PingYao: a Dream of Red Lanterns
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I spent a week in the ancient city of PingYao (山西,平遥) during my winter vacation. I had only planned to stay 3 days there. I ended up staying 7 days. The city stole my heart at first sight. --Brick buildings and brick streets, curved rooftops of the traditional style, a towering wall to protect the city from the forces of cultural accommodation and modernization--
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PingYao sang to my heart's passions: history, culture, economics, and art in every glance. By daylight, PingYao sings sweet songs. By nightlight, PingYao sings siren songs. The siren songs of a thousand red street lanterns lured me through biting cold winds to the precipice of frostbite each night. --temporary cold for permanent memories of the PingYao lantern dreamworld--
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In honor of the upcoming Lantern Festival, I have decided to post this special photo gallery of PingYao's red lanterns. Let this get you into the 'lantern mood.' Let it also inform you of PingYao's magic. You haven't seen PingYao until you've spent a night wandering her streets.
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元宵节快乐!
Happy Lantern Festival!
2 comments:
Aaron- These pics are awesome, so professional looking! I can see them in a magazine, book, or other literature. You really have a good eye (and a good camera!). And I like how you have the red lanterns standing out against the b/w background in many of them. All capture such a unique element of what you experienced, which is, as I can imagine, more awesome than what you can put into words.
Hey Aaron,
I couldn't find a place that had your email address so I'm just writing to you as a comment and hopefully you see it. This is Wade Albrecht... hopefully you remember me from high school.
You're NIU Chinese teacher (and mine), Ryder Laoshi, gave me the address to this website. I am writing to you because I am considering coming to China myself to teach English because of the job prospects as a social studies teacher. In other words, if I do not get a job here by the fall, my plan is to go to China. I was curious about the route you took to sign up for what you are doing right now.
My email address is walbrecht85@hotmail.com. If you get this, shoot me an email sometime. Good talking with you and nice to see you're doing so well right now.
Cheers,
Wade
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