Photographs from Xiangfan in Hubei Province China: 3 George Dam: Chibi City: Wuhan:Xiangfan is a historical and cultural city in the southwest of Hubei Province. It has an area of 26.7 thousand square kilometers and a population of 6.75 million. The central part of Xiangfan is a plain. The rest are mountains and hills. Xiangfan has a subtropical monsoon climate with an annual average temperature of 15.8C, and has 240 frost-free days. Annual rainfall averages 878 millimeters.
Happy Chinese New Year and may Good Fortune Smile on You
or at least no bad fortune. My time in Wuhan City, Hubei Province is drawing to a close. I was supposed to go back to Australia to see my family, but bureaucratic red tape put an end to that, so this month, as I wait to head off to my new teaching position in SuZhou City Jiangsu province, I am taking time out to visit a few people.
I spent last week in Xiangfan City in Hubei, staying with a former student and his mother. Mother, who until her retirement taught Chinese, could speak no English. His father, a manager, works in Chibi City, about which I have written before.
According to one Chinese Website Xiangfan is a historical and cultural city in the southwest of Hubei Province. It has an area of 26.7 thousand square kilometers and a population of 6.75 million. The central part of Xiangfan is a plain. The rest are mountains and hills. Xiangfan has a subtropical monsoon climate with an annual average temperature of 15.8C, and has 240 frost-free days. Annual rainfall averages 878 millimeters.
During my week in XiangFan, the city was enveloped in a cloud of Fog, which, combined with several days of rain, prevented me from doing much sightseeing, let alone snapping up interesting scenery. But here now I present some photographs that I did manage to get.
My friend lives near the bus and train station in XiangFan, and from his house we took the number 13 bus to go to a shopping center to buy some groceries. These next 3 photographs are taken from a main thoroughfare, off which was located the supermarket. This is not a scene from some street designed to attract tourists. The street itself and some of the buildings around it have a 1000 year history.
This is the view from the Main Road
This is apparently an Emperors Library
Side View of Emperor's Library in XiangFan Hubei
This is a long view of the rear of the Emperor's Library in XiangFan
This is looking toward the far (River) end of the street
This is the view from the River End looking back to the Emperor's Library
Middle right Pagoda is an antique coin and stamp collectors delight
A dragon climbing the pole.
Funny Story: The day before I took the photo above, my friend got his hair cut in the side street to the left. While I waited, I went to the Public WC just down the road. When one first comes to China, one notices everything, but after a while, you train yourself not to notice a lot of things. As I entered the WC I paid the attendant his 50 cents. Inside I was surprised by the height of the partitions of the "stalls". They are so often set about waist high. Then I noticed that because of the design structure of the building, the stalls had to have high walls, for one had clear sight of the balconies of the adjoining buildings.
I was thinking about this and other funny things about China as I was leaving. I walked past the attendant and got about 4 metres when it suddenly struck me that had I been new to China, I would have been shocked when I first entered the Public facility. You see, as you enter into the vestibule of the Facility, the man was chopping up pork on a chopping board, and selling it to some ladies.
I had observed this on the way in, but it had no impact upon me. It was only because I was thinking about how many things shock first time visitors to China, that it even occurred to me that what the attendant was doing was strange or out of place. Unfortunately, on that particular day, I did not have my camera on me, because it was just too foggy.
Leaving at the River End of the Street
The view from the tower at the River in XiangFan
Looking back toward the Emperor's Library.
The Tower
Tower with Steps down to the Street. 3 RMB to go up.
This is Madame Han. Beyond that I have no idea
Two Ancient Relics. As my Ex would say: Both are made of stone; both have cold hearts; and neither is handy.
View from Madame Han back to the Tower, and XiangFan No.2 Bridge
This sign is on the wall on the stairway to the tower.
Although it is not accompanied by an English Translation, it translates as:
"How the heck would I know? Ask a Chinese Person!"
