A Changing Gambling View at a Wetland in Macau

More than seven years ago in a post about Macau's gambling world I shared a photo of several of Macau's casinos as seen from the other side of the Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança Wetland Ecological Viewing Zone. Here is another photo I took at the same time from a slightly different vantage point:

2012

I chose the above photo because it captures almost exactly the same perspective as a photo I took last week while walking in Avenida da Praia, Taipa, where I also saw some colorful artwork on display.

2019

The photos were taken at different times of the day under different lighting conditions and with different cameras and lenses. The more recent photo includes more greenery and Macanese clouds as well. But perhaps the most remarkable difference is the additional buildings in the second photo. Most notably, the architecturally intriguing Morpheus Hotel on the far left now blocks the view of another building of the City of Dreams resort and casino.

There are many other similar significant additions to this part of Macau, including the boxy MGM Cotai, the Wynn Palace with its gondola lift, and The Parisian Macau. If you know what to look for, you can find slivers of each of those three casinos resorts as well in the second photo. I'm not sure what this view will look like in another seven years, but the casino resort construction in this region of Macau certainly continues — just not in the wetland.

Dolphins, a Log Flume, and Hu Jintao in Zhongshan: The History and Legacy of China's First Large-Scale Modern Amusement Park

Near one end of the Changjiang Reservoir in Zhongshan, Guangdong, exists a place of merriment, magic, and water. But when I recently passed the Changjiang Water World (长江水世界) park on a foggy afternoon, it was closed — as it is every day this time of year due to the colder weather.

At least a sculpture at its main entrance is still approachable.

A short walk away is the hard-to-miss entrance for the Changjiang Water World parking lot.

Unsurprisingly, there were no cars parked there at the time.

The other side of the parking lot is bordered by the Changjiang Reservoir's dam. Yes, this is your place for empty parking lot photos.

And the fun doesn't stop there. One of the historical photos displayed at Zhongshan's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall captures a moment at the amusement park which previously existed at Changjiang Water World's current site.

Chinese caption for the photo:
"1984年5月24日，时任中共中央总书记胡耀邦在时任广东省省长梁灵光陪同下视察中山，图为他在中山长江乐园验“激流探险”

According to the photo's caption, Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦), who then held the highest office in Communist Party of China as its general secretary, and Liang Lingguang (梁灵光), who was then Governor of Guangdong, are checking out a log flume ride at the Changjiang Playland* (长江乐园), which had opened the year before in 1983. Hu riding a potentially soaking ride while wearing a suit strikes me as bold. In fact, according to accounts of the time, the 69-year-old Hu insisted upon conquering the water ride despite concerns over safety and it not being part of the original plans.

Hu was presumably not visiting simply for fun, but instead because the Changjiang Playland was the first large-scale amusement park with modern rides in China and seen as a potential model for others. The park also helped Zhongshan — where the first bumper cars were made in China – grow into the largest base of amusement park ride production in the country. They even make log flume rides there.

Perhaps the park inspired too much for its own good though. Soon the fun faded away and in 1997 the park closed, in part due to competition from other parks which opened in the region. Aging equipment didn't help either, although it was good enough to be sent to Leshan in Sichuan province.

In 2005, the site experienced a rebirth when the Changjiang Romantic Water World (长江浪漫水城) opened. The romance didn't last for long, and in 2009 the site was closed for redevelopment once more. In 2010 the first phase of the Changjiang Water World opened.

That park remains in existence today, as does Zhongshan's amusement park ride industry. But unfortunately, a list of rides at Changjiang Water World indicates a log flume ride no longer exists. So there goes any chance for a contemporary version of Hu's daring act at the park.








*Some sites now use "Changjiang Paradise" — a reasonable translation — for the park's English name, but according to photos of various old entrance tickets (see here and here) the park itself used "Changjiang Playland" as its English name.

A Generational Meme in China

I will keep this short and sweet since these tweets by Kassy Cho speak for themselves:

this Chinese four generations meme is so wholesome omg pic.twitter.com/bozR6rB93w

— kassy cho (@kassy) January 4, 2019

the challenge involves four generations of family members making an appearance so a son calls his dad who calls his dad who calls his dad pic.twitter.com/Q6UrBlIbWH

— kassy cho (@kassy) January 4, 2019

A compilation by Victor Sun on YouTube includes these examples and more:

That's all.

