Aug 2014. Shenyang The Chinese emperors built enormous imperial palaces in ancient China. The most famous palace still standing today is the Forbidden City in Beijing. But there are, of course, lesser known palaces around the country such as the Shenyang Imperial Palace, as above, built by the Manchurian emperors in 1625. In ancient China,... Continue Reading →
Aug 2014. Shenyang 91% of the 1.4 billion people in China belong to the Han ethnic group while the remaining belong to 55 minor ethic groups. One of these minorities are the Manchurians who originally came from present-day Northeast China and parts of the Russian Far East. They founded the Qing dynasty in the 1600s... Continue Reading →
Aug 2014. Shenyang Beijing's Forbidden City was massive and I hadn't seen all of it even after visiting it twice in 2010 and 2012. And I thought that that was the only Imperial Palace in China. I was therefore surprised to see another Imperial Palace in Shenyang when I moved there for work in 2014.... Continue Reading →
Aug 2014. Benxi A short walk from the Benxi water caves was the Benxi Geological Museum. The museum building looked impressive from the outside. It was built in 2007 and has a built-up area of 4,200 square meters with several exhibition halls inside. The museum traced the key geological changes on earth from its birth... Continue Reading →
Jul 2014. Shenyang One thing that baffles me is the number of shoe shops in the night market.Today I counted six shops selling shoes: sports shoes, casual shoes, sandals and ladies' heels. I have no idea if this is part of Chinese culture or if this is a Shenyang thing, that people want to buy... Continue Reading →
Jul 2014. Shenyang Ask any Chinese about this real estate advertisement in the Metro and they will tell you that it is very creative. Ask any Hindu and they will tell you that this is the Hindu Goddess Parvati on her lion. Personally I think that there is nothing wrong in seeking inspiration from other... Continue Reading →
Jul 2014. Shenyang Shenyang was the capital of Qing dynasty China in the 17th century for a brief period of time. Today, it is a little known industrial city in China. Other than the fact that the BMW Group has based its production plants here, there's nothing special here. The weather is not exciting either.... Continue Reading →
Jul 2014. Shenyang This is a snap shot of a street poster in Shenyang in 2014. You may be familiar with Disney's 2020 film "Mulan" which is about a legendary Chinese folk heroine who took her old father's place in conscription by disguising herself as a man. Before that Disney had also made an animated... Continue Reading →
Jul 2014. Shenyang I took these photos at the Sacred Heart Cathedral of Shenyang. According to Wiki, Christianity has been in China since the third century and has always been regulated. The government said that there were over 44 million Christians in 2018 but this figure may not be accurate. You have to be 18... Continue Reading →
Shenyang. Jul 2014 “The Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral”, also known as the "Nanguan Catholic Church" has been standing here for the past 141 years. The local people, regardless of whether they were Christians, have lived around and connected with this church in various ways for generations. These interactions have evolved over time to being... Continue Reading →