Thursday: My day to travel to Wuhan for our afternoon meeting and stay the night to leave for Shanghai on early Friday morning. We loaded the car after the typical breakfast stop and some noddles and dumplings. We had about an hour and ½ drive to Wuhan. Mr. Li wanted me to see a few famous sights in the city before our afternoon meeting. Wuhan is a medium sized city in China with the population of around 10,000,000. Xiaogan only had about 400,000 people (bigger than Cleveland).
Our first stop in Wuhan was a Buddhist temple named Guiyuan. “Covering an area of about 46,900 square meters (approx. 55,812 square yards), Guiyuan Buddhist Temple is situated in the west section of Hanyang district in Wuhan City. Being one of the four best temples in Wuhan, the temple, which was originally established in 1658 in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was initially built on the site of Wuzhangpu Kuiyuan in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)”. Quoted from the travelchinaguide website. It was very beautiful and ornate as most buildings I have seen in China.
After the temple we went to see the Yellow Crane Tower. The Yellow Crane Tower has a very long and complicated history. It was first built in 223, during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). Due to the ideal location, it was built by Sun Quan (182 - 252, King of Wu) as a watchtower for his army. After hundreds of years, its military function was gradually forgotten and the tower was enjoyed mainly as a picturesque location.
During the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), many popular poems were written in praise of the Yellow Crane Tower. It was these poems that made the Tower so renowned and induced for people to visit. During the following centuries, it was destroyed and rebuilt several times. During the Ming (1368 - 1644) and Qing (1644 - 1911) Dynasties alone the tower was destroyed seven times and rebuilt seven times. In 1854, it was completely destroyed in a fire and was not rebuilt until 1981”. Also quoted from travelchinaguide website. We walked up in the tower to get a magnificent view of Wuhan. Please look at the pics on Photo bucket.
Lunch was again at a western style restaurant as Mr. Li wanted to do everything he would to make me feel at home. I had a steak and something new I had not tried before (fried squid)! Really was pretty good, but what fried isn't?!?!
The afternoon/evening meeting was between all the Ohio administrators visiting the Hubei Province and the leaders of the Department of Education for the Province. The meeting was very formal and I was one of the three principals asked to speak about our experiences. My translator was very nervous, but she did great. The meeting ended with the Hubei Province hoping we continue our relationships with our new school friends. They want to expand and have students and staff come visit. They would also like to have staff and students come visit Prospect as well.
The evening ended with an formal dinner with many more foods we had not experienced yet. I did not take any photos of the food because I felt it was not the dinner to be a tourist. Up early tomorrow morning to board a plane for Shanghai. The last leg of our China trip. See you tomorrow.
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