Dagan Shani, an Israeli Beijing film academia graduate fluent in Chinese, directed a film by the name Looking for Zi Yi (寻找子怡, xún zhǎo zǐ yí). Here’s a brief synopsis (from here): This is the story of Dagan ,an Israeli guy who lives in Beijing and believe that his landlord”s daughter who lives next door [...]
It was a while ago last August, but I never got around to summarizing my wonderful trip to Istanbul to visit my sister who was living in Istanbul at the time. Following is a summary of that visit with a suggested itinerary for those visiting this beautiful city. Generally, in Istanbul there [...]
Though it seems like I’ve done quite alot in Hangzhou, I was only there for a weekend. But, that was plenty to get a good taste of the city and enjoy some of its wonders. Following is a summary of my visit for Hangzhou and my recommended 2-3 days travel itinerary : Day 1 [...]
General Yue Fei, a military general who fought for the Song Dynasty armies against the Jin, has risen to an almost mythic worship representing loyalty. Due to my ethnic background I find the following story related to Yue Fei, loyalty and the Chinese Kei-Feng Israelites absolutely fascinating. Wikipedia writes (highlight not in original text): Yue [...]
On the east side of the West Lake, not too far away from the new West Lake Museum, is a temple which I believe is called Qiang Wang Temple. There are no resources that I could find to help me better understand who this temple is about, so, photos are all I have.
Lingyin temple goes by many translated names – Temple of the Soul’s Retreat, the Temple of the Hidden Immortals, and a few others I came across on the web. Dating back as early as 4th century BC, located 2-3km southwest of the West Lake, Lin Ying Temple is one impressive place to visit. A true [...]
Looking for an over-commercial Song dynasty atmosphere? look no further than Hangzhou’s Song Dynasty Town which is a bizarre attempt at a cultural theme-park, obviously very local tourism oriented. If you’re interested in context – Hangzhou, with its long history, was the capital of Song dynasty since 1229 and is generally remembered as time of [...]
China is warming up to environmental protection and the concept of wetland parks. Xixi National Wetland Park in Hangzhou is the first in a series of planned wetland parks across China. Right now, a few months after it’s been open to the public, it is still more of a half-built cultural attraction rather than a [...]