A Building With a Warning in Zhongshan

In the older sections of the Shiqi subdistrict in Zhongshan exist some buildings currently marked with the sign "危房勿近" — "Derelict House, Stay Away". Despite the warning, I haven't seen any examples where something has else has been done to keep people safe from potential danger, and typically people regularly pass by in close proximity.

Below is one such house in Zhonghepo (中和泊) with the red and yellow sign. I don't know whether it is more likely destined for repair or demolition. Fortunately, whatever its fate, I suffered no harm for taking a brief close look as night fell.

Elevating Ganzhou

Construction at Wenming Avenue in Ganzhou, Jiangxi

"A Story About Something Kind of Wonderful That Happened Yesterday" in Beijing

A series of tweets today by Te-Ping Chen, a Beijing-based reporter for the Wall Street Journal, resonated with me and apparently many others. Her story of discovery is well worth sharing beyond the world of Twitter, so here it is:

1/ I wanted to share a story about something kind of wonderful that happened yesterday. Backstory: I grew up in Oakland, Calif., not knowing really anything about my mother's family -- she was an only child (born in NYC) & my grandparents died before I was born.

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

2/ I moved to Beijing in 2014 to work as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. At the time all I knew dimly was that my great-grandmother was supposedly from here & had apparently lived in a traditional courtyard home. Not much to go on.

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

3/ This Feb., I was back home helping my parents clean out the garage. In one corner, piled with old boxes and other detritus, was a trunk full of old clothes, furs & a cache of letters written by my great-grandmother (L) to my grandmother (R) from the 1930s to the 1950s. pic.twitter.com/kRDpjpiMze

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

4/ The letters are delightful, containing details about ice-skating in Beihai, the price of cabbage and electricity & changing fashions. Also talks about her husband's obsession with poetry -- he'd written hundreds of verses, she says. pic.twitter.com/Fymqtic8Bg

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

5/ The envelopes had an address, 57 Shijia Hutong. Astonishingly, given the vast majority of Beijing hutongs have been destroyed, not only does it still exist, but it's one of the city's best-preserved. pic.twitter.com/1GgSW7AxCx

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

6/ I went yesterday for the first time. It's just over a mile from where I live now, have biked by many times without knowing. There's a museum there that catalogues the lives of past residents, including artists and writers such as Ling Shuhua. pic.twitter.com/qC7TQn0F9y

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

7/ The museum is small & didn't yield much, but one of the staffers had a book she shared. It had an address-by-address breakdown, including a section on my great-grandparents, whose Chinese names I'd literally never known. They are 梁秋水 and 罗红庄.

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

8/ As it turns out, my great-grandfather Liang Chiu-shui was one of China's earliest newspapermen, a journalist w/the English-language 北京导报, or Peking Leader. He wrote poems including 冀东兄弟行, about brothers on opposite sides of the civil war who meet on the battlefield.

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

9/ According to the book, Woon Kyau Lo studied in Honolulu (which explains the English letters). Based on the tone of her writing, she was warm, critical & funny in the way so many Beijingers are -- the voice sounds very familiar today, even nearly a century later.

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

10/ Still so many questions. I'd like to know where they're buried and learn more about their lives (& read Liang's poetry!). And I would love to meet any relatives. But for the moment, in a city where so much history has been obliterated, very grateful for what's been preserved.

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

11/ PS: the letters mention two books of my great-grandfather's poetry were being safeguarded by neighbors for family in America, one by "Miss Tsui's No. 2 Sister" and a "Miss Yu." Not surprisingly, so far no luck trying to track them down, but am continuing to ask around... pic.twitter.com/XHeok6JZn9

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

12/ !! And here's that poem of his I mentioned about two ill-fated brothers, 冀东兄弟行, which Josh Stenberg in Sydney kindly helped find. "Woe the evil omen in which the violet tree in the yard / suddenly collapsed from the blow of strong wind." Evidently based on a true story? pic.twitter.com/wwlCAz04Z6

— Te-Ping Chen (@tepingchen) April 2, 2018

A Time of Change and Digging at the Gude Temple in Wuhan

Even after visiting hundreds of Buddhist temples in China, the Gude Temple in Wuhan can catch you by surprise. According to a photo gallery featuring the temple on the Hubei Provincial People’s Government's website:

It was built in the 3rd year of Emperor Guangxu (1877) in the Qing Dynasty.

The present Great Buddhist Hall was built in 1921 and later was expanded into Gude Temple, which covers an area of 20000 square meters and has a floor space of 3600 square meters.

