Thinking of China and the Year of the Rooster

Thinking of China and the Year of the Rooster 1

Blossoms

China is celebrating The Year of the Rooster. This time last year I was in China.  It was to attend a wedding.  Sadly the marriage didn’t last long, and my dear friend is single again.  But it was an amazing experience to be “embedded” in the Chinese community during the celebrations of the Year of the Monkey.

It was February that I first went to China in 2008.  I remember much of it very well.  I had rather unexpectedly been offered a contract to teach at Yuexiu University.  It was such a short time between getting the appointment to going.  A few weeks of rushing around, and trying to cope with the decision that I had made.  No regrets of course, other than perhaps that I didn’t manage to do much research about the city, and province that I was going to live!!

I found this on China Daily. Artworks to celebrate the Year of the Rooster.  

It was cold when we arrived, but not too bad.  One place I remember going to see was a park near Shaoxing, for the Plum Blossom Festival.    It was an eye-opener in more ways than one.  The link will take you to some photos of plum blossom in Hangzhou, which was not far from where I was.  The pictures are amazing.

At the time I only had a small point and shoot camera.  My photos never did justice to the beauty of it all.  It was later that I chose to buy a better camera.  Would love to spend a lot of time around China now with my Olympus E-M10.

It wasn’t Shen Garden that I went to for the Plum Blossom, but another tourist place in Shaoxing.  I can’t recall the name of it.

Last year I went to a new tourist attraction at Shaoxing.  I had been there in 2010 when the park was opened.  At that time it had gardens and lakes and many trees, but clearly it was new.  So going there six years later, it was most interesting to see the developments and yes, there were plum and other blossoms in bloom.

I love the way the Chinese celebrate in parks – government parks, where they walk, eat, fly kites, and have fun.  We should have more similar parks in Australia.




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About Di Hill

My business card says "Writer, Traveller, Camera Addict, Bamboo Fan, Workshop Presenter." This website will focus on my writing - and the workshops I present. Workshops on Blogging, Marketing for Writers, and Life Story Writing.
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