Post 24 - Another Day of Exploration in Nan Chang

It is hard to not fall in love when you wake up to this ...

Our Little Angel

This is the report that I wrote on 4/7/2005 in Nan Chang, Jiang Xi, China

It is hard to explain the belief system here in China. The population is going through rapid changes economically and culturally. I have seen what I believe to be Buddhist priests walking around the city, but I am not sure. I would love to visit a home church, but it would be to hard to find one and too risky to the home church too even if I could find one. Below is a large Buddhist temple that Gabe and I went to look at while Sue and Sarah rested in the room together.

A Massive Buddhist Temple in Nanchang Near our Hotel

Even though Gabe was quite disappointed with the commercialism inside the temple, and that the temple was not restored inside to original, we had a nice time. It has an elevator and nice marble stairways now, and about 3 to 4 shops on each level. Regardless, the Chinese art and much of the original structure and wall paintings inside the temple are really great. Gabe and I liked many pieces, but this one struck us the most.

One of the Many Art Pieces within the Buddhist Temple

We also visited a Chinese commune for the performing arts. There was not as much rehearsal to watch as we might have hoped for, but we were able to see some dancers, and we did meet a violinist who graciously performed some pieces for us on Uncle Henry's violin. Essentially, this is a gated community where talented people live and practice their arts under the tutelage of great masters.

A Violin Master that Lives within a Performing Arts Community

This picture is the entrance to the community of artists. The sign at left basically has the name of the province, Jiang Xi, and a list of the arts practiced here.

The Performing Arts Community that We Visited

There were many great pieces of art in the Buddhist temple, and we also did a bit of exploring where we found a broad walking avenue and many shops not too far from our hotel. In order to save space and still able to share this very interesting day in detail, I put almost all of the pictures for the day into the video below. The Buddhist temple was quite impressive ... and tall.