The Gude Temple was built according to style of the Alantuo Temple in Myanmar in an erratic combination of all thinkable architectural styles and traditions, being unique in construction of Buddhist temples in China’s hinterland.

I wouldn't describe the location as being in China's hinterland, but I agree the architecture is unlike any other temple I have seen in China. My recent visit was made all the more special thanks to work affecting much of the temple's grounds — reminiscent of the construction I walked through when I visited the Changchun Taoist Temple in Wuhan six years ago.

Below are some scenes which feature some of the change now occurring at Gude Temple as visitors still make their way around. The temple is easily reachable by going to Toudao Street Station on the Wuhan Metro and then walking down Gudesi Road. But that might not work in the not-too-distant future. Many of the areas near the temple are changing to a greater degree.

Horses Frozen in Time in Wuhan

Eight Fine Horses (八骏马), 1984, by Xie Congshi (谢从诗) at Jiefang Park in Wuhan

Perspective on a Old Tower in Wuhan

In 1291 somebody climbed many steep, narrow, and irregular stone steps to reach the highest level of the Hongshan Pagoda in Wuhan, China. More than 700 years later somebody else did the same.

But only one of us is still alive today.

*   *   *

Now that I've confirmed my continued existence, at least up until the time I post this, I will add that, yes, I am now in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. There is an immense backlog of posts I have been wanting to write, but I have been heavily preoccupied with the exploration / collection side of things lately. Also, the amount of change I have seen in Wuhan, Changsha, and elsewhere has left me wanting to digest things more fully.

So on that note, here is a photo of the Hongshan Pagoda taken by Frederick G. Clapp sometime between 1913-1915:

And here is a recent view from the tower including the Baotong Temple:

Pedal Boats in Hengyang No Longer Sunken, At Least for Now

On my way from Zhongshan in Guangdong province to Changsha in Hunan province, I recently spent over a week in Hengyang, also in Hunan province. This marked my fifth visit to a city which has been featured in many earlier posts here. A subject for a few of those posts has been what has or hasn't changed there during my visits which now cover a period of more than five years.

In May 2014 I noticed some sunken character/animal-themed pedal boats at a pond in (or next to) the Hengyang Youth Palace (衡阳市青少年宫). In April 2015 all of the boats were in the same condition but now surrounded by many dead fish.

When I returned in April of this year, the boats still remained in their resting places though there were no signs of dead fish.

So when I returned this month, it was remarkable that the the boats were no longer partially submerged in water — quite a change. But that was only because there was no water.

Some construction work was ongoing in another portion of the pond. Based on what I have seen elsewhere in China and the fact that some other lakes and ponds nearby in Hengyang were similarly drained at the same time, I presume this is a temporary state and the pond will be refilled at some point.

What I am far less sure about is whether or not the boats will be removed before then.

It gives me yet another reason to hope I can return to Hengyang again someday.

The Aftermath of Typhoon Hato in Zhuhai: The Bay Bar Street on Shuiwan Road

After surveying the damage at the Lianhua Road Pedestrian Street and near the waterfront at Qinglu South Road from Typhoon Hato in Zhuhai I headed to the Bay Bar Street (海湾酒吧街), also known as the Shuiwan Bar Street (水湾酒吧街) and simply Bar Street. This section of Shuiwan Road just one block from the waterfront is lined with restaurants, clubs, and, not so surprisingly, bars. I typically stop by there at least once any time I am in Zhuhai because of the food at a favorite place. The bar street was also notable for the thick green canopy covering most of its length thanks to the rows of trees on either side.

After the typhoon, though, much of that canopy was gone and the scenes seemed surreal. Below is a set of photographs taken only hours after the typhoon had hit there. In addition to the numerous fallen trees, they capture people taking photographs, making their way through debris, collecting scrap material, cleaning up, and attempting to cut some of the tree branches. This is one street that even after the cleanup is finished where the effects of Typhoon Hato will remain easy to see for a long time to come.

Colorful Guizhou at Night

Bordering a construction site at Dashizi (大十字) in Guiyang, Guizhou

Shanghai Updates Its Seven Don'ts

A sign depicting possible trash projectiles in Hongkou, Shanghai, singularly focuses on a "don't litter" message. But that is not enough for a sign at the Simingli Leisure Plaza in Huangpu, Shanghai. It adds six more "don'ts.

