Shandong: Jinan, Mountain of Tai, Qufu (Aug, 2008)
By Raymond on Feb 28, 2009 in travel
Travelling
Shandong (Jinan, Mountain of Tai, Qufu)
Jinan
Every Chinese student has learnt about places in Jinan including Baotu Spring and Daming Lake. Before the start of the journey, I have read several books to check about the history of these places and the geographical causes of springs in Jinan. It would be more fun if you have these knowledge in mind when you travel. However, you should not have over-expectation on the beauty or “poetic environment” of the lakes. We were shocked when the driver told us we had already arrived at Daming Lake, while we were still surrounded by tall buildings.
It is NOT a drawing, but an embroider made of hair! It is a miracle of arts. Just wonder how the artist collected so many hairs of different colors, probably from children to the elderly…
Right is two sets of Chinese chess, made of tea leaves and animal skin.
What makes my lover feel rather unfair is that the people in Jinan can enter the Baotu Spring freely, but tourists have to pay high fees. Instead of a tourist spot, the Spring becomes a good place for family day.
Collecting the Spring water… It seems it becomes more delicious when it is called “Spring water”…
The three “fierce” Bao Tu Springs decribed in textbook… just hard to be noticed. Actually, in 1980’s and 1990’s, Jinan people dug too many wells and destroyed the underground water network. Springs did not shoot anymore. The government has spent millions of dollars to rescue the springs. 
A statue of Li Qingzhao was placed inside the Xu Yu Hall. She is a poetess in Southern Song Dynasty. I love one of her love poems very much,
“花自飘零水自流，一种相思两处闲愁。此情无计可消除，才下眉头，却上心头。”
Petal falls alone,
Water flows by itself,
We miss each other in one heart,
But we feel sorrow in two places.
Our love cannot be elimated,
Just as it leaves my brow,
It comes to my heart.
Um, it is really hard to translate a classical Chinese poem into English without affecting some elements.
It was the first time for me to see that rice is sold in this way. In Hong Kong, rice is packaged in bags.
The plaza of Spring and City. The blue architecture in the photo symbolizes the Chinese word Spring. The fountain performance at night is great, and some people just jumped inside the fountain and had fun.
Mountain of Tai
When we were so silly to bring two large bags to the peak, some by-passers stared at us. On the way, we can see many classical poems and literature were craved on stones. We were excited when we finally passed through the layer of fog and arrived at the peak. We stayed there for a night, and the rent was surprisingly very cheap, only 100rmb. We got up at 4, and saw a layer of thick clouds instead of sunrise. Anyway, the scene is great when light gradually drives away darkness, and peaks of far mountains are slowly revealed in mistiness.
Qufu
Qufu is where Confucianism originates. In the “Three places of Confucianism”, including the Conficius Temple, Conficius Tomb and Confucius Mansion, we followed the guides of different tourist groups (this lets me think of parasite…), and listen to many many interesting historical stories. My lover is very helpful in translation when I could now hear clearly the mandarin. Foreign visitors may miss a lot of interesting stories if they cannot find an interpreter who is good at Chinese culture.
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By taking this new type of train which just started to served people lately, we can go back to Beijing within 3 hours.
Food
Besides low cost, an important characteristics of food in Shandong province is: large amount. Food is packed fully on a plate. Do not order too much if you are not sure how big the plate is!
Slimy fish
Seafood wonton
“Triple layers of sunlight”
“Ben Rice”. Not so attracting in first glance, but it is very famous and delicious.
Battercake at Mountain of Tai. It’s the first time to try a battercake with shallot inside.
Fried carp with sweet and sour sauce. I love its 3D shape! Just didn’t know where to start with.
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