Encounters With a Lively Skeleton Queen in Xuzhou

As I have seen in past years at some shopping centers in China on the weekend of or before Halloween, on Saturday the Xuzhou Suning Plaza invited children to come to the mall dressed up in Halloween costumes. That afternoon it held an activity that wouldn't have been out of place any other time of the years except for the fact that some of the children were wearing costumes.

After watching a small part of a contest where children had to think of animals that hadn't been previously named by other children, I took a photo. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a skeleton queen who had been helping some of the other children had now apparently taken interest in me. She quickly jumped onto the stage and approached me while making expressions ranging from ghoulish to charming.

So this happened:

About an hour later I watched a portion of a similar event at the Golden Eagle Pengcheng Square Store. Once again, the setting had a Halloween theme yet the activity — in this case children and teenagers singing — wouldn't have been out of place any other weekend of the year.

As I took a photo of the entrance to the area, I felt a light pat on my stomach. The most likely source of the rather unexpected pat seemed to be downwards, so that's where I looked. The next step to take was soon obvious, and this happened:

After a couple of photos, the skeleton queen darted off and disappeared into the crowd. Later, I saw she had returned to watch the performances, where as before she eagerly showed support — this time by applauding.

And that's the end of this story about an outgoing skeleton queen with a heart.

Time to Get Back on Whatever Animal

Yet again, I have not been posting as much as I had wanted. I really do plan to get back on the horse this time though.

Or maybe I should try a lion instead . . .

At Pengzu Park (彭祖园) in Xuzhou

More soon.

Very Fu Cats at Hanlin in Xuzhou

Hanlin (翰林) is a small neighborhood in Xuzhou with buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It stands out from surrounding historical areas because it hasn't been transformed into a polished tourist site requiring a ticket and people still live in several of the buildings. It also has some non-human inhabitants.

When I briefly visited this afternoon, several cats were examining the food options set out on the ground, which included various meat leftovers

福

The white cat didn't seem to find selection to be all that fortunate and merely observed. None of the cats showed any interest in the nearby likely-not-as-fortunate chickens tethered to a tree.

One of the three small dogs in a cage a bit farther away did express interest in me. I didn't get closer since it seemed a bit overprotective of the chickens.

After I finished looking at the old buildings in the area, I noticed two of the cats were now settled in somewhere a bit comfier for a rest and a cleaning.

And that is all for today from Hanlin.

Not Able to Perceive All the Views at Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple

This past weekend after reaching the top of the hill where Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple* (竹林寺) sits, I immediately sought out the Avalokitesvara Pavilion (观音阁). It isn't hard to spot.

This is the same pavilion which appears in front of a setting sun in a photo I earlier shared. I hoped to go to the top floor of the pavilion and take a photo in the direction of where I had taken the earlier photo to provide both symmetry and contrast.

However, my plans were thwarted.

Without being able to reach the pavilion's upper levels, it wasn't possible to see over the trees and bamboo in the direction I wanted to photograph.

Oh well.

At least I was able to see the large statue of Avalokitesvara inside the pavilion.

Normally I would have used the name Guanyin instead of Avalokitesvara in English, since that seems to be more commonly used when referring to this bodhisattva in China. But a few signs at the temple used the name Avalokitesvara for the pavilion's English name, so I will go with that. The Dunhuang Foundation helps explain the naming issue:

It is generally agreed among Chinese Buddhists and scholars of Buddhist studies that the figure Guanyin is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. . . .

Avalokitesvara is the bodhisattva who represents compassion. . . .

Guanyin in Chinese means "Perceiver of all Sounds," which refers to the way in which Guanyin is able to hear all prayers and cries for help.

In India, bodhisattvas are genderless or are referred to as male. The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, or Guanyin, is often depicted as female in China.

One reason for this gender fluidity is due to the way the Bodhisattva has the ability to manifest on earth in many different forms.

I don't know why the pavilion's upper floors were closed. It reminded of several other pavilions and pagodas I have recently visited in China only to discover they were in similar states. Maybe Guanyin knows why.

Anyway, I don't have a photo to provide some symmetry with the earlier one, but at least I was able to capture the Avalokitesvara Pavilion with some pretty decent cloudage.






* Sometimes the literal translation "Bamboo Forest Temple" is used in English.