Similar signs can be found elsewhere in Shanghai. Rob Schmitz mentions these Seven Don'ts and other numbered lists in his book "Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road":

A government-issued publication, How to Be a Lovely Shanghainese lacked the charm of Hartley's Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette. Its chapters were sprinkled with laundry lists of behavior modification, steeped in the Chinese obsession with numerology: "Five kinds of consciousness," "four kinds of spirit," "five dares," and "four forevers." There were also the Seven Don'ts: "Don't spit; don't litter; don't damage public property; don't damage greenery; don't jaywalk; don't smoke in public areas; don't utter vulgar words."

Still, Shanghai's government failed to realize its ambitious goals by the time the world's fair came around [in 2010]. Public property remained largely undamaged, but other than that lone abided restriction, I commonly saw locals do these don'ts within minutes of walking down the Street of Eternal Happiness.

The Shanghai government first promoted the Seven Don'ts in 1995 and earlier this year sought feedback for an updated list (link in Chinese). The resulting new Seven Don'ts list (link in Chinese) includes a couple of old favorites but also reflects some of the change Shanghai has experienced over the past 20 years. I haven't found any official English translations, so I will share my own interpretations along with some brief commentary.

1. Don't jaywalk.

• Jaywalking is common in Shanghai, but it is notable what isn't mentioned: the drivers of vehicles, particularly smaller types, who regularly ignore traffic signals (or non-jaywalking pedestrians), perhaps to a greater degree.

2. Don't park or stop vehicles indiscriminately.

• I will place the bicycle which recently caused me to walk into wet concrete in this category. I am reminded of the many other times I have seen people stop / park a vehicle in a manner which impedes other vehicles or pedestrians, even when ample out-of-the-way space exists.

3. Don't litter.

• This is an area where I have seen a lot of change over the past 10 years in Shanghai. There seems to be much less litter these days. Shanghai isn't satisfied though.

4. Don't let pets disturb neighbors.

• This added rule presumably results in large part from the increase in dog ownership in China.

5. Don't waste food.

• I am now tempted to explain why I don't think cleaning off your plate means you didn't waste food. This isn't meant as commentary specific to Shanghai or China, and I will save it for another day.

6. Don't create a disturbance when speaking.

• One image accompanying this rule in an earlier shared link depicts a man speaking loudly on his mobile phone while sitting next to others in a waiting room. Rules can have an impact, but China's likely growing problem with hearing-related disabilities may make it only more likely there will be people speaking loudly.

7. Don't cut in line.

• The rule seems to assume there's a clear line in the first place, which isn't always the case. But this is another area where I have seen a lot of change in China. People are now more likely to stand in a line and not cut, though sometimes that can be due to structures which make it difficult to do otherwise. Still, examples of people cutting are easy to see.

There is much, much more I could say about each of these don'ts — material for some future posts. It would be fascinating to hear opinions about this new set of rules and suggestions for other rules from a representative slice of Shanghai's people. Undoubtedly, many have their own ideas about what behaviors they would most like to see changed.

Still Around, At Least for Now: The Hongkou Fire Station in Shanghai

As mentioned in a post with photos of a woman selling flowers from a cart, last Friday I briefly wondered about the history of the Hongkou Fire Station in Shanghai. Although the Hongkou district boasts a variety of architecture, the building stands out there as it would in many other places.

Not long after taking a few photos of the station on Friday, I discovered that Paul French, author of a number of books about China including The Old Shanghai A-Z, had coincidentally written a post about the building just two days earlier. Sadly, the news he shared was not great. "Will They Really Destroy Hongkou Fire Station?" includes a bit about the fire station's history and explains why French worries the building completed in 1932 won't be around for much longer.

During a tour I gave in Hongkou to a relative, I pointed out a few areas which have been recently demolished. It would be a shame if this building gets added to the list. Later, I will post about a recently demolished neighborhood in walking distance from the fire station. When I went there last year I saw some of its remaining life. This year, the most lively thing I saw was a demonstration.

More of What is Behind the Mudanjiang Wanda Plaza

A dog meat restaurant isn't all that is behind the Mudanjiang Wanda Plaza. It was getting dark as I walked around, but I was able to take a few photos near the restaurant including these two of buildings which appear to have been around long before Wanda:

And this is the view looking approximately south down West 7th Road, which runs along the eastern side of the Mudanjiang Wanda Plaza.

The dog meat restaurant is on the right, and close behind it, mostly out of view, is where I took the first two photos. The area on the left side of the road in the photo appears to have been recently demolished. And in the background is a newer development.