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STUDY TOUR

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL BOARD

CHINA AND YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE WITH EXTENSIONS TO CAMBODIA

MAY 20—JUNE 7, 2004

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STUDY TOUR SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL BOARD CHINA AND YANGTZE RIVER CRUISE WITH EXTENSION TO CAMBODIA MAY 20 – JUNE 7, 2004 Three countries, seven different airlines, eight different hotels, twenty days lapsed time spanning a cultural odyssey of over seven thousand years, and a shared, unforgettable experience with friends. We are very fortunate and hope we took full advantage of such an incredible journey. ARRIVING ARRIVING CITY AIRLINE DATE HOTEL Beijing United May 20 St. Regis Xian China Northwest May 24 Shangri-La Flower Chongqing Hainon May 26 Marriott Yichang May 30 M. S. East Queen Shanghai Shanghai May 30 Four Seasons Guangzhou Shanghai Phnom Penh China Southern June 2 Raffles Hotel La Royal Siem Reap Siem Reap June 3 Raffles Grand d’Angkor Bangkok Bangkok June 6 Oriental Dulles United June 7 Chateau Moore, 2018 Hillyer This is our second foreign trip with the Smithsonian National Board. There were twenty on the main tour, two Development officers and two other S.I. staff. There were nine on the Cambodian extension, plus one S.I. staff. The small numbers contributed to the intensity of our study tour, but we missed the many Board members who didn’t participate. Abercrombie & Kent did an outstanding job, and our tour escort throughout the trip, Bill Hurst, added immeasurably to the value of our experience. Given the quality of our accommodations and various eateries, we were clearly spoiled. However, I buy into Somerset Maugham’s theory:

“Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of habit.”

With all due respect to Furman Mosley, respected book publisher and fellow Smithsonian traveler, I don’t intend to limit my adjectives or exclamation points in sharing this special study and our enjoyment of the art, architecture, culture, demographics, economies, history, and politics of the parts of China, Cambodia and Thailand we visited. I come away as excited and challenged by their future, as I am by their past.

Charles H. Moore, Jr.

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STUDY TOUR SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL BOARD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DATE JOURNAL PAGE NO. Introduction 2 CHINA May 20 Beijing 4

21 The Forbidden City 5 22 From Politics to Opera to Heaven and on to Furniture 8 23 The Wall at Last 9 24 To the Land of the Tombs 12 25 Eighth Wonder of the World? 13 26 Chongqing 15 27 Another Eighth Wonder of the World? 17 28 The Yangtze Voyage 19 29 Gorgeous Gorges 21 30 The Sabbath, Greatest Dam, and Shanghai 24 31 A Working Day in Shanghai 26

June 01 Last Full Day in Shanghai 27 CAMBODIA 02 Southwest to Cambodia 28 03 Farewell Phnom Penh 31 Time Out 34 June 04 Angkor Aweigh! 35

05 To the Country 39 THAILAND

05 Wat’s Next? 42 06 Homeward Bound 46

May 20 – June 7 Impressions

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MAY 20 – BEIJING Our 12+ hour flight from Chicago was extremely comfortable, and we arrived right on time at 2:40 p.m. Our wonderful Beijing guide, Ren Li, met us, and along with Sandra Small, whisked us off to the St. Regis Hotel, which we thought was elegant. A complete unpacking, facsimile discharge of all the CECP work I had done on the flight, and a short nap left us ready for a 6:30 p.m. Welcome Reception in the Diplomat Hall. Opening remarks by Virginia Clark were followed by Bill Hurst’s briefing. As our Abercrombie & Kent tour escort, Bill gave us an orientation on what we might expect in China. Some of those details follow. China represents 11% of the world’s land mass, but only 7% of its arable land – and of course, 20% of the total population. The Yangtze is the world’s third longest river (behind the Amazon and Nile). However, many contend, it is the most important waterway in the world. The Yangtze’s much publicized damming, (the water level has already been raised 40 meters) is symbolic of the transition from “old China” to “new China.” In less than two weeks, we would visit four major cities, cruise on the Yangtze, and probe over 7,000 years of a very complex history. Thanks to our Smithsonian credentials, we would have the opportunity to see and hear far more than is available to ordinary travelers. Mandarin, the principal language of the Chinese people (there are over 300 dialects), incorporates some 50,000 characters. The majority of the generally well-educated population manages using “less” than 12,000. Our guides, translators and lecturers would help us begin to understand the significance of the oldest, continuous civilization in the world—and let us project what that might mean for our grandchildren, and their grandchildren. Our spirits were high but with very little sleep on the plane, we decided to load up on hors d’oeuvres and call it a day, while others, who had come in a day earlier, went out for a Peking duck dinner.

