Chongqing and Three Gorges Cruise

We have had a busy couple of weeks and have just returned from one trip and are getting ready to leave on another. The university has a number of short holidays that we are taking advantage of in order to see a bit more of China--so we were off to the airport again.

April 5 (Tuesday) was Qingming festival--kind of like our Memorial Day. It was a day to honor ancestors and to clean their tombs.

On April 2 we left early to fly to Chongqing--China's largest city, actually the WORLD's largest city with its 32 million people. During the Japanese invasion in 1949 when the east areas in China had been gobbled up by Japan's war machine, the capital temporarily moved to Chongqing, west and south of us. One time a part of Sichuan, Chongqing is now both a huge city and a province of its own right, much as Shanghai and Beijing are.

We found it a very bustling city with building going on everywhere. Our local guide laughingly told us that the we would see many of the "national bird of China there--the crane!" So very true that was. There were cranes everywhere as China scrambles to build and build with its escalating economy.

Until recently Chongqing has suffered from a terribly corrupt mafia-like system (as probably a lot of cities in China do) but the leader of that corruption has since been arrested and now has been sentenced to death. The result is that Chongqing has cleaned up its act and is now considered very safe.

Though it is April and supposedly spring in this area, it was pretty crisp and we welcomed having warm coats with us. We were frankly very glad to be visiting at this time of the year, however, since Chongqing is also considered the "furnace of China" with sizzling summer temperatures frequently at 120 degrees!

Because the city sits on the Yangtze river and one of its major tributaries it was very misty, which we were told was pretty typical, year round. While in Chongqing we visited the Flying Tigers Museum--American pilots who helped China by flying in supplies during the Japanese invasion.

In Chongqing we also saw the Three Gorges museum and a number of other important historical sites such as the early, beautifully restored Guild hall where immigrants to the area lived and met to hammer out their own government. One of the museums had a stunning display of calligraphy embroidery.




In the evening we boarded our river cruise ship for our three days on the Yangtze with the final destination to view the massive Three Gorges Dam project.

The weather had rain in the air but it did nothing to daunt our fun.

Our group of BYU China teachers was probably the largest on the cruise ship and we really enjoyed the time we had visiting with these friends we have traveled with repeatedly this year.

We enjoyed the shows with the crew on board and were pretty amazed at the Kung Fu artist who stood on four eggs and bent a steel pole with his neck. He later gave John a massage with all that energy power. Interesting.

The Three Gorges Dam project had made enormous changes to this area as some 1.3 million people were relocated to new cities built above their homes that were to be flooded as part of this massive relocation. It was interesting to listen to our local guides explaining how this has improved their lives, though it has been difficult for the old generations to leave their traditional homes and farms. It is very interesting to be in a communist country and listen to its citizens who are very positive about their own government--even as they kind of laugh about their lack of freedoms. Instead they seem committed to the common good and are willing to put up with what they can't change. I guess in a lot of ways, people are the same everywhere.

As a group we were allowed to use a conference room on the ship where on Sunday we held a little sacrament service with John presiding as branch president, having received permission from the district to do so. On another day we joined in on a ship talent show--John performed a piano solo and the rest of us sang a couple of songs.

En route we stopped for an excursion up to Fengdu--the supposed location of where the judgement is made to send you to heaven or hell. Complete with Dante-like torture chambers. Pretty weird.

We also took smaller boats up a tributary crossing under a bridge that used to be high up on the mountain--as illustrated in the picture I photographed from a book.


The next night our ship went through the five locks of the dam and in the morning we toured the project. It was, for China, a pretty controversial one due to its enormous cost and the relocations but it has provided huge amounts of much-needed power for China to try to meet its energy needs.

On Tuesday we toured the dam project, the locks, before a long bus ride to Wuhan to catch our flights back to our home cities and back to our classes! The route was bordered by fields of yellow flowers that we were told was the source of canola oil.



Time is flying by. We have only about three more months in China before we begin our slow trip home.

This was our conference weekend--we get a one-week delay while Hong Kong sends us out the DVDs of the sessions. Yesterday, on Saturday, we had a branch service activity at the Starfish Foster Home in its wonderful new facility.

to do a number of needed projects before joining for a pot luck and then to watch the Saturday morning session.

In actuality, without a remote to select English we were unable to watch the session but it was still fun to get together. We ended up watching it at home.

This morning we gathered at the hotel-Church location to watch the Sunday morning session. Although I love staying home at Conference time it was still very nice to get together with the branch and enjoy a part of the conference. What awesome talks we heard.

This week my English-major sophomore oral students don't take my classes--instead they meet in engineering classes where they are taught to be engineers for a week. They didn't seem super excited about the idea of this once-a-semester opportunity but JiaoDa is big on engineering fields so they don't have much choice in the matter. They also are under the pressure of having to go take the TEM 4 exam this weekend--that is an important hurdle for them to climb over. That said, they did a great job with their family treasure presentations and their group work. Good kids.

While they are off building things and preparing for their exams, John and I are going to Shanghai and Suzhou from Thursday to Monday. We have to go to get our Russian visas, available at the consulate in Shanghai, and our Kimmy has a good friend who lives in Suzhou who has invited us to some stay with them. We are looking forward to it. It will be fun to take a trip without a tour for a change.

We hope you are all doing well on your home fronts; we continue to muddle along in dusty ole Xi'an. Funny how coming back from a trip always feels just like coming home.