runs about 3/4 mile (1.25 km) between the two car bridges. Near each of the car bridges was a pedestrian (plus cyclists and scooters) bridge. One of them was obviously the old roadway but the other was a graceful gently arched bridge.
As I mentioned in an earlier post one the Mihe River runs through the eastern part of the city of Shouguang.
You can see a larger version of any photo by clicking on it.
These are some street scenes. In my experience, which isn’t vast but also isn’t negligible (this was my seventh trip to China), these are typical of a Chinese city. Just like the markets have a wider variety of eggs and vegetables than one typically finds in the US, there is also a much wider variety of vehicles.
I sometimes wonder if Seattle would do better to look into some of these, instead of trying to get people out bicycling in the rain, up steep hills on the poorly maintained, bumpy streets. I’ve seen some clever, three-wheeled scooters and cycles that are more stable than bicycles and have some amount of shelter from rain.
to brooms and other cleaning supplies
XingfuMama 