THE FORBIDDEN CITY

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MAY 21 – THE FORBIDDEN CITY

Our first official meal in the People’s Republic of China was no ordinary continental breakfast offering. The luxurious buffet stretched the length of the Diplomat Hall at the St. Regis! There were at least 100 roses in each one of several vases. Joseph Chang, the Smithsonian Freer/Sackler Gallery’s Associate Curator of Chinese Art, spoke briefly after breakfast to prepare us for our visit to the Forbidden City, once the residence and administrative seat for the rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Beijing, with its 12.8 million people (plus 3 million transients) was already bustling. We passed the Asian Observatory on our short motor coach ride to the Forbidden City, and after passing through a series of gates, entered the Imperial City, only 20% of which is open to tourists.

Construction of the Forbidden City, the most prominent of the Ming and Qing period structures, was begun in 1406 as the Ming emperor, Zhu Di ascended to the throne. It was his desire to move the royal capital back to Beijing from Nanjing in order to demonstrate the grandeur and power of this new dynasty to the world and, most importantly, to the Mongols whom the Ming armies had just overthrown and driven out of China. Construction continued for 14 years, and in 1421 a grand ceremony involving dignitaries from across Asia and East Africa marked the official recognition of the “Purple Forbidden City” (I kept reminding myself that this was 71 years before Christopher Columbus ever ventured toward the Americas!) Records indicate that over one million people were directly involved in the construction of the Forbidden City; more than three million were indirectly involved. The forests of Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan provinces, and even in remote Tibet were harvested for the prized hardwood used in columns and roof support beams in the palace. Marble was quarried 50 miles outside Beijing and then transported to the palace on roads purposely flooded and frozen to facilitate the sliding of the mammoth slabs. Palace grounds cover 247 acres. A 50 meter-wide moat surrounds the Forbidden City.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the last emperor, Hsuan Tong, was allowed to live

in the palace, but in 1924, he too was expelled. A year later, the government of the Republic of China converted Emperor Hsuan Tong’s palace into the Palace Museum, which we visited. This single facility remains the largest and most important museum in China with over one million objects held within its galleries and vaults. Our special tour took us through both the Outer Court (administration halls) and Inner Court (residential palaces). The outer court buildings are palatial in size and atmosphere; the residential quarters are small and comparatively unassuming. Symbolism plays a critical role in the design and construction of Imperial palaces. For example, the numbers 5 and 9 are featured prominently, representing wishes for longevity and good fortune. All the main gates (except the eastern entrance) have 9 bronze and gold knobs; the east gate has 7 knobs as this was the gate through which the emperor’s body was borne when he died. It is said that the palace has 9,999 rooms (one below the Chinese idea of perfection) – a room being measured by the area circumscribed by four columns. Colors are also important: red stands for good fortune and luck, blue for heaven, green for wealth, and yellow represents the earth. These were the royal colors, and commoners were prohibited from using them. The old city of Beijing, except for the Forbidden City, was devoid of color. It hasn’t changed much in the ensuing years.

Our tour also included the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Hall of Mental Cultivation, Hall of

Adoration and Palace of Double Brilliance. The exterior sculptures and decoration are special: there’s a carved marble ramp (added in 1750) depicting land, air and water, and there are the ubiquitous emperor-riding-on-chicken gable carvings.

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IMPERIAL CITY ROOF GABLES There are all kinds of mythical animals represented. A bat, for example, symbolizes happiness. Before leaving the Palace, we visited the Institute for Digitization of the Palace Museum Heritage to see a film to better understand what they’re doing with today’s technology. It was a great start to our China odyssey, and we recognized and appreciated that we had been welcomed into areas seldom seen by foreign visitors. We had a delicious lunch at the Courtyard Gallery, Beijing’s leading center for contemporary art, located next to the eastern gate of the Forbidden City, in view of a scenic area on the banks of the palace moat. The building belonged to an aristocratic family during the late Qing dynasty. Today, the gallery offers fine dining and rotating art exhibits. Following lunch, we met with the gallery’s director, Meg Maggio, who has been a major force in bringing contemporary Chinese art to the rest of the world.

