On the morning of February 12th, a group of 19 complimentary guests departed from Jiangbei, Chongqing and arrived at Qiannian Tanghe Ancient Town, over 100 kilometers away, to embark on a journey of exploring the ancient town during the Yuanxiao Festival.
Renowned photographer Zhao Jinyu led the children and adults to focus their cameras on those ancient buildings that were dating back a long time. He started with photography composition, took practical photos, and taught children on site how to use the foreground to create a unique photographic work: using a row of hanging vegetable heads as the foreground and a row of gray ancient houses as the background, with vivid color contrast and clear layers, making a wind-induced photo immediately have a smoky atmosphere. The students are learning and using it now, feeling a great sense of achievement. Teacher Zhao also commented on the photos taken by the classmates, and if there were any issues, they were immediately retaken until they finally obtained satisfactory photos.In front of a huge mountain wall outside the ancient Qingyuan Temple, Teacher Zhao told everyone that shooting this wall must use a wide-angle lens to capture that towering aura.
Mr. Alex, who studies classical culture, has shown great interest in the cultural connotations of Tanghe Ancient Town. At Guqingyuan Temple, he discussed with his classmates the meanings of the mottled words on the wood carvings and stone carvings, and the stories behind them. Everyone analyzed the remaining text together and finally agreed that the ancient Qingyuan Temple was the ancestral temple of merchants from Meizhou and Chaoshan regions in eastern Guangdong, as well as Nanchang merchants in Jiangxi, where they worshipped their ancestors and gods.
After lunch, everyone came to the largest tea house in Tanghe Ancient Town to rest. A cup of tea with a lid in hand, fragrant and pleasant. A hundred years ago, this was the gathering place of Brother Pao. Originally, the water docks of Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guizhou were crowded with merchants, most of whom gathered at the Pao Ge Hui, and Tanghe Ancient Town was no exception. At the tea house, Teacher Zhao Jinyu taught everyone another skill, which is to use Google's mobile photo editing software for post-processing mobile phone images. Seeing the pictures of Teacher Zhao repairing with a mobile phone on site, parents and classmates were stunned and downloaded apps to practice. The beautiful mother who learned first jumped up with joy.
In the teahouse, Mr. Alex humorously compared the differences between Chinese and English ancient architecture with his classmates, explaining the beautiful scenery of his hometown York and its relationship with New York, USA. Liu's introduction of Hongyadong in Chongqing in English received praise from Mr. Alex.
In the afternoon, at the dock of Tanghe Ancient Town, we watched the folk culture performance of Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival) organized by the local organization. The stage is set on the water surface, with water dragon lanterns tied together by multiple small boats guarding both sides of the stage, creating a unique style.
Everyone returned to the main city of Chongqing at around 5 pm in the evening to reunite and celebrate the Yuanxiao Festival, successfully concluding this ancient town walk. Starting from this spring, Zike.com will hold irregular "English Corner" activities on weekends about exploring historical sites. You can go hiking, embrace nature, and learn London dialect English from Mr. Alex during the activities, killing two birds with one stone. Please keep an eye on the latest activity announcements on Kuaike.com and don't miss the appointment.
