Xingping (pronounced Shing-Ping) Village is an ancient town with a history going back more than 1300 years. It’s located on the eastern bank of the Li River and was our last stop before we headed back to Hong Kong.
One thing that we found fascinating about all of the villages that we visited was the front doors of homes. It seemed that no matter how bad of shape a building was in, the doors were always decorated. Our guide explained that villagers replace the decorations every year during the Lunar New Year to bring the occupants good luck and fortune. She also mentioned that mirrors are hung above the doors by very traditional Chinese to ward off evil spirits. Here are pictures of a number of doors in Xingping.
And some other photos from around the village:
We bought a very unusual souvenir in Xingping. As we walked through the village, we came upon a building where a man was building furniture – not using power tools, but the old fashioned way, with crude saws, chisels, etc.
Being a woodworker himself, Dave thought it would be fun to have one of the man’s very well used hand planes (to add to his own collection of antique planes). I think our guide thought Dave was nuts – she said she’d never known anyone to want such a thing – but facilitated the deal by translating for him. At the end of the transaction, I think both Dave and the man were happy.
And that, my friends, is the end of the tour of rural China!
One thing that we found fascinating about all of the villages that we visited was the front doors of homes. It seemed that no matter how bad of shape a building was in, the doors were always decorated. Our guide explained that villagers replace the decorations every year during the Lunar New Year to bring the occupants good luck and fortune. She also mentioned that mirrors are hung above the doors by very traditional Chinese to ward off evil spirits. Here are pictures of a number of doors in Xingping.
And some other photos from around the village:
We bought a very unusual souvenir in Xingping. As we walked through the village, we came upon a building where a man was building furniture – not using power tools, but the old fashioned way, with crude saws, chisels, etc.
Being a woodworker himself, Dave thought it would be fun to have one of the man’s very well used hand planes (to add to his own collection of antique planes). I think our guide thought Dave was nuts – she said she’d never known anyone to want such a thing – but facilitated the deal by translating for him. At the end of the transaction, I think both Dave and the man were happy.
And that, my friends, is the end of the tour of rural China!
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