China Tour Videos

[Ravindra Apte]

Hi,

For a long time I wished to visit China. In early 2016 I started planning of the trip seriously. We formed a team of friends and the next thing was the itinerary.We wished to explore the historic China, the arrival and spread of Buddhism in China, the modern cities of China and the famed Zhangjiajie National Forest.  We restricted journey in East and South East of China.  

When I started reading on China I came across many new facts about China. I knew from by school days of the Wall of China, but I had no knowledge of existence of a 1800 km long navigational canal, The Grand Canal, from Beijing to Hangzhou, which took 1000 years to complete from 500 B C to 500 A D. which is still in use. The samadhi  (tomb) of the Buddhist monks Kasyap Matang and Dharmrantna in the first Buddhist temple in China, The White Horse Temple, who introduced Buddhism in 68 A D. In those days, in China, India was considered as a union of five nations East, West, North, South and Central India. The monks came from South Nation. The association of another Indian monk Bodhidharma and the Shaolin Temple and Kung Fu martial art, his legend and his teachings which led to Zen Buddhism. The 1 km long Longman Grottoes (leni), having over 2000 caves and niches and thousands of Buddha images, in Louyang. We included all this in our itinerary. When we visited the Grottoes in Louyang, we were pleasantly surprised by a information board, which stated that the inspiration for the work has come from the caves in Western Ghats of Maharashtra. ( the Kanheri , Bhaje, Karle, Bedse and Kondane are some of the oldest caves in Western Ghats) 

We included in our itinerary the four old capitals of China, Beijing, Louyang, Xian and Nanjing. We allotted five days for exploring the Zhangjiajie National Park for the stand stone pillar forest UNESCO's Global Geopark. The computer graphic scenes in the film "Avatar" by James Cameron were inspired by this park.  Included Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Shanghai. 

We ran into trouble due to the G20 Summit at Hangzhou, when the area was practically under marshal law, with all factories closed and all the migrant workers made to leave the area and restriction on travel around. We happened to visit Nanjing on Monday, a weekly closure for the Dr. San Net Sen Mausoleum and the Nanjing Genocide (Rape of Nanjing) Museum. But for this the tour went quite well. 

And yes we saw the Beijing Opera, The Tang Dynasty Dance Show in Xian, the Kung Fu martial art show in Shaolin Temple and the Acrobatic Show in Shanghai. Tested the Chinese local dishes and also tried food in family run home establishments. 

But with all this the tour became of 19 days and the task of doing video documentary became Herculean. I could put down my experience of China in two thirty minutes videos. 

I hope you will find time and patience to share my experience. 

Ravindra Apte

Images of China - Historic Perspective  

Images of China - Contemporary View