April 10, 2008.  After a full day of travel in Suzhou, Emma writes:

Today consisted of our longest bus ride through China yet: the bus ride to the city of Suzhou. During this ride our guides Rita and Jenny taught us how the Chinese represent the numbers one through ten using their hands. We compared these hand symbols for numbers in China with hand symbols Americans use. It turns out the numbers one through four are the same in both countries. It is when we start with the numbers five through ten that the representations begin to differ. As we practiced all of the symbols -one through ten- I started to think how the numbers almost represent the levels of our two countries which move from most basic to complicated as the numbers grow. At the most basic level our countries and the people who live in them are very similar, but as you move up numbers and levels, symbols and aspects of the countries become more complicated. Aspects in the culture become more complicated and the people and countries begin to differ through detail.

After our long bus ride we arrived at the Hanshan Temple. This temple brought together  many people, all of whom had different agendas. Some came as tourists, some came as worshippers, and some came as learners. Our group came as half tourist, half learners, however observing a different religion and the worship of a different god provided me with a new insight into the Chinese culture.

One other huge aspect of the day began here at the temple as well. This was the number of pictures the Chinese wanted to take of and have taken with us. We seemed to be of great interest not only at the temple but also as the day progressed at the Humble Administrator’s Garden. They either asked outright or just came up and figured out a way to get into a pose with us. This part of Chinese culture, their attitude toward foreigners is very different –it seems to me- from the attitude of Americans. This picture-taking made me feel special as it raised me up to near stardom. The picture-taking was a warm welcome to China for me. In the U.S. we would either ignore foreigners or make fun of them lowering their spirits instead of raising them.

At the Zhouzhengyuan (Humble Administrator’s) Garden we were given a long tour which included showing us the original main entrance. This door had a few special and important features to it. One being that the height of the step that you had to step over to get in. This showed the high standing and importance of the family. I found this an interesting aspect because in the U.S. we don’t view aspects as important or symbolic. A door is a door.

Today was a wonderfully fun and illuminating day full of experiences ranging from worship to learning the symbols for numbers, to details of doors, to foreigner fame. I came away from today with new insight from experience to utilize and refer to in the years to come.

In 1995, a five-story Buddhism pagoda as high as 42 meters (about 138 feet) was erected called Puming Pagoda, which then became the symbolic building of the temple.

Many other ancient buildings are on the temple grounds. Learn more about the temple at this Chinese travel website.

Famous Jinghang Canal, is the longest ancient man-made canal in the world.

After a long day we returned to Shanghai in the evening.

Photo ops requested by Chinese tourists

Blonds do have more fun, especially in China.

Cold Mountain Temple, also called Hanshan Si in Pinyin, is situated five kilometers (about three miles) from Fengqiao Old Town in Suzhou

Every year on New Year's Eve in China's lunar calendar, the bell in the bell tower is tolled to pray for the happiness and safety of the coming New Year. This bell is a replica of the original one now lost.

Dinner in Fengqiao Old Town, Ms. Simpson serving the noodle soup.

Zhouzhengyuan (Humble Administrator’s) Garden

Ms. Sopper writes:
Suzhou

Emma really did a great job on this journal entry leaving little for me to elaborate on. But you can count on me for the food report. And the food highlight of the day was the entirely vegetarian lunch we had at the Hanshan temple. All of the starter salads on the table when we arrived were shaped as pyramids and one delicacy followed the next until none of us could imagine there could be more variety in vegetarian cooking. One dish was garnished with a phoenix on one table and several goldfish on the other. Each carved from carrot and each so exquisitely detailed that each fish seemed to have a different expression. The server told us that many restaurants have someone on staff who is a highly trained carver of garnishes.

Emma talked about learning the hand signals for numbers. I also was delighted with this new knowledge. Not ten minutes after the lesson we had pulled over to a rest-stop and the cashier gave us prices in hand signals. It occurred to me that people have been using these signs all over and I just now got the language. What an eye-opener. The afternoon was full of them. Our guide at the Humble Administrator’s Garden explained how words become lucky by being homophones with words that mean good things. So the number eight is lucky because the word bah sounds like a word that means happiness. At the garden in addition to amazing azaleas there was beautiful architecture and stone walks. In one walkway we saw the symbol for silk framed by five bats. Bats are lucky because the word fu sounds like the word the means luck. There are five bats because of the five Taoist virtues. Taoists also have lucky numbers. Odd numbers are the luckiest and the highest odd number you might use on your house is a seven because nine is reserved for royalty. Four is unlucky because it is a homophone for death.

Another great eye-opener in this garden, one of the four great gardens of China, was the use of patterned stone windows as frames through which one views the garden. Each window as different and –again- I’ve looked through plenty of windows but the idea of integrating the frame and the view was new and enlightening.