Achieving Balance in Zhongshan

At Sun Wen Memorial Park (孙文纪念公园) in Zhongshan, China

Fruit For Sale as Usual in Zhongshan

Fruit stand on Halloween night

Although it wasn't too hard to find signs of the holiday on Halloween night at some shopping centers, bars, and even convenience stores in Zhongshan, in most places life went on like any other day. And if you wanted some candy, or some fruit, saying "Trick or treat!" wouldn't help very much.

Black Dumplings, Gourds, and a Meaty Mannequin: Halloween Spirit in Zhongshan, China

In past years I have shared Halloween-related scenes from cities such as Taipei in 2011, Changsha in 2012, Shaoguan in 2015, Shenyang in 2016, and most recently Changsha again in 2017. The posts have numerous photos of people in costumes, promotions, and food. Perhaps some day I will fill in some of what I missed sharing here, which includes Halloween experiences in Dalian, Shanghai, and Zhuhai. But for now I will share a sample of what I saw in Zhongshan, since it is where I spent Halloween this year.

One of the earliest signs of Halloween I came across was a promotion at 7-Eleven stores which began weeks before the holiday. Yes, I gave the three black cuttlefish items a try.

The dumplings were tasty with some Sriracha-style sauce, but a couple of them were rather soggy. The sausage was too dried out. The cuttlefish balls were OK. None of it was as good as the black spidery pizza I tried at Pizza Hut in Shenyang two years ago. At least 7-Eleven had a special price for getting the three together. Not all the items were specially made for Halloween, but the dumplings are now gone.

To wash down all of that cuttlefish ink, 7-Eleven had a special Halloween deal on . . . Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey lemonade and cola drinks of course.

Moving on . . .

Three years ago I saw a Halloween display at n RT-Mart in Shaoguan. This year in Zhongshan, RT-Mart kept up the Halloween spirit.

Their selection possibly surpassed what was available at a Toys "R" Us in Zhongshan. Also, the display had a dark area inside of it where glowing items could be tested.

A Carrefour in Zhongshan similarly had Halloween items for sale.

Carrefour took it up another notch, though, with a Halloween gourd display.

The Shiqi Dasin Metro-Mall had a Halloween-themed food fair as part of celebrations for the one year anniversary of its newest section.

Several nights before Halloween, the fair was packed.

None of the food itself was any different from what could appear at any other food fairs, but at least one of the sellers was in the holiday spirit.

There was also occasional dancing.

On Halloween day there were a variety of activities. The Lihe Plaza shopping mall appeared prepared for a musical performance, but I didn't stick around to listen.

One popular gathering area that night was the central outdoor area at the Central Power Plaza shopping mall, where there were several people painting faces as part of a promotion.

By 10 p.m on Halloween night at the Shiqi Dasin Metro-Mall, many of the vendors at the food fair had already packed up and departed. But even with a now sagging arch, there were still photographic opportunities.

Some bars, including one at the mall, also got into the holiday spirit. In part because most are far separated from one another, I didn't bother with a pub crawl — so no photos. I also won't be sharing a set of photos of people dressed up for the holiday. See the earlier posts for plenty of those. But here's one of a pirate sitting at McDonald's on Halloween night:

Finally, for the first time ever I will award a winner (of what I happened to see) for best Halloween spirit. Carrefour wins hands down. No, the Halloween items for sale or the glorious gourds aren't what led to this special distinction.

Instead, I introduce the Halloween Dried Meats Witch:

Perhaps that will become a popular costume for next year.

Only a Few Halloween Jack-O'-Lantern Buckets Left at Toys "R" Us in Zhongshan

More than three weeks ago a Toys "R" Us in Zhongshan already had out its Halloween display. It remained in place this afternoon, but there were noticeably fewer items available — suggesting the Toys "R" Us has made more than a few Halloween sales.

The small jack-o'-lantern buckets seemed to have especially been a hit.

More about the Halloween holiday in Zhongshan later. It's now time for me to see some of what Halloween night is like here.

"Sometimes" in Longrui Village

In addition to dancing and a Lamborghini in Longrui Village, Zhongshan, below is a photo of a cafe across the street from the restaurant mentioned in the earlier post, where a portion of the cafe also appears.

