2024-12 Busy Forlough

I only heard about the concept of “furlough”, probably in TV, but I’ve never thought I’d experience one. The vacation keeps me busier than work does. I’ve been all over the map in this month.

Junhe Xu

“Xu” means for markets. There was a severe flood in Zhujiang river in 1915, which destroyed the original markets. Afterwards, people built a new market in Junhe village. The place was designed by an architect from Shanghai, so it is said to integrate with the architectural style of old Shanghai.

Just inside the paifang of Junhe, there is the tall fortress style building. it is called “Pinghe Daya”, which was one of the most famous pawnshop in Guangzhou.

Following an alley, we entered Shima Village. Compared to the recently renovated Junhe Xu, Shima Village was untouched. Historically it was know for growing peach trees. We did find a lot of peach tree fields outside the village, some of which still had peach blossom in this warmer winter.

Walking along a river, we arrived at Qinghu Village. This used to be a prosperous town in the Ming dynasty. Later in the Qing dynasty, the villagers attended the anti Qing and pro Ming movement and the government put the whole village into ruins. Now the night market of Qinghu was quite interesting. I finally found a vendor selling cassava sweet soup after a long while. The vendor biked away as soon as I bought mine.

Songzi

Diao planned her vacation in the end of the year for a trip to Songzi. Because she already made the plan before I knew of my furlough arrangement, our vacations connected head to tail. I also made a trip to Songzi for a weekend and experienced the winder of Hubei

Sacred Heart Cathedral

This was the first time that Diao visited the cathedral.

There was about one week till Christmas. A massive Christmas tree stood in the courtyard, and a nativity scene was set up in the back. A lady with a hint of northeastern accent was telling Bible stories to the visitors around the stable. she talked on and on, and after a long time I finally caught a gap to ask her why Jesus was not in the stable. She answered it was until the Christmas eve when the baby Jesus would be brough here from the cathedral.

Guangdong Museum

This was the first time to visit Guangdong Museum for both of us.

In my imagination all the provincial museum would have a exhibit that was about local history. I didn’t find it here. We spent too much time in the jewelry exhibit, and we saw the famous treasure of Guangdong Museum: the jade chicken.

There was a temporary exhibit, the Exquisite Guangzhou Clock of Qing Dynasty. We were lucky to join the museum tour guide, who must love the job so much that he was reluctant to end the tour when the broadcast annouced closing time.

These clocks were not only for check the time but seemed to be glorious toys. Each clock had its own unique “performance”. A lot of them came from the Palace Museumm and the Summer Palace. The travel might damage the delicate machineries inside, so the tour guide said this probably was the last time for them to be lent for temporary exhibit.

Miscellaneous