AN EXCURSION TO ‘FOSHAN’
FOSHAN is one of the historical cities of China. It is the city where legend was born. Bruce Lee, a brilliant Chinese Kungfu master’s ancestor’s home is there. It is located in the northern part of the Pearl River, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Guangzhou in Guandong Province. With a long history dating back to approximately 5,000 years, the city gained its name from the three Buddha statues unearthed in this area in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Foshan is regarded as the home of the Cantonese forms of Chinese opera, kung fu, lion dancing, and dragon boat racing.
We started our journey on 2016-12-22 at 08.00 AM in the morning. There was a batch of 48 students of our classmates and seniors and 2 teachers of JNU. Our tour instructor was named ‘Phelix’. It took us almost one hour by bus to reach our first destination due to high traffic. Now I will share some of my memories regarding that extraordinary excursion.
At first we reached to an ancient temple of Foshan, named “ZUMIAO”. It is also Known as "Chan Cheng". The Ancestors' Temple was built in the Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127) and was mainly used as a place where sacrifices to the Xuantian God (the God of Water in Taoism) occurred. There was an ancient Cantonese opera stage named “The Wanfu Stage”. Its name is also written in Guinness book of world record. There is Jinxiang Pool with stone carvings in it will appear in front of us, while the Bell and Drum Tower stands next to it. To the north of the Jinxiang Pool there is a statue of the Xuantian God with the gilded head, knees and feet. We also saw some treasure of that temple. There were lots of Ceramic and Pottery sculptures located on the top of the temple’s gates and in front of the gates. Then we saw a live Kungfu show and a show of Lion dance. I felt very energetic as well as respectful from my heart to the desciples of ZUMIAO, after witnessing their energy, will power, believe, love, bonding, devotion and ancient cultures which they still carry on as their identity.
Our next destination was ZUMIAO’S COMMERCIAL STREET. Zumiao Shopping Street is the most prosperous commercial district, and is also the economic, cultural and entertainment centre. It is located next to the Zumiao. It is a street with lots of restaurants and food shops on the both side of it. There was also a big ‘Villa’ which was no doubt very spacious and pretty. That place was indeed a favourite spot for photographers.
From that lovely place we went to have our lunch in a traditional Chinese restaurant. There were five big round tables for us. One table was specially booked for vegetarians and the other four was for non vegetarians like me. There we were offered lots of traditional Chinese cuisines. We ate rice and corn soup with some delicious dishes made of Chicken, Mushrooms, Pork, Fish, Tofu and many more ingredients.
After completion of our lunch we reached our last destination, named “ANCIENT NANFENG KILN”. It is an ancient kiln to make pottery and ceramics. It was created nearly 500 years ago in the Ming Dynasty. The oven’s shape is like a huge flying dragon that’s why it is called “DRAGON KILN”. There is also a holy banyan tree beside the kiln, named “STOVE TREE”, which is still growing up in spite of 800 degree Celsius temperature of dragon kiln. There was a ceramics museum and a doll street which was really very charming. At last we saw a live show of making pottery. I was just amazed to see the Pot maker’s patience and love to his profession.
At the end of this report I just want to say THANK YOU JNU, for giving me such an opportunity to taste some rich varieties of Ancient Chinese Culture and I am also grateful to our teachers ‘Mr. Andy’ and ‘Miss. Neha Verma’, without whom that excursion won’t be conductible. I am also hoping for another adventurous tour which would make me more familiar with Chinese culture and traditions.
Drafted By: Debasish Khatua
MBBS, 2016
Edited By Li simin
Revised By Neha
"BETTER TO SEE SOMETHING ONCE,THAN TO HEAR ABOUT IT A THOUSAND TIMES" --Apoorva Vishwanath 2014MBBS
I being a travel enthusiastic was very excited to explore the new country, get to know it's history. I like the brightness and colourful China and I admire the way people here connect with the nature.
On the day of our field trip we gathered around and were quickly briefed about the itinerary and their history.
We were going to Guangzhou's next door neighbour FOSHAN CITY which was around one hour journey by bus.
Our first stop arrived before we even know it. It was ZUMIAO TEMPLE,also called as Ancient temple. One would get the nostalgic feeling after entering the place.It has a Cantonese type of architecture. It also consists of museum and also pays a tribute to one of the great Kung-fu master Ip Man (Bruce Lee's master). They pray the Northern God( God of WATER) and we could see huge sculpture in the heart of the temple. The carvings on the building during that time were made on wood,stone and clay. There was a pool in which we could see a carving of snake on the tortoise in the centre. This was called as a Wish pond. Opposite to that was another beautiful stage where Cantonese type of Opera takes place. After we finished seeing these places, we witnessed something what we can actually called as impressive,well balanced daring act- Kungfu and Lion dance.
It was such a breathtaking performance that there were moments where our hearts literally skipped a beat.
After we were done with the temple,it was time to explore that part of the city where you find these royal buildings with all uptown restaurants.Adding to the beauty of the place was the Christmas season, which brought an extra joy in that atmosphere.That was our memory of the second destination,THE PEDESTRIAN STREET.
The next stop was something which most of us experienced for the first time and loved it- The Cantonese food. It was simple,yet elegant and satisfying.
It was time to visit our last and memorable destination- ANCIENT NANFENG KILN which was built during Ming Dynasty. Fire god was being worshipped here. We were explained about this huge furnace,called Dragon kiln which was being used to bake clay works.
It is about 300mts long and the core temperature could go upto 800°C. It was being used to bake big clay sculptures. We not only got to see the kiln, but could experience little pottery making and few got try it which was a memorable experience.
The day exploring this wonderful place with our teachers,seniors and friends always remains memorable .On the whole, it was time for us to pack our bags with lot of memories and amazing stories