From the Tower: Looking Right: Xiaobeimen Wharf with XiangFan No 2 Bridge background, and promenade.
From the tower looking over the Han Jiang River to more of XiangFan
From the Tower: Left View of Han Jiang River and promenade
Madame Han end of wall with back to the river:
Section of City wall running beside man made lake
Man made lake (I'm told)
The following Photographs:
These were my first attempts to take some photographs, but the fog was still too heavy. These are of a huge park complex within which there is an older open sports stadium, and a newer covered stadium. There is a memorial to Zhu GeLiang, athletic statues, a tea house, and a children's amusement park to name a few things. At night time the park fills with people Dancing.
I hope you enjoyed these Photographs from XiangFan in Hubei Province.
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You will arrive at Taipa House Museum Area with so much to see. If you want to go into the Museum you must pay. But there is also much to see outside. This is a museum beside the A-Ma Temple on Macao Island. This sits on the waterfront and you can see Zhuhai in China across the harbour.
The interesting thing about the ride is that as the train leaves each station, a uniformed attendant salutes the departing train. At night, people dance, talk, roller scate etc. An Island blocks the view to the ocean. The sculpture of the boy is urinating
Photographs of the Paris Gardens and Rome Metropolis in Jiaxing City Zhejiang Province: Arc de Triomphe in Jiaxing: Avenue des Champs-Élysées: The Vatican: Egyptian Obelisks at the Rome Metropolis
After years of living in China, I finally got around to organizing a trip to Tibet. I was due to pay for the trip at the End of June and I was to go in October during the Chinese National Holiday. If you have been wondering why the Chinese Government put a ban on foreigners going to Tibet, then now you know the reason. It was to stop me! Alleyways and Streets are more narrow than the canals in Xitang Town ZheJiang. Once we cleared the bars it quieted down. Now this is where I point out why the title of this article has 'Clown' in it.
With the official greetings over, we were presented with a variety of performances from local artists and international guests, including an American man and his family. This family presented a narrative from a Gospel about the birth of Jesus, and then went on to present some musical renditions of Christmas Carols. Another foreigner, who performed a Chinese fan dance, was Helen, a Ukrainian with an American Accent. She is also an English teacher in Dong He District Baotou. We chatted for a little while at the end of the night. The other performances included an Arabian - Chinese dance performed by a group of girls balancing rice bowls while they gyrated around the place. They were all young and beautiful and adept in their craft
China for me, was intended to be just a temporary distraction from the nothingness of my life. But as things have transpired, it has given me a new lease on life. Despite all the set backs and frustrations of life here, I can say without qualification, that I have not been this happy since I was 18 years old. We had had no idea in which direction our plane had flown, and had no idea if we were in the north, south, east, west or centre of China. If you draw a line from Beijing to Hong Kong and another west from Shanghai, just about at the intersection point you should see 'Wuhan', the capital of Hubei Province.
Designed by Lu Yanzhi, a famous architect, the construction of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum began in March 1926 and ended in the spring of 1929. It is 700 meters from the Memorial Archway to the coffin chamber with 10 terraces and 392 steps between them, and the falling head reaches 70 meters. The main buildings of the mausoleum include the memorial archway, the mausoleum gate, the tablet pavilion, the sacrificial hall and the coffin chamber. On June 1, 1929, a grand burial ceremony was held at the mausoleum which is shaped like an alarm bell, symbolizing Dr. Sun Yat-sen's unyileding spirit in fighting to arouse people and salvage the nation. - In the center of this map with the blue roof is Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum. To the right is the Linggu Pagoda and to the left of the Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum is the Ming Tomb area. As you can see there are many other places to see. There is also Purple Mountain at the very top of the picture, access to which can be gained by a cable way
(Originally a 4 part article) On January 14th 2010, I commenced my trip back to Australia. The temperature at that time was varying between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees. It was for this Aussie, despite living in China for 7 years, truly cold. I flew from Baotou in Inner Mongolia to Beijing and stayed one night in the Beijing Aulympic Airportel. The Hotel is located very close to the airport. The fees were very very very low and that suited me fine. I did not expect however, that the hotel would be as nice as it was. Next day I flew to Hong Kong where I connected with a Qantas flight travelling to Brisbane Australia.
