Confucius Say
I didn't find anything particularly compelling about Qingdao, so I left after a couple of days. I figured while the beer is cheap, the serious drinking would have to wait until I'm further south. Plus, I think I need to experience the gritty, grimy, confusing China, before I go all fratboy.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this the other day, but it's a National holiday for the next week. This makes train tickets hard to come by, bus stations a total mess and hotel prices grossly inflated. I bought the first ticket I could and after some minor adventures, ~500 km, and eight hours I arrived in Qufu (pronounced choo-foo).
Qufu is famous as the birthplace of confucius (why we call him Confucius and not Kongtzi, like the Chinese is a mystery to me). As you may know, Confucius was a wandering sage who spent the better part of his career giving politically/moral advice to neighboring rulers (I think the rough equivalent to governors). He was periodically sacked or quit for some minor personal affront (wasn't invited to a particular dinner etc.) but always managed to land a new position. At some point, later in his life, he called it quits and returned to Qufu to impart his wisdom on eager students. These students collected his thoughts and bound them together as the Analytics.
I was not particularly impressed by the book. Much of it has to do with career and respect for hierarchy. As China struggled to stay unified (this was some 2,000 years ago) I imagine these teachings grew in importance as the major philosophy behind the cast system. Probably similar to many of the Chrisitian fatalism teaching that were to come later in Europe. But what do I know? I'm neither philosopher nor historian.
Unlike myself, the state of China is supremely impressed by Confucianism. The Confucian temples in Qufu were China's first registered World Heritage site. It's been said the current government is greatly supporting this town and encourage visitors. Surely as a nod to it's philosophy more than it's history.
The temples, traditional homes and Kong family cemetary are all worth going to.... But I think I have been spoiled a lot by the many beautiful temples in Japan and this complex just doesn't compare. I believe you will be more interested in seeing the local attraction....Me! That's right, it appears that my fame will reach new levels the further I get from the coast. No less than fifteen sets of random people came up to take their picture with me. There were young, old, couples, single men, young girls, it appears that my celebrity reaches all demographics. It's a very funny feeling to be walking down the street and have people just stare at you. We'll see how long it takes to get old.
The local street vendors are also amusing. They shout out broken English. I should say broken phrases. "hello, mister." "Helro, Prease" There are multiple booths selling stamp impressions, where you can get a phrase, or your name in Chinese. You see booths that say, "made in two minutes" "made in three minutes" but every now and then you see booths that say, "made in five minutes" these guys are either real technicians are not technologically advanced. In either case, who wants to carry around a block with your name?
Stairmaster 6000
The next day, I made my way to Tai Shan, one of the most sacred mountains in all of China. This is a typical pilgrimage during the October holiday, so I shared the mountain with many of my closest Chinese friends. Along the path I was stopped multiple times as well for some photo ops. I'm sure at one point this mountain was sacred and beautiful, but the experience has been totally changed. For one the whole path is composed of paved steps- around 6,000 of them to be exact. It's filled with people, and there are so many vendors selling crap along the way. My least favorite being imitation bird call whistles, so very annoying. But still it was a good climb, and appropriate punishment for my knees (bad knees!). Fortunately, two young students took pity on me and accompanied (along with their father) up the mountain. Without their assistance I probably would not have found a way back home- seeing how getting around here can be....interesting.
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