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Day Six (Part One)- The Music and Dance University
We had the opportunity to visit a Music and Dance University in Urumqi which taught not only ballet and modern dance but also traditional Uyghur dances. We even saw some male dancers show off their traditional dance moves! Then they tried to teach us to dance! (It went horribly but we put in our best…
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Day Five- The Mummies in Urumqi
Geographically, the region of Xinjiang is quite ideal for preserving dessicated bodies (or mummies!) Since the Tarim Basin is so dry, there is a museum in Urumqi dedicated to displaying all the mummies found in this region. This is the Beauty of Loulan, estimated to be from 1900-1800 BC. It was amazing to see…
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Day Four- Visit to a Local Dunhuang Farm
Our tour guide invited us to her parent-in-laws farm just outside the oasis town of Dunhuang. Interestingly, the farms produced mainly cotton and grapes. Yes, that’s right! In the middle of a desert, farmers were growing cotton and grapes (which require a lot of water) because the government gives out generous subsidies. The family even…
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Day Three- Riding Camels and Climbing Sand Dunes
Just outside of Dun Huang, Gansu Province is the Gobi Desert. Our program coordinated a trip in which we could ride camels into the Gobi Desert, climb a sand dune, then watch the sunset from the top. It was as awesome as it sounds! First, we met our camels. I was pretty apprehensive about the…
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Day Two- Jade Gate Pass and Han Dynasty Great Wall
On day two, we traveled an hour outside of Dun Huang to visit Jade Gate Pass. For one hour this was all the scenery we saw. It’s interesting visiting an oasis town. Inside the town, there are tall, green trees and a lovely lake. Outside of the city, there is sand. SO MUCH SAND! This…
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Day One- Mogaoku Grottoes
The Mogaoku Grottoes in Dun Huang, Gansu Province, are 1,600 years old. There are approximately 495 caves in which Buddhist followers carved images of Buddha and painted on the walls and ceilings. It is also referred to as the 1,000 Buddha Caves; however, there are more than 1,000 Buddha’s depicted there. Unfortunately, you are not…
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2 Week Blog Hiatus: Traveling along the Silk Road
The Alliance Xi’an program gives students the opportunity to take a 2 week field study trip to major cities and areas along the Silk Road. We will be gone from May 3 to May 16 traveling from Shaanxi province through Gansu province into Xinjiang province. During this time, I may or may not have internet…
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Visiting One of China’s Only Women’s Museum
Shaanxi Normal University New Campus has (possibly) the only women’s museum in all of China. For our Chinese literature class, our professor planned on giving us a tour of the museum to compliment our section on Chinese women writers. I went to the new campus to get my own tour of the museum. It was…
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The Terracotta Warriors!
The Terracotta Warriors are the biggest tourist attraction for Xi’an since it’s discovery in the mid- 1970s. You’d be crazy to visit Xi’an and NOT see the warriors! This is me before seeing them (I was barely able to contain my excitement)! The Terracotta Warriors are part of a bigger complex which makes up Emperor…
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The Reed Flute Cave in Guilin
The Reed Flute Caves, just north of the city, are beautifully lit up for tourists to “ohhhhhh and ahhhhhhhh” at! Our tour was in Chinese and since I’m not familiar with any cave vocabulary, I mainly just took pretty pictures! Enjoy!