Dancing and a Lamborghini in Longrui Village

Two nearby scenes tonight at Longrui Village (龙瑞村) in Shaxi Town (沙溪镇), Zhongshan:

Longrui Cultural Square (龙瑞文化广场)

Next to a popular restaurant (龙瑞粥城夜夜粥店) 

Some Scenes from the Dragon Boat Cultural Park in Zhongshan

The previous post has a photo of man walking a dog past a xiangqi sculpture at the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园) in Zhongshan. The park isn't identified on any online maps I checked, and I only knew what to call it thanks to a single stone at the park with its name. Below are a few other photos I took at the park around the area where it passes under under the Kanghua Bridge (康华大桥) on the south side of the Shiqi River (石岐河 — also known as the Qijiang River (岐江河)). According to an article in Chinese, the park opened last year and stretches quite a bit further than the area I unexpectedly came across.

Unexpected Animals in Two Photos of Scenes in Zhongshan

Twice today in Zhongshan I decided to take photos of a scene only to be surprised by the appearance of animals. In the first case, after taking a photo I noticed that two cats were sitting in the alley. In the second case, a man walked his dog by a large xiangqi sculpture. The previous posts featured two dogs, which also made an unexpected appearance while I took photos of a scene, and a cat. So fate seems to demand I share two photos from today that I probably wouldn't have otherwise thought to pair together.

At Julong Zhong (巨龙中)

At the Dragon Boat Cultural Park (龙舟文化公园)

Keeping an Eye Out for the Dogs in Zhongshan

The previous post consisted solely of a photo of a friendly cat I met at night in an alley in Zhongshan.

For some balance, I will share a photo including two dogs I encountered on another night in Zhongshan.

But the cat theme continues nonetheless . . .

Zhongshan Alley Cat

A View From Above of Minzu East Road in Zhongshan

The Minzu East Market (民族东市场) in Zhongshan is, not so surprisingly, located on Minzu East Road. I have photographed numerous scenes including vendors and a variety of items for sale at similar markets elsewhere in China, but in this case I didn't take many photos. Two of the photos I did take while at the market especially stand out me, in part because they happened after opportunistically looking out of a second floor window reachable only because a vending location had been vacated. Additionally, the photos are significant for how they capture a side of Zhongshan harder to see from other perspectives.

So below are two photos taken from above of life on Minzu East Road on a recent rainy October day. The scenes also include some of the older buildings which remain in the area along with newer and taller buildings in the distance.

For a bonus, the entrance to the Minzu East Market:

The Fufeng Pagoda, Mountain Climbing, and the Chongyang Festival in Zhongshan

One of the photos in the previous post which shared my excitement two days ago about seeing yet another rainbow in China included Zhongshan's Fufeng Pagoda (阜峰文塔) in the distance. Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by Zhongshan Park and climbed Yandun Hill (烟墩山) for a closer view.

Had I been at this same spot when the earlier rainbow appeared, I believe I could have easily captured them together from there.

As with visits to the park in previous years, the tower was closed, so unfortunately I couldn't climb higher for a hopefully clearer view of the park's surroundings.

I took another path down the mountain and was surprised to see apparently new netting which not only blocked access to the adjacent green areas but also several other paths.

I didn't recall seeing anything like that at the park before. The large numbers of police and China Militia around the park were also unusual.

But for anybody who was confused about the changes, there was at least one sign that explained the conditions.

They were due to the upcoming Chongyang Festival (重阳节 — Chóngyángjié), also called Double Ninth Festival in English. One of the traditional activities for the holiday is mountain climbing. The sign indicated people could begin their holiday ascent as late as half hour after midnight that night but would need to leave the park by 1:30 a.m. The park would later open at 6 a.m. on the day of the holiday and close at 6 p.m. Then the park would reopen at 5 a.m. the day following the holiday for normal operations. The sign also asked people not to light fires, smoke, or bring anything that could explode.

A little after 9 p.m. yesterday night I returned to the park and found one of the more popular entrances filled with people and lined with police.

From there, the path from there to the top of the hill was a lot more crowded than it had been during the day.

Other than the many people, security, and rope nets, there wasn't much else that was unusual at the park. I did meet some people under a tent doing some community service by highlighting the dangers of illegal drugs though.

At first I feigned surprise that they were selling so many types of illegal drugs, but they quickly set things straight — perhaps an especially good idea with all of the police around.

This wasn't my first time to participate in some Chongyang Festival climbing. My most memorable experience was the time friends in neighboring Zhuhai invited me to take a night hike up Banzhang Mountain, which is a much more challenging climb and affords more open far-reaching views.

Zhongshan had other sites open this year for the holiday, such as Dajian Mountain (news article in Chinese), with higher climbs as well. But this year's holiday climb still had its charms. And now I have finally seen the Fufeng Pagoda up close at night — definitely no rainbows in the sky.