SOONG CHING LING'S MAUSOLEUM

Last year I walked to Soong Ching Ling's former residence, which is in walking distance of the Xuhui campus.   It may be a half mile from the western end of the campus, which is almost a half mile from the faculty club.   I was impressed at the time by the role she and her sisters played in China's modern history.   Soong Ching Ling was married to Sun Yat Sen, who was a larger than life figure in my Far Eastern course at the UW almost 60 years ago. He was called the Father of Modern China and served as its first president. Unfortunately, he died fairly young, and his wife carried on much of his work.

Her eldest sister married Chiang Kai-Shek, and of course the fate of China changed when Mao succeeded and drove Chiang Kai-Shek to Taiwan.

The three sisters attended Wesleyan College in Georgia and played significant roles in the development of modern China. For what it's worth, Wikipedia says that Ching Ling's sisters were the wealthiest women in China before WW II. The sisters were split when the eldest and youngest supported the Nationalist party (Kuomintang) and Ching Ling supported the Communists, because she felt they were closer to Sun Yat Sen's dream of a modern China.

You can see Soong Ching Ling's former residence in last year's blog, but this year Xiao Ding walked me to her mausoleum.   It's a longer walk, but well worth it.  The mausoleum has a museum and a cemetery and very nicely kept grounds.  The cemetery contains other famous modern figures, many of them artists and musicians.

I believe Soong Ching Ling played a significant role with the Communist party, and served on diplomatic missions, and at one time was Vice President of the country. She was called the Mother of Modern China, but had a falling out with the red guard,who destroyed her parents' grave.   As she was dying she was given the title of Honorary President of the People's Republic of China. in 1981.

 Her parents are here, too.    In addition there is a fairly large section of the cemetery devoted to other famous people, many of the practitioners of various arts:  musicians,visual artists, and writers.

Above, a sign designating a section of the cemetery for foreigners.

A NUNNERY AND A DAOIST TEMPLE

0LD TOWN must be one of the busiest sections of Shanghai on a sunny weekend, and that was the description on this day of exploring.   My buddy Ding Yaping and I took the number 10 train to Old Town, found an exit and proceeded to head toward Chenxiangge Road where we found the Chen Xiang Nunnery.    The little ticket to get inside the nunnery called it a monastery, which they claimed was a printing error.  Now, you have to picture the Chinese streets overflowing with jostling, pushing Chinese, hear the voices rising and falling,cantankerous sounds of people in a rush.   And maybe a moment of calm when they circle a stroller with a red-haired child (or two little Orphan Annie look-alikes--I didn't realize until I saw the photo)  was enough to stop the rush of people for a moment on the corner right before the traffic light changed.

A little further on, and down a narrow street to the right was the nunnery.   A small fee to enter, and we find ourselves in a sudden quiet, hushed atmosphere.  It's almost as if we had stepped into a Star Trek transporter and in a flash ended on another planet.

Here's the entrance into the nunnery.

The nunnery is simple, a few temples, and a dormitory rising above.    On the second floor is a special room where it cost another 5Y to enter.

 The courtyard, nun watering.   

This, I believe, is that special room that cost another 5 Y to enter.   At the doorway were two nuns snacking or eating lunch and on their smart phones.  It used to be chanting, but perhaps today there's a new medium for reaching the glory moment.of Nirvana.  (I thought I had sneaked a picture of the two on their smart phones, but my camera phone must have misfired.

(no photos)
It;s interesting to note the variety of deities in the chapels  One would think that the Hindi gods are filling the Buddhist halls.  I probably should have taken Glen's course on the world's religions.  I've forgotten most of what I learned in the only religion class I took back in high school, a course that was among the most popular in the school. We can hear chanting in some of the side chapels.   

(update) I met up with my student guide  Wang Danli (Daring) from last year, who comes from a Buddhist family.  She says the other figures are also Buddhas or (Bodhisattvas?), those who reached enlightenment, and that people do pray to them. That unlike the Christian one god who can answer all prayers, each of these is worshiped for their individual specialty (power?).

Sorry, not a good shot here, but we could see that not only cell phones had arrived, but air conditioning had as well!

And then it was off to The Daoist Temple on the other side of YuYuan Garden.   This is the Temple of the Town God, a red-faced protector, according to the guide book  Here again we see a variety of dieties lining the walls, and monks chanting.    Here again, I have questions, since Daoism is about the way, the path and is based on the I'Ching and the Yin Yang, but without gods that I knew of, so I am surprised as I was last year, to see the Daoist Temple looking very much like the Buddhist temple, with robed monks and serious chanting going on.   And there are people from the streets bowing and kneeling in front of the statues, putting money in the containers.   It seems to be serious business to some, though I did see a young couple who seemed to be there and participating as entertainment, being part of the moment and of the crowds.

This, I believe is the town god.   You'll notice his "exquisite" beard.

As we step out from one temple I look back and see these roofs before entering the next building.

There are several building surrounding a courtyard.

This sign says to go to www.shchm.org.    You can go to the page translate it using Google or Bing.

This female deity was present at the nunnery as well, and at the Jing'an temple last year.   Here, you can see her purpose is to give hope to those wanting to have children.

Last year when I was in Old Town many of the buildings were covered in plastic.    This year they showed a shiny freshly painted face.

Of course, there's a waiting line to get into Starbucks.

 Somewhere along the way, we grabbed a Dairy Queen Blizzard because Ding Yaping had never had one (a minor disappointment) and stopped at Pizza Hut for dinner (it was on the way to the subway train.)   It may have been 20 years since I ate at the Pizza hut near Highline, so I go to China to break my years of abstention.   And Dairy Queen has been gone from Vashon for almost as long, I believe. 

End of the day.

RETURN TO SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY

    Also see last year's blog at www. goldenchild39.blogspot.com

Talking about remodeling...the next morning as I walked through campus I was confronted by the building that previously had been shrouded from sight to protect us from the dust and sound (perhaps) and the building from any invasion by adventuresome college students (Chinese students are very serious, and the culture doesn't seem to allow for a lot of horseplay.)

 Here's the first building.   It's finished on the outside, but work must being going on inside.

Last year it looked like this:

                            And now it's emerged from its chrysalis. 

 

Across the street is the relatively new Law School building.





At the next corner is the next new building, a cafeteria.  Last year it too was draped and hidden.  I had no idea what this building was going to be and to tell the truth hardly noticed it, shrouded as it was from public view.  Today it's like a shiny  new toy.

 Above is the entrance, and to the right what looks like a little coffee bar just inside the front door.

Here's the cafeteria itself. 








Not only does the building house the cafeteria but along the side is the entrance to a new restaurant complete with waitresses and waiters  and iPad menus!

Next door, a third building, which was under construction at the same time awaits some finishing touches.

And construction continues across the way from these buildings.   Behind the Law Center was a running track and tennis court; these have been demolished and solid ten foot fences have been erected.   Now giant dump trucks roar in and out from between the panels with loaded with dirt and rocks.  Now in the evenings and the dark, the campus avenues are crowded with cars, bicycles, and people running through campus because the track is closed.

These trucks are truly monsters.  So large and heavy, the streets have been covered by heavy half-inch thick steel plates with rebar welded onto them for traction.  The dust each truck raises must match a crash of rhinoceros.   Not only do people cover their noses from the daily pollution but now they have dirt flying through the air and into their eyes as well.

I'm told the workers are digging out the track to install an underground parking garage.    I understand that the track will be reinstalled on top of the garage.

Another year and a half of construction!




And out the west gate, the Flower Gate, as Susan L. called it when she was here, the porch where mail had been strewn instead of delivered, is now enclosed, but the sidewalks are torn up going both north and south. 

You can't tell from this picture, but it made me smile to see that the Chinese "digging machine" was having a problem similar to the one that Seattle's Bertha had these past few years.   The crew was trying to get the bucket to work.

Nothing like old fashioned shoveling, is there?
Here, the city or someone has decided to replace a perfectly good and serviceable sidewalk, much to the inconvenience of the business owners and pedestrians.




Over the next week or two, you could see the changes taking place.

 

 

 Back on campus, the cranes and trucks work on, it looks like 24 hours a day, hauling dirt out to make the underground parking garage, hopefully with the running track replaced on top of  it. 

And nothing old-fashioned here.   This is one of two cranes at work where the track and tennis courts used to be.

And  here are the BEASTS of  Burden.

The beasts rumble by.    (This video may or may not work for you.  It was working and today seems to have stopped.  Perhaps it will be working again some time in the future.)


Kitty corner from my hotel there is more city construction going on.   Last year this four or five block area was walled up and construction apparently was under way.   It's still going on.  In fact,it looks like they are just pouring footings for the foundation of whatever is going to rise here.

And those cranes and  trucks are here too.

Shanghai grows and continues to remake itself.   Construction never ceases.