Big Buddha in Ningbo
Yes this is another post featuring a big Buddha but this time it’s in a city you’ve probably never heard of.
Ningbo is a seaport city of around 2 million people facing the East China sea, not far from Shanghai. The city is primarily oriented around trade and while it isn’t particularly famous it did have one interesting brush with history when during World War II the Japan bombed the city with fleas carrying the bubonic plague. From this (and many other atrocities) you can get an idea why China still has such a deep hatred for their easterly neighbors.
I visited for a little over a day at the end of my previous trip around Jiangnan province and was pleasantly surprised to find clean and modern city, quite different from most other middle-tier Chinese cities. After being treated to a sumptuous lunch I was taken to a brand new temple about half an hour outside the city center. Clearly the economic troubles were having little effect here as the temple had one of the biggest bronze Buddhas I had ever seen sitting atop the hillside.
After this we paid a visit to the ancestral home of Chiang Kai-Shek nearby who was the Nationalist leader of China before the uprising of the Communist party (whom he had attempted to eradicate after the Japanese surrender in WWII). Surprisingly Chinese sentiments towards him are quite good (at least the people I spoke to) and the museum paints a fair picture of his life without any demonization you might expect. He died in Taipei in 1975.
In the evening we went for dinner in a restaurant near the port district. I have discussed at length in the past about my hatred for seafood but somehow everywhere I go people always want me to taste the local marine wildlife. Whilst most of the dinner was delicious this time I got to try “hairy crabs” which believe me are as unappealing as they sound. I really cannot fathom what makes people want to crack open these Alien facehugger-esq creatures and suck out their “tasty” flesh. For future reference this is how it makes me feel to eat one of these:
Whilst Ningbo was a great day trip please people, no more seafood!
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Wow, what a cruel thing to say about another’s culture. Hairy crabs are a delicacy and your hosts paid handsomely for you to try them. Typical self-centered Westerner.
Why would you expect Chiang Kai-Shek to be demonized? Mao had great respect for the man. Really unworldly…are you really that shallow?
Also wondering why your blog is about China but the picture at the top is clearly Korean.
Hartland, this was not a comment about culture, simply my dislike for seafood in general. Whist living in China I have tried many uncommon delicacies but it doesn’t mean I have to like them all. Not all Chinese like eating cats/dogs/hairy crabs so why should I?!
Regarding Chiang Kai-Shek, the Chinese government often like to paint anything connected with Taiwan in a negative light so it was surprising to me. Again this is just an observation and does not make me shallow or unworldly. Most people outside China have never even heard of him.
The picture at the top of the page rotates every-time the page loads. They’re not all of China.
I suggest you think in future before giving your reactionary opinions which are just a typical example of stereotyping Westerners without actually thinking.