Building Bridges between East and West through Education and Cultural Exchange
Zhangye (Gansu) — Town on the Old Silk Road
Zhangye is a city on the historic Silk Road in Western China. Photos here are of my visit in the fall of 2009.
Entrance gate to Zhangye, a modern city located on the ancient caravan route from Xian westward to Persia, the Middle East and beyond.
The famous Flying Horse dominates a city park. The original sculpture was discovered in 1969 at a nearby location. The image is now a National Tourist Board symbol.
The ancient city gate.
My hotel overlooked this square. Only later did I discover the personality celebrated here is Marco Polo.
As much as I was aware that Zhangye was on the ancient Silk Road, I was still surprised to see that the town celebebrate this Western explorer as they are doing.
Here we are entering a historic walking street, much unchanged over the decades.
Invited to a weekend English School, I had only my laptop to display photos of Canada. Not ideal, but the kids were very enthusiastic.
My friend here, who had arranged this school visit, had just a few months earlier lived for a year in my home town in Canada.
The students English was quite good, needing only some brief translation help from the teacher. I was really impressed with the keen interest of these students.
We entered a famous temple area through this moon gate, location of China’s largest indoor reclining Buddha.
Inside an ancient building lies the famous reclining Buddha.
The head was huge.
And an ancient Buddhist symbol, which we call a swastika, was carved on his chest.
The grounds were extensive and included a number of buildings of traditional design.
Another temple building with a huge stupa.
Waiting for my friend to shop, I stepped in to two or three small shops along this street.
Suddenly this shop keeper asked if I was from Canada. A bit surprised, he informed me his son had just arrived with a story of a visitor to his school.
Before leaving Zhangye, I enjoyed a brief visit the university where my friend was teaching.
Unfortunately, it continued to rain, so it was a brief visit.
And, before leaving Zhangye, I grabbed this photo through the bus window of the famous Flying Horse. A few days earlier I had see the real one in a Lanzhou museum.
