Hangzhou

In Xi'an some of the newly planted or young trees are protected from the sun with netting. In Hangzhou, I took a walk yesterday around 10 or 11 PM and saw workers putting in support wires and pegs around young trees.

Visited Hangzhou's Ling Yin Su Buddhist temple complex from pre-Sung times. This was not destroyed during the Cultural Revolution because People's Liberation Army troops were stationed here. There are temples after temples going up the side of a hill. In another part of the area there are numerous Buddhist carvings on rock faces and in caves.

Had an introduction into green tea and silk; their culture, appreciation, and significance.

Walked along West Lake at night. Lots of people out. Then walked the commercial area. Shops are busy and don't close until 10 PM.

Not speaking much Chinese, the guide here taught us to say thank you (xie xie in standard Mandarin) in Hangzhou dialect, which is jia jia. Trouble is when I said this to most people who work here, they did not understand me because they were "not from around here" (as they say in east Tennessee). In any case, I didn't get the tones right. It sounded to me like dziadzia, which is Polish for grandfather. But the stress was different, and then there were the tones. I got the tones repeated to me and I think I got them right so that some people understood me. Tomorrow we go to Suzhou, not to far away, and to an entirely new Chinese dialect, and no one will understand this expression.

The food continues to amaze me with dishes we have not yet been served. Not many of our group eat the fish because it contains bones, and I think because it is fish. So I make out very well eating plenty of fish.