We visited the largest Tantric (Tibetan) Buddhist temple in Beijing. Originally constructed in the early 18th century as a residence for Yong Zheng (fourth son of Qing dynasty emperor, Kang Xi), the palace was converted to a temple after the ascension of Yong Zheng to the throne following his father’s death. Yong Zheng’s converted palace continues to flourish as a Buddhist temple. Incidentally, Mahayana Buddhism, which is infused with Hindu influences, had reached Tibet from India by the 7th century. Mongolian and Manchurian peoples were deeply influenced by Tibetan readings, so Buddhism was welcomed to royal Beijing during the Qing dynasty when the throne was occupied by Manchurians. We would catch up again with this religious cross-culture during our later visit to Angkor. The highlight of our visit to the Lama Temple was the exquisite image of

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Maitreya, the future incarnation of the Buddha. This wooden sculpture is the tallest (18 meters) indoor Buddha on earth. Cut from one white sandalwood tree, it has even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. The grounds were covered with incense pots and lined with gingko trees (a symbol of longevity). In one chapel, there are three statues representing longevity, medicine, and wisdom. Our first evening in Beijing was equally diverse. We enjoyed drinks with Ambassador Clark “Sandy” Randt, his wife and other officials at the U. S. Embassy Residence. Randt took this post in 2002, having served as a successful lawyer in Hong Kong for years. He was also a fraternity brother of George W. at Yale. We went to dinner in the Great Hall of the People, on Tiananmen Square. Both of these public spaces were constructed after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The Square is bordered on the north side by Tiananmen Gate, the entrance to the Imperial City that leads into the Forbidden City. We hadn’t really gone very far a-field all day. Tiananmen Square is the largest public plaza on earth - capable of holding 500,000 people at one time. Its capacity may be tested when the Olympics are hosted in Beijing in 2008. There were a few hundred people watching the changing of the guard and flying kites when we disembarked our motor coach.

The Great Hall of the People is the official “government” building where China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) meets each year during the first two weeks of March to discuss government policies for the coming year. In addition, there is a grand banquet hall that seats 5,000 for dinner, which was used to fete President Nixon when he visited in 1972. We checked out these facilities but settled for a smaller space for our 25+ group. Dinner might have lasted into the morning had our group escort not canceled some courses and called for dessert.

BEIJING OPERA SCHOOL

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MAY 22 – FROM POLITICS TO OPERA TO HEAVEN AND ON TO FURNITURE

Our private breakfast at the St. Regis featured a panel discussion with two of Beijing’s top foreign correspondents: Jasper Becker and Jamie Florcruz, CNN’s Beijing Business Chief. They led us in a discussion on the “China Century.” Lively questions and answers followed. Next on the agenda, we visited the Peking Opera School, which was especially opened on Saturday to receive our group. This is an elite institution that recruits and educates the most promising young opera talent in China. Peking Opera is a national tradition that dates back 250 years to the reign of the Emperor Qian Long (1736-1796). This school was founded in 1950 and includes both middle (ages

11-13) and upper (ages 14-18) school. Current enrollment is 441 students, all of whom are in residence at the school. In addition to required academic subjects, training includes voice, acrobatics, instruments, costume, make-up and movement. With our guide and performer, Ghoffer Pourazer (who will lead a performing group to Cornell in October), we went to three classes and a grand performance of a traditional opera (including musical accompaniment) – and loved it all! In China, “opera isn’t grand; it’s the norm.” It was, needless to say, completely censored during the Cultural Revolution.

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

After a fabulous Chinese lunch at the famous Fang Shan Restaurant, our next stop was the Temple of Heaven, which dates from the 15th century and is a fine example of Chinese wooden buildings (constructed without a single nail) and religious architecture. It was here that the Emperor (as the highest conduit between heaven and earth) came twice a year: once to offer thanks for a successful harvest, and then (at winter solstice) to ask that the coming harvest be blessed as well. With its unique circular shape, azure blue roof and intricate gold inlay work, this temple has been called the most outstanding example of ancient Chinese architecture. Even so, the temple has witnessed its share of bloodshed, as sacrifices of oxen and other animals were regularly made. Judith and I also visited the West Annex, East Annex and Zhongheshaoyua, the ceremonial museum of the Ming and Qing dynasties. We noted an Imperial Sedan (12 meters long, 2.8 meters wide and 3.6 meters high). It couldn’t have been easy to move, but once under way, the emperor’s passage must have been very impressive. We walked through Beihai Park, once part of the Imperial Palace grounds. We visited a small antique furniture museum, which houses a private collection of furniture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The owner, Mr. Ma, received us. He was very informative and eager to share his collection with us. He autographed his own recent book on the collection, which, of course, we bought. Dinner was at the Private China Club, located to the west of Tiananmen Square in the historic Xiden District. The club is rich in history both royal and modern as it has seen the passage of imperial China into the tumultuous early years of Republican and Warlord rule culminating in its present incarnation as private club and meeting place for Chinese and expatriates alike in modern, Communist China. We dined in the elegant Qin/Han Hall.

