Chinese Statues

I was impressed with Chinese Gardens this trip to China but I also thoroughly enjoyed these Chinese Statues.

 Behind our hotel in Xi'an we discovered a whole series of statues. I particularly liked this one depicting a family.  So much life is depicted here....Mom and Dad admiring their little baby, the grandpa with the little boy talking to him, one child up on someone's shoulders. 

And with this one I almost expected to hear the sound of the drum. 

In the visitor's center by the ancient city of Gaochang, they had a whole series of statues of famous individuals from the city.  Most of them were generals like this one.  He is Ban Yong from 123 AD, a general and a politician who secured the western region of China for the Han Dynasty. 

Most interesting to me were these statue of women.  I had always been under the impression that girls were not particularly valued by the Chinese but this woman was honored because she was 'a clever wife and a wise mother'.   She died in 688 AD.  That was long before there were any women's rights groups.  I am happy they realized and recognized the contribution of a clever wife and a wise mother. 

This is Xuanzang.  He is the monk wrote the book about his 17 year journey to the 'Western Regions'..

Didn't the sculptor do a great job capturing his long strides as he followed what he felt like was his special calling in life? 

The other woman honored with a statue is Yeliyiheimishibieji.  How's that for a name?  She was the daughter of the king of Gaochang.  The city was besieged by a Mongol group led by a man named Duwa.  The city was completely without food so Yeliyiheimishibieji asked her father to let her go to the city gate and give herself up to Duwa.  He agreed and Duwa and his army left and took Yeliyiheimishibieji with him.  Kind of a strange story but she did sacrifice herself to save the city.  This was in 1275 AD

 There is a famous story about Xuanzang, a Buddhist monk who traveled to the 'Western Regions', that is Central Asia and India, to obtain sacred Buddhist text.  He returned after many trials and much suffering and wrote an account of his journey.    He was worried that Buddhism was being corrupted as it spread by word of mouth throughout China.   Having copies of the sacred writings would prevent this.  Sounds a bit like a story in the Book of Mormon huh?  Xuanzang lived 602-664 AD and did write a book about his 17 year journey.  In the 16th century Wu Cheng'en decided to write a fictional novel based loosely on Xuanzang's book.  Our educator, Michael Wilcox, calls this book the 'Chinese Harry Potter'.  The original story is embellished with folk tales and a clever imagination.  There is the monk, a monkey king, a pig,  and a dragon prince who acts as a white horse.  The Monkey king can lift 17,550 lbs, is extremely fast, in fact he can summersault 1/2 way around the world.  And he can transform himself into 72 different beings and can control wind, part water, make protective circles against demons and freeze his enemies.   The pig, called Pigsy, often gets himself and his companions into trouble because he is lazy, a glutton, and has a liking for pretty women.  Plus he is jealous of the Monkey King and plots his downfall.  It does sound like Harry Potter a bit huh?

Here is a statue immortalizing  the book. Our guide said that every Chinese child knows this story as it has been made into movies and cartoons and children's books  and video and arcade games.  When I thoughtlessly mentioned to him that it was too bad Disney didn't make it into a movie, he looked at me like I had committed sacrilege.  I guess I had.

  Just for you info....you can read an unabridged, translation of the  Journey to the West.  It has 100 chapters and comes in several volumes totaling almost 2000 pages.

And on a different note

I hope you have few days that make you look like this 

And many days that make you look like this...