When we arrived, we noted that this place really was a resort centre. It had wave pools and other interesting things for people to enjoy, and even accommodated school tour groups with dormitory style accomodation. Opposite the breakfast room was a swimming complex, in the front of which was a very interesting sign. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my .38 Smith and Wesson. When we went in for breakfast, we saw that the next room was set up for a wedding, and discovered that it was 'our' wedding reception. Taking a 'sticky beak', I noted that there were no knives on any of the tables. 'Ahah! Thank God I brought that solid clear plastic knife with me!'.. The whole time before and after the actual church service, the local beggars were inside the church hitting everyone for money. Oh the guilt of refusing a pittance for the poor in the house of God, but I was advised to give no one anything, for that would be more effective than the 'last trump' for the dead. All the beggars would arrive. Not that this mattered at all. Who was carrying money?
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
(He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.)
**********ACADEMIC ARTICLES**********
Josephus Unabridged: Ancient History and Biblical Contradictions By R.P. Bendedek
The acknowledged problem with Josephus is that his chronological details are flawed! They don't make sense! They are excessive! But the real problem is the mindsets of those studying Josephus. If one starts with an assumption that one's viewpoint is correct, then when 'impasses' are encountered, one has to rationalise them in order to get past them. Very few people seem to have the ability to study the material without preconception; without imposing on it their own prejudices. The fact is that Josephus has passed on to us a far superior chronological knowledge of the History of Ancient Israel than has previously been appreciated
Moses was Born 1523 BCE - Fled to Midian in 1486 BCE - Commenced the Exodus in 1449 BCE and died in 1413/1412 BCE: In 1514 BCE when Moses was around Nine years old, Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis II had a daughter...the future seemed secure to Hatshepsut when her Daughter Neferure was born, for through marriage to Moses she would have provided Egypt with a New King. Neferure died at the age of Eleven years in 1503 BCE. In 1487 BCE, around the time that Hatshepsutat died, 40 year old Moses fled Egypt. Forty years later he returned to confront Amenhotep II who was far worse by nature than the Biblical Pharaoh. The Exodus took place during Amenhotep II's co-regency during the last two years of the reign of Thothmes III. During this time, Amenhotep left Egypt to campaign in Asia. The administration of Egypt was left to Grandvisier Rekhmire, whose tomb reveals that he met his end with disgrace. The Book of Judges provides an incomplete chronology of the Judges of Ancient Israel, yet still records 450 years of consecutive data. Extra-Biblical records indicate a further 60 to 80 years for Joshua, Samuel and King Saul. Add 40 years for King David's reign and 4 years to the Commencement of the building of Solomon's remple, a total of between 554 and 574 years elapse between the Israelite entrance into Canaan and the 4th year of Solomon. The King's Calendar artificial construct reduces the overall value of the data, and demonstrates that the period of the Judges compactly fits into 480 artificial years, as indicated in the Masoretic version 1 Kings 6:1.
COMPLETE unabridged version of "The Law, Rules of Evidence & Archaeology": A Polemical rebuttal of Academic methodology in reconstructing the history of Ancient Israel. The Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE is important in relation to the History of the Ancient Near East and The 'King's Calendar' indicates that King Ahab of Israel, died in 863 BCE. The Kurkh Stele of Shalmaneser III claims that King Ahab was present at the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE. The claims of the Kurkh Stele are promoted despite seven (7) justifiable academic objections to its content. The King's Calendar' is a computer generated mathematical synchronous chronological presentation of the history of Ancient Israel, as principally recorded in the Biblical books of Kings and Chronicles, and sets forth Apologetics for and the results of R.P.BenDedek's discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Books of the Bible, Josephus,the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
