风水轮流转

Just returned from a 10 day trip in China which included Jiangjiajie as well as a 4 night cruise along the Yangtze River and the 3 Gorges.

A few things left deep impression. The most spectacular for me was when the cruise ship sailed through the ship locks at the dam (the biggest dam and power station in the world). A ship lock allows a vessel to be raised or lowered when travelling through a change in river level across an obstacle (which is the dam in this case).  It is like climbing steps to reach the top or to reach the bottom depending on whether you are sailing upstream or downstream. Each step is fringed by giant steel gates which when locked allows water either to be pumped in or drained out to raise or lower the water level. The ship had to pass through 5 locks like climbing 5 steps. The passengers were informed in advance of the time when the ship will pass through the locks. So we watched from the ship deck  as the ship moved into a lock, the huge steel gates closed behind it and then felt the ship being raised as water was pumped in. What an engineering feat!

Another awesome experience was watching a musical at the open air theatre at Jiangjiejia. The open air theatre is at a valley and has the mountains as its backdrop. Limestone cliffs with hanging huts serve as props for a village. The story line is simple, a folklore about a vixen and a woodcutter; but the choreography, the visual effects, the lighting, the use of high tech props together with a cast of 500 people rendered it the most spectacular show I have ever seen. At times looking up at the dark sky studded with stars one could not tell whether they were supposed to be part of the props. At the climax of the show a 60-meter bridge forms across the sky at a height of 40-m which provides a dramatic setting for the lovers to meet. Some reviews I read rate this show above Zhang Yimou's Lijiang show.

At Chongqing the last stop where we took our flight home, I couldn't help but thought about the  vast difference between what is happenings in China versus that in Europe which I visited last December. Where construction and modernisation is taking place in China, Europe (or at least Italy and UK where I was) seem to be sliding downhill judging from the infrastructure and construction activity as well as the retail scene. The van drove us to Chongqing airport and we were stumped when we saw how large Chongqing's Domestic Airport is. We were surprised when the van drove past the modern Domestic Airport and dropped us at a small oldish terminal which is Chongqing's International Airport. Yes China is like a continent with many countries and it can spin its own economy from its own domestic demand whilst Europe a continent of many countries struggles to bail each other. 风水轮流转 feng shui lun liu zhuang. It happens to countries too.