We’re away this weekend (not in Chengde!) and so I’m turning the blog over to a guest host…kind of like the old Mike Douglas show but not nearly as hip. This is a guest post from my former student Matthew “Maxiu” Bruzzese, who I will always remember fondly for his short film starring a Zombie Mao leading the “跳舞跳舞大革命”. Enjoy and I’ll be back next week.
——————————–
This past weekend, I took a four hour train ride to Chengde* with 3 friends for what we expected would be a relaxing weekend of hiking and sightseeing. First, a word on Chengde: it’s really not a bad city. Really. I’ve visited some truly depressing cities in my time here, and I wouldn’t count Chengde among them by a long shot. The hiking that we got to do was pleasant, and the Puning temple features a 42-armed, 73-foot statue of the Guanyin Bodhisattva which puts the Lama Temple to shame. By all accounts, the Summer Palace and recreation of Lhasa’s Potala Temple are also great. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to see the latter two, for despite its attractive scenery and interesting history, we soon discovered that Chengde doesn’t exactly take kindly