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Month: May 2024

A so-called ancient town

A so-called ancient town

On the topic of ancient towns, my opinion is arbitrary, I just felt like over-analyzing it by examining the authenticity and purpose of these locations. At a high level, these places are mostly just aesthetic cultural attractions. Styled after traditional Chinese architecture, with streets designed to guide high foot traffic towards shops and restaurants, ancient towns are deliberately quaint cultural attractions found throughout China. As with much of China’s rapid infrastructure development in recent decades, I view these cultural ancient…

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The old Flower House

The old Flower House

During my visit to Chongqing, I traveled to the city’s most western district, Rongchang (荣昌). Unlike the big city, there are not many signs of modernity or luxury in Rongchang, it’s a mostly rural location. But one can find the remnants of a different spirit if they look deeply enough. Nearby, I went to see a particular dilapidated house, and the neighborhood around it. What is interesting about this old house is that it was built by a distant family…

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Tumen and No. 3 Bridge

Tumen and No. 3 Bridge

In eastern Maoxian is the small town of Tumen (土门). The town is quite standard for the region, while being known for a bridge, the No. 3 Bridge (三元桥), or Sanyuan Bridge, which is over a hundred years old. Although this bridge is maybe unremarkable today, its locally important for being a solid, moon bridge constructed at a time where suspension bridges were commonplace (moon bridges are a common sight in other regions). I suspect that is partly due to…

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