Seven Scenes During the Weeklong National Day Holiday in Xuzhou

The last day of the National Day holiday period was Monday, but the impact of the holiday will still be felt tomorrow, Saturday, by many people. As is typical for this holiday and the Lunar New Year holiday, to create seven consecutive days off, in addition to three official holiday days off work two weekday work days are moved to the weekends before or after the holiday. Tomorrow is one of those special shifted days.

In the spirit of the lingering National Day effects and to add to the earlier shared photos of night scenes on National Day, below are seven scenes in Xuzhou during the seven day holiday. None of the photos on their own would make me think "must be the National Day holiday". Yet they are still an opportunity to share a bit more of life in Xuzhou.


Day 1:

Fishing during the late afternoon on Xi'an Bridge (西安桥) at the Feihuang River (废黄河)

Halloween display at the Goldland Carrefour

Day 2:

Butcher stall at the Fengchu Street (丰储街) Market

Day 3:

Playing and sitting on Type 66 152 mm Field Howitzers outside the National Defense Education Museum and Xuzhou Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall

Moon over the Xuzhou Tongshan Wanda Plaza Golden Street

Day 5:

Posing for a photo at Ximatai (戏马台)

Day 7:

Dress rehearsal for a performance at the Xuzhou Suning Plaza

Relinquishing the Sun in Xuzhou

At the Yunlong Lake Scenic Area

Sculpting Blissful Harmony in Xuzhou

In addition to a sculpture of intertwined dragons that provided an opportunity for a multilingual pun, another sculpture at Xuzhou's Yunlong Park recently caught my eye:

Blissful Harmony (花好月圆) by Cai Zengbin (蔡增斌), 2011

In this case, a nearby stone provide the sculpture's title and creator. The title is a Chinese idiom, and I went with a figurative translation reflecting that the woman is playing an erhu. Especially given the lighting conditions at the time, this is hard to see in the above photo. So here is another photo cropped and selectively brightened to help make it more visible:

A more literal translation of the Chinese title would be "lovely flowers, round moon", and flowers and a moon shape are easy to spot. So although there isn't a multilingual pun, the title proves interesting in how it applies both figuratively and literally.

Long Love in Xuzhou

Sculpture at Xuzhou's Yunlong Park

Yes, the bilingual pun in the title was intended.

A Few National Day Night Scenes in Xuzhou

Last night at a central shopping district in Xuzhou some people took selfies with a dog.

Some people took dogs on a walk.

Some people stopped to watch the day's earlier events in Beijing on a large screen.

Some people played basketball.

And some people waited in line for 9-inch pizzas.

On this National Day of the People's Republic of China much seemed as it would be on a busy Saturday night, though there a few more patriotic touches than usual.

Holiday Red Flags at a Temple in Xuzhou, China

One day before the National Day of the People's Republic of China, the Guanyin Rock Temple (大士岩寺) in Xuzhou was already in the holiday spirit.

Quite a mix.

Zooming in to Reveal a Special Moment in Xuzhou

Late yesterday afternoon as I attempted to cross Heping Avenue (和平大道) in Xuzhou, I noticed something wonderful:

Even after significantly cropping the above photo, what caught my eye still might not be apparent:

So a further cropping might help:

Cropping to the extreme of what the photo's resolution allows should make it readily apparent:

If you really still can't figure it out, there's this, though it somewhat pains me to cut out all of the foreground:

When I noticed the sun setting behind Xuzhou's Zhulin Temple (竹林寺), I at first wished I was much closer to the temple. But that wouldn't have achieved what I had in mind, since the ratio of their sizes would be different. What I really could have used was a zoom lens and ideally a tripod as well. Still, I am impressed with the detail my camera was able to catch under the conditions. And I am now glad an underground passageway for reaching the north side of Heping Avenue isn't yet completed. Had it been open, I likely wouldn't have even seen this moment of people on a busy street as the sun set behind them and a distant temple.

Walking Through the Shapes in Xuzhou

If you could walk through one and only one of these shapes, which would you choose?

Of course, I walked through them all, but I found the oval particularly alluring — I think because of how it contrasted with the far more traditionally-typical-in-China circle. In any case, all of these shapes can be found at the Chinese Museum of Huqin Art in Xuzhou's Yunlong Park.