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MAY 23 – THE WALL AT LAST “If you have not climbed and stood on the Great Wall, then you cannot be considered a hero.”

Attributed to Chairman Mao

Our bus left for the Mutianyue Section of the Great Wall of China at 7:30 a.m. Bill likes to get us there before the “tourists” arrive en masse. The trip is a two-hour drive through some wonderful country. Today, with the opening and development of China, there are now seven different access points on the Great Wall in easy proximity to Beijing. Mutianyue was chosen because it is close enough to the city to allow for a comfortable half or full-day visit, and it has retained a more pristine atmosphere than some of the closer sites.

JUDITH AT THE WALL

Forty-three miles northeast of Beijing, this section of the wall (fortification) strides over the highest point of the rugged Yan Mountains. There are two ways up to the wall: a new cable car or the traditional route – 1,156 steps. We chose the former and were treated to some spectacular views. Despite many myths and legends, Wall building was continuous in ancient China, especially during the Warring States period (483 B.C. – 220 B.C.) when the smaller northern states constructed a number of defensive walls. After the unification of China in 220 B.C. under the Kingdom of Qin, the new emperor initiated a ten-year public works project that linked up the disparate defensive walls into one wall, the Wan Li Chang Cheng that set the northern boundary between the civilized (unified China) and frontier (nomadic Hun and Mongol tribes) lands. Throughout the span of imperial Chinese history from the 2nd century B.C. through the founding of the Qing dynasty in 1644, the Wall has played a part in the defense of the empire. Today, the Wall covers approximately 50,000 km (over 300 miles). The Mutianyue Section was not opened to the public until 1986, but it dates back to the 16th century.

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Before ascending by cable car, we were besieged by merchants of all ages selling products of all descriptions. When you respectfully decline to purchase, they, equally respectfully, ask for your name and say “remember me when you come down.” I will never forget the sight of Max Berry heading back to the bus focused and with his head down. A persistent merchant came running after him saying “I remember you, Max” (maybe you had to be there).

Escaping from the salesmen, we drove an hour through a beautiful section of the Yan

Mountains to the Ming Tombs. While not high in actual elevation (only about 2,000 meters), the Yan peaks are ruggedly dramatic. The Ming Tombs represent an imperial tradition that originated in the Zhou dynasty (1066-221B.C.) and was carried forward through the succession of dynastic

periods that dominate Chinese history. The Ming emperors selected the location and designed and built their tombs while they were still alive. Of the 16 Ming emperors, 13 are buried in this stark and isolated valley just north of Beijing. The road to the tombs was once a 4-mile long sacred way, forbidden to all but the emperor’s funeral cortege. This site is closed, but was open to the Smithsonian National Board by special permission. We proceeded along the sacred way, now a bucolic park with wonderful marble statues and the occasional donkey and ascended to the Yongling Tomb where, much to our surprise and delight, caterers from the St. Regis were waiting with an incredible sit-down luncheon complete with musicians. It may have been my favorite meal of the entire trip; certainly the most delightful ambiance!

YONGLING TOMBS WITH THE YAN MOUNTAINS AS BACKDROP

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On our return to the city, Bill Hurst shared with us an interesting overview of China’s recent history, a period of upheaval and tragedy.

§ 1840 Opium War, outflow of silver and Hong Kong deeded to England.

Shanghai became a refuge for the Imperial party. § 1850 Tai Ping rebellion, a spiritual and cult movement; lasted 12 years with

1,317 people killed. § 1900 Boxer Rebellion (“iron fist”) § 1911 Qing Dynasty collapses. § 1927 Death of “father of China;” Chiang Kai-Shek attempts to eliminate the

Communist Party. § 1937 Japan attacked China; beginning of WWII. § 1948 U.S. enters war; General Stillwell leads support of China. § 1949 Communist Party takes over; ratified by Russia; “China carved up;”

much property ceded to Russia; Mongolia an independent country; “green revolution” (free planting); population 400 million.

§ 1950 Communists favor rural citizens; land redistribution; Mutual Aid. § 1955 Drought § 1956-7 “Great Leap Forward;” anti-urban, anti-intellectual movement. § 1960 Russia-China split; paid back debt; Mao retired as Premier;

retained Chairmanship. § 1966 “Started to enjoy privileges/becoming a bureaucracy.” Mao appealed

to students; Cultural Revolution; brought down government. § 1976 Mao back in power. § 1979 Population 800 million. § 1985 Urban reformation; start of free enterprise. § 1989 Tiananmen Square Student Uprising § 2004 Population 1.2 billion; 94% literacy.

