First Comes First - A Confession
I have a confession to make.
So when I came to the US at a young age, my knowledge about the country was very fragmented. At the time, I did not realize that.
Leaving the Old and the Slow
The Left Brain Prevailed
The Right Brain “Found” Its Way
So, what does that have to do with my trip to Zhangjiajie? A lot!
When Modern Meets Ancient
Fast forward to today, I’m standing on the soil of China, ready to visit Zhangjiajie.
If I did not know enough about the province of Hunan, I know even less, a lot less, about Zhangjiajie, the national forest park located in Hunan. To me, it is a name that shows up frequently in the tourism materials
for China and it is well-known for its exotic arrangements of rocky mountains.
Yet, I did not know that this national forest park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. I also did not know that the name of Zhangjiajie City was adopted in 1994, meaning "open the family door to welcome the world" in Chinese.
Stepping outside, sprinkled mist in the air, I watched a roll of Chinese painting opened up in front of me. It continued to happen in the next two hours.
Don’t get me wrong. I did say that I did not care about Chinese ancient art. But that does not mean I don’t know how they look. What I didn’t know was that the things that frequented in the paintings all
came from real life.
It’s not anybody’s fault. Ancient poets did try to “tell” me that in their poetic work. But I chose to believe all that “fluffy” stuff was not true. See, I was a scientist and I only believed what I saw. I was however wrong in that the world is not just the world that I had the chance to experience; it also includes the part that I didn’t.
Mesmerized by the beauty, I finally got to meet what I saw in paintings many years ago with my own eyes, the “old” and the “fluffy”. Life does like to play jokes with us.
1 comment:
The photos you posted here are truly amazing.
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