After settling into our rooms at the University Hotel for the night, we started out early in the morning to learn about the city of Hanzhou through our tour. Hangzhou is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. It sits at the head of Hangzhou Bay on China's coast between Shanghai and Ningbo. Our first stop was at the Lingyin Temple(灵隐寺,Temple of Soul's Retreat), which is the oldest, the most famous and influential buddhist monastery in Southeastern China. Next, we visited the magnificent Leafing Pagoda. It is located on Sunset Hill south of the West Lake in Hangzhou, China. Originally constructed in the year AD 975, it collapsed in 1924 but was rebuilt in 2002. The final visit was to a very wealthy residence formerly owned by Hu Xueyan (1823-1885). He was a local celebrity and one of the richest and most famous businessmen in Qing Dynasty. In 1872, Hu Xueyan spent a large amount of money to purchase a house at the very prosperous site in Hangzhou – Hefang Street. The house was Chinese style, with many pavilions, booths, bridges, rocks, wood engraves, streams with koi and many high class trees like purple sandalwood, gingko decorated the courtyard. The evening ended with our Welcome Dinner and Opening Ceremony, where we were introduced to our Project Organizer Ms. Betty Jin and General Coordinator, Ms. Lulu Zhao. Wanxiang student ambassadors gave introductions, followed by a performance. Students joined in to dance and celebrate.
|