While I may not have recorded it all precisely, it’s an interesting timeline of enormous change, including in authority and governance. There is no longer a dominant ideology in China, resulting in a spiritual void. (Is this a time bomb?) Making money is now the dominant theme. Class warfare is out. Competitive trade is in. Intellectual property theft is rampant. China has a market economy, but a one-party (nationalist) system, which makes it difficult to foster independent thinking. Economic growth is China’s biggest priority in addition to the eagerly anticipated ‘08 Olympic Games. Can they achieve prosperity and a “peaceful solution”? Will the Chinese authorities be “bullies or leaders?” All of this is food for serious thought, and worthy of further study. After such “heady” discussion, we were ready for freshening up and dinner at the Sackler Museum at Peking University, with Smithsonian National Board member, Jill Sackler, as hostess. Peking University is one of the most prestigious of all Chinese universities and has ties to the early education work done by American missionaries in China. It has an international reputation for scholarly research in the humanities. The museum offered us a chance to see both its permanent collection and a current spectacular exhibition of Chinese art and artifacts. Dinner in the courtyard was elegant and most enjoyable.

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MAY 24 – TO THE LAND OF THE TOMBS It’s less than a two-hour flight from Beijing to Xian. We drove straight to the Yangling Excavation to experience 3,000 years of Xian history as it has shaped this region of China. As we drove, we saw dozens of earthen mounds in surrounding fields. These mounds are the visible evidence of Ming tombs of the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C. – 25 A.D.). They recall the imperial splendor that, for centuries, was Xian. The Yangling Dig was begun in 1990 (right around the time of our first visit to Xian) after a road crew putting in the new road to the Xian Airport made an accidental discovery. A prominent archeological authority was called in and a project was set in motion that is still ongoing some fourteen years later. Yangling is the name given to the burial site of the fourth Emperor of the Western Han dynasty, Jing Di, who died in 141 B.C. His tomb and that of his chief consort, the Empress Wang, have yet to be excavated. Instead, the fourteen years of work done by archeologists has focused on the ancillary satellite pits and prominent officials’ tombs that honeycomb the 20 square kilometers surrounding Jing Di’s burial area. This excavation has yielded more than 100,000 artifacts, among the richest burial cache discovered anywhere in the world. It is estimated that there are ten thousand tombs dotting the landscape in the vicinity of the Yangling tomb belonging to the families of the ministers and officials associated with the rule of Jing Di. As the slave-based society changed to a feudal society, stories of human exploits were recreated in terra cotta and bronze to be included in the tombs of the emperors to accompany them on into the next life. Before visiting the Yangling Site Museum, we were treated to another wonderful tented lunch nestled in the midst of rose gardens as far as we could see. The most amazing bread pudding had us all wishing for more. The excavation director, Wang Baoping, enthusiastically took us through the museum and truly brought the history of the period to life. This museum has a staggering number of funerary objects on view: two floors of terra cotta figures, bronze implements, silk remnants, lacquer boxes, weapons and more. It is said that the scale and variety of objects supports the contention that the Han dynasty ushered in a period of peace and relative prosperity that the earlier unification of the empire under the Qin dynasty had not achieved. We also visited their restoration workshop. Of course, they had a wonderful gift shop where Judith bought a silk dress! On the way to our hotel in Xian, we were treated to more beautiful countryside and an interesting glimpse of a city of six million people. Incidentally, Kyoto, Japan was modeled after Xian. At the height of the Tang dynasty (7th to 10th centuries), Xian was reported to be the most prosperous city in the world with a population of one million. In this period, known as Xian’s “golden age,” there were thirteen dynasties lasting more than 2,000 years. Even though the city was completely destroyed in 907 A.D., most feel that Xian’s low point was reached in 1949. After the communists took over, they committed to Xian’s redevelopment. Because Xian is far from the sea it was, therefore, considered safe from possible attack. Today, Xian’s main industries include textiles, electronics, aerospace, the new high technology, and of course, thanks largely to the “terra cotta warriors”, tourism. There are forty colleges in Xian. In spite of extreme temperatures, it is a fertile and productive agricultural region, often referred to as “China’s first bread basket.” After checking in at the Shangri-La Golden Flower, which has been greatly expanded and renovated since our first visit, we had a briefing with Gerald Hatherly and the original director of the Yangling Dig. This elegant, elderly Chinese gentleman had interesting stories to tell, ably translated by Mr. Hatherly. Dinner followed in the hotel with our good friends, Margie and Edgar Masinter.

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MAY 25 – EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD? This