Linfen (临汾, Línfén): We Came for a City — and Found 4,000 Years of China Most international travelers planning their first trip to China have heard of: Beijing. Shanghai. Xi’an. Maybe Chengdu and Chongqing. But: Linfen? 😂 Dad hadn’t put Linfen (临汾, Línfén) on our journey because it was a famous tourist city. We came because we kept asking one annoying question in Xi’an: What came before Qin? And that question sent...
One Province. Multiple Chinas. Datong (大同, Dàtóng) → Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟, Yúngāng Shíkū) → Hanging Temple (悬空寺, Xuánkōng Sì) / Yingxian Wooden Pagoda (应县木塔, Yìngxiàn Mùtǎ) → Yanmen Pass (雁门关, Yànménguān) → Taiyuan (太原, Tàiyuán) → Jinci (晋祠, Jìncí) → Pingyao (平遥, Píngyáo) → Linfen (临汾, Línfén) → Yuncheng (运城, Yùnchéng) Travel China. Let the places teach you Chinese history. Most travelers planning a trip through: Shanxi (山西, Shānxī) start with a...
Five Terraces, One Bodhisattva — and a Mountain That Became More Than Geography Dad & Elaine arrived at Mount Wutai (五台山, Wǔtái Shān) in Shanxi Province (山西省, Shānxī Shěng) after traveling through several very different historical worlds. At: Yanmenguan Pass (雁门关, Yànménguān) we were thinking about: northern frontiers, armies, walls, and: who controlled the road between the Central Plain and the northern steppe. At: Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟, Yúngāng Shíkū) we met: Xianbei...
Section 1 — One Hangs From a Cliff. The Other Has Stood in Wood for Nearly 1,000 Years. After Yungang Grottoes introduced Elaine and me to the Northern Wei and the Xianbei world of northern China, we continued through northern Shanxi and encountered two buildings that almost seem determined to defy common sense: the Hanging Temple (悬空寺), clinging to a cliff near Mount Heng, and the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda (应县木塔), a towering...
Section 1 — Beyond the Great Wall: When the People From the Northern Frontier Became the Rulers At Yanmenguan (雁门关), Elaine and I stood on China’s northern frontier and asked why Chinese states and dynasties kept building walls. Then, farther north near Datong (大同), we visited Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟) — and encountered the other half of the story. What happened when peoples from beyond the old Central Plains political world didn’t merely...
Dad and Elaine came to Pingyao (平遥, Píngyáo) expecting to see one of China’s great ancient walled cities. And when we arrived… that was exactly what we saw. A wall. A very BIG wall. 😂 But within the next few minutes, Dad began to realize something. The wall wasn’t really the story. The city behind it was. Come in with us. 🧱 Arriving at Pingyao (平遥) Dad and Elaine arriving outside the...
DEEP China: Jinci (晋祠, Jìncí) — Where the Story of Jin (晋, Jìn) Begins A 3,000-Year Story, Nearly 1,000-Year-Old Art and Architecture — and the Missing Link Elaine Had to Explain to Dad Travel around: Shanxi Province (山西省, Shānxī Shěng) and you’ll keep seeing one Chinese character: 晋 Jìn Look at a Shanxi license plate. There it is. Dad knew: Jin (晋, Jìn) is the official abbreviation for: Shanxi Province (山西省, Shānxī...
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