Tidbits From the World

The topic of today’s article: the most “european” Chinese city, Yulin, in Shaanxi province. Well… not that European you might say, but actually, some places reminded me of Europe, for example the narrow alleys, the stone streets,…

In Yulin, there are a lot of temples.

Mother and son.

Mother and daughter.

卫生值周牌
谢
艳
梅

This week, it is Xie Yanmei’s turn to clean up the alley.

Construction.

Open-air restaurant.

Undergoing renovations.

专修
平房 楼房 漏水

Specialty:

Single-story houses, multi-story buildings and water leakage.

On the forefront, a man in military fatigue talking on his phone; in the middle, an old man selling fruits and in the background, a moto-taxi driver waiting for a client.

He is reading an advertisement.

Armed with spiked batons, men in military uniform were patrolling the city, in lieu of policemen. — Don’t even think of snatching that purse!

***

Related Articles:

Sichuan (Szechuan; 四川) (A journey in Sichuan’s countryside and a quick stop-over in its capital, Chengdu)

Miscellaneous Pictures from Xi’an (Construction sites and more…)

Walking in Xi’an (Photos of Xi’an)

Russian Federation — Российская Федерация (Photos from the Fussian Federation: Moscow, St.-Petersburg)

Taking Pictures in Paris… (People in Paris)

Ottawa (Canada’s Capital City)

Buenos Aires, Argentina (The Capital City of Latin America)

Ushuaia (The Southernmost City in the World)

Punta Arenas (The Southernmost City in Chile)

I recently visited for the first time the Terracotta Warriors, the symbol of the city of Xi’an and one of the most ancient relics of Chinese culture.

The site, part of the Unesco World Heritage, is composed of one museum and three hangars.

In the museum, one can learn about the history of the Terracotta Army, which was created around 210 B.C., and of their discovery, in 1974.

The first emperor of China had ordered that a terracotta army be created for him to be protected in his afterlife. At his death, the army was placed in his mausoleum.

The army was discovered in 1974 by some peasants who were trying to drill a well. They notified the government about their discovery, which converted the place to an archeological and touristic site. Now, the peasants are seeking a compensation. I don’t know if they were expelled from their land that lied over the mausoleum, or if they were relocated. The history doesn’t tell!

As you can see, after more than 2200 years buried underground, the Terracotta Warriors were in very bad shape when they were discovered. They were repaired to their original shape by archeologists.

Some of the statues have no head.

Here is a picture from the main hangar, the one containing most statues.

There are statues of all shapes: slim, fat, tall, short, …

A police officer told us to carry on. When I asked him why we couldn’t stay, he replied 接待, which I originally thought it meant “you have to follow the group in front of you”, but actually meant “we are receiving a VIP”.

But who was this very important person? I couldn’t find out, so I carried on with my visit.

Notice all the details on the horses.

Here are some of the Terracotta Warriors that could not be completely repaired.

Other soldiers…

Suddenly, I was pushed back by some bodyguards. I asked the guy on the left with the suitcase who this VIP was. He replied to me “vice president…” Wen Jiabao? The Vice President of China? Here? “No… not China, Myanmar”…

_{Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maung_Aye.gif}

I checked on Wikipedia who this guy is. It turns out there is no Vice-President in Myanmar, but rather a Vice Senior General. His name is Maung Aye, he is a ruler in the military junta in power in the Union of Myanmar.

Find Waldo.

When he left, I could freely take pictures without any problem.

No trespassing.

No Photo. Archaeological excavations.

Of course, no touristic activity in China would be complete without someone asking to take a picture of you!

Two friends, from Beijing.

Let’s leave China for a moment to see some pictures that I took in Russia. Here are some pictures from Saint Petersburg.

The two-headed eagle is the symbol of Russia.

When you visit Russia, you might find here and there the old Russian emblem, that of the USSR. The Russian letters SSSR (CCCP) stand for Soyuz Sovietskikh Sotsialistichekikh Respublik (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик), which means Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. On the emblem you can see the slogan of the USSR “Proletarians of the World, Unite!”

The bear is also the symbol of Russia. Here, a cub is given milk on a park bench.

Officers in a train station are looking for privates who are out without permission.

Have they gotten their permission to go out?

A car driver is arguing with a traffic police agent.

“Come on, have a ride in my taxi!”

Some people say that Saint Petersburg is like a northern Venice because of the Neva River and some other smaller rivers that go through the city.

A lot of people fish at the Neva River.

An Orthodox Church, in which the most important religion in Russia is followed.

A prayer.

Vladimir Lenin gives a speech, from a balcony, in which he tells the revolutionaries to not give up the socialist revolution, in 1917.

Here is the balcony today. By a strange coincidence, the day that I took this photograph, a Coca-Cola car was parked just under the balcony. History is full of 180° turns.

Old women are probably the people who are suffering the most from the collapse of the Soviet Union right now. Without any pension, or almost nothing, they try to survive by selling fruits picked in the garden of their Dacha (countryside house).

Boris. He is the man behind some of the comments in this blog! After four years of being Internet pen pals, we finally met in his home city. He was my guide, my translator, my historian and my sociologist everywhere in the city. I would flood him with questions. Every answer that he would give me opened the door to a new question. So, long cycles of questions and answers were always taking place until Boris could not answer anymore and would say, “Alexandre, I don’t know! »