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Welcome to our China trip journal! We will be departing Virginia Beach on July 7 and traveling to Beijing, Guilin, Chengdu, Changsha, Nanchang, and Fuzhou. This is our third trip to China and this time it's a heritage tour for Amanda and Allyson. It is our hope that they will benefit from personal exposure to the country and culture of their birth.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Teng Wang Pavilion (Friday)

Teng Wang Pavilion in Nanchang.
This is one of the places we tried to visit in 2004. We arrived too late in the day and had to settle for a couple of pictures from outside the complex. Not this time. We arrived in the morning, but it was already blazing hot. The complex itself spreads out over many acres. The main building, the pavilion, is quite large. It has six floors, each about two traditional stories tall. Following the pattern of ancient Nanchang architecture, the floors alternate between open and closed walls. Inside the pavilion, there are displays of ancient texts describing the pavilion. When it was originally built it was the tallest structure around and you could see for miles in every direction. Now it’s in the middle of downtown Nanchang and the only direction you can see for any distance is up and down the river. Since it was constructed over 1300 years ago, the main building has been rebuilt 29 times due to fire and conquest. The most recent renovation happened in 1989. Teng Wang Pavilion owes much of its fame to a poet, Wang Bo, who wrote about its beauty. The poem is supposedly unsurpassed in Chinese literature (at least according to our guide). There are many panels in the pavilion dedicated to the poem, and it appears in its entirety on one wall of the second (I think) floor.
Bell performance on the top floor of the pavilion.

We worked our way up to the top floor for a performance. If it was hot downstairs, it was miserable upstairs. Keep in mind the architecture…the top floor (6th) is enclosed and has no air conditioning. Fortunately, the performance, which ended with traditional Chinese musical instruments and large bronze bells, was fairly short and we were able to get back down quickly.




More pictures from Teng Wang Pavilion...
Main plaza of Teng Wang Pavilion.

Silliness.

Ally waits for something interesting.

Gardens and ponds in front of the main pavilion.

Amanda in front of the main floor doors.

Wang Bo's famous poem.

Set of bronze bells on display.

Domes ceiling meant to symbolize water. This building has been destroyed numerous times by fire...

Family transportation...seats four...sort of.

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