The last two cities that I visited while in China was Tai'an (泰安) and Qufu (曲阜). Both of these cities are very small for China. 泰安 is known for the famous mountain Tai Shan while 曲阜 is Confucius' hometown. Going to these cities were unique experiences because they are big enough to be cities in the U.S. but they are considered to be towns or villages in China. You can definitely tell to when you are there. They aren't as developed as 北京 or 上海. People look at you differently because you are a foreigner and everyone wants to try to talk to you. Finally, you are less likely to hear English or have people know any English.
We spent one day in 泰安 and visited Mount Tai (泰山). Mount Tai is one of the five great mountains of China. The mountain was very beautiful, but, unfortunately the air quality that day was very bad so we weren't able to make it all the way up to the top. We made it about half way and we still had two miles to go until we reached the very top. If it was a better day, I would have wanted to continue, but my lungs did not agree with that idea. It also was a lot colder when we got to the half way point and we had not prepared for the sudden temperature change. A Chinese family stopped us on our way up and told us that we were going to be cold, but we thought that they were just saying that since Chinese people are always cold and are always telling us to put on more clothes. In this case, they were right.
The next day we took a day trip to 曲阜 to visit Confucius' hometown. Confucius was a famous Chinese philosopher and the starter of Confucianism. Confucianism emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness or social relationships, justice and sincerity. 曲阜 contains many graveyards, temples, and palaces. While there, we visited the Kong Family Mansion (孔府) and the Cemetery of Confucius (孔林). The Kong Family Mansion was inhabited by the descendants of Confucius until 1937. The mansion was cool but it was hard to understand what each room was since it was all in Chinese and didn't have any English translations with it. I still enjoyed seeing what a Chinese mansion looks like compared to a Western one. However, I preferred the Cemetery of Confucius. It was like a giant garden and it was very peaceful. We walked around and found Confucius' grave along with many other followers of Confucius and Confucius' ancestors.
These two cities were an interesting experience. After visiting and living several of the largest cities in China it was a nice change of pace to visit a "smaller" city. I wouldn't want to live in these cities but it was nice to visit them. I wouldn't mind visiting 泰安 again and climbing to the top of Mount Tai.
Until next time!
再见！
马乐
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