china musings

The Middle Kingdom

In its own language, to her own people, China means "Middle Kingdom." With the famous silk road passing through China from west to east, it is easy to appreciate that China has certainly been the center of many cultural streams. These streams however predate the silk road of Marco Polo by millennia.

Currents reached China from Persia and ancient Greece up through the Karakoram and from India via Tibet. Currents flowed from China in the same directions and to the southeast and to the east, reaching Korea and Japan.

Imaginings

Let's imagine we'd like to take a little trip somewhere where place and time have a different meaning, somewhere we can touch some of the magic of these ancient streams and currents, feel them in the atmosphere we breathe and alive in ground on which we walk. We know such a place is more likely to be found off the beaten track, and that places off the beaten track are becoming harder and harder to find. Still, China is a vast country, and with a little effort it might just be possible. So we find detailed maps and search them, on the lookout for the kind of place the immortals of ancient Chinese fable might like to dwell. When we find an area that rings possible, we check the guide books, just to be sure it isn't mentioned, or, if it is, only cursorily, no more than a short sentence or so, indicating that it probably is off the beaten track. (A technique recommended only for very experienced travelers) Then, clicking on a photo (below), we set off.