Sunday, March 25, 2012

Slide shows on China

Opening slide on Buddhist cave art
One of the things I like about my new Cheryl's China website is the ability to easily add slide shows. So far, I've done one on sites I've visited on the Great Wall of China and another on snack foods that can be found at the Wangfujing night food market in Beijing.

I'm working on another right now called Buddhist cave art. It's primarily about the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, but does have a few photos of Thousand Buddha Hill outside of Jinan which I visited on my first trip to China in 1984.

Buddhist cave art is fascinating, with carvings of statues ranging from a couple of inches tall to tens of feet high. Cave art may be a slight misnomer as the unique statues are carved into a hillside in such a manner they look like they are in caves. Cave art flourished in the 5th and 6th centuries. Much of the cave art is deteriorating from being exposed to the elements for so long, but what remains is quite impressive and worth a visit.

While Thousand Buddha Hill has only a thousand Buddhas carved into a hillside, Longmen has more than 100,000 statues of Buddha and his disciples. It is a particularly scenic setting alongside the Yi River about nine kilometers from central Luoyang.

More slide shows are on the drawing board, so check my website frequently. I have around 25,000 photos of China, so I've got a lot to choose from.

Are you going to China?

If you're planning a trip to China, be sure to check out my website, Cheryl's China. If you have questions about traveling in China, especially Beijing, feel free to email me. 

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Chinese food

Barbecued park  from a recipe in one of my cookbooks.
People love Chinese food! If I didn't know it before, I'd know it now as those pages are the most viewed on my new Cheryl's China website.

One reader even told me the website should carry a warning that reading my food pages will make you hungry!

So today I added another page to the foods section. It's on the Chinese cookbooks that I use most often to prepare authentic dishes at home.

I usually cook a Chinese dish for dinner once or twice a week, because my husband and I both like the foods that we ate in China and can't find back in the United States.

Are you going to China?

If a trip to China is in your planes, check out my newly remodeled and expanded website, Cheryl's China. And please feel free to email me if you have any questions about travel in China, especially the Beijing area.