In a change to our regularly scheduled programming, we went to Dazu today to see the rock carvings dating back as far as the 7th century. The carvings show stories influenced by Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist beliefs. We visisted one of the main sites at Mount Baoding.
We finished up at Dazu in the early afternoon and headed back into Chongqing. As our tour to Dazu was booked as a full day, we were able to make use of the driver for a few more hours so our guide took us to Elin Park where we could see over most of Chongqing for some great shots. There was also a good musuem dedicated to the Three Gorges Project. Here we learnt about how the water level will be changed when the project is completed at the end of this year, as well as how it has changed already. There have been about 1.25million people relocated and 12 cities destroyed to complete the project. Also a number of historic sites have had to be rebuilt brick by brick/stone by stone either in a higher location where they are, or a completely new location. Our final stop in the park was a tea house, where we took part in a traditional tea ceremony.
We ended the day by visiting an area of the city that was not destroyed during the war, and therefore retains the traditional Qing architecture from the early 18th century. It is only a small area, but it was a very interesting tour.
After being dropped off at the hotel, we went out for a wholesome, lo-cal KFC for dinner before visiting the People’s Square. In the square there were people dancing, doing Tai Ji and Kung Fu, and after it got dark, the dancing changed to Ballroom dancing. It was quite a strange sight, but very good. It seems that the Chinese are an awful lot more energetic than us as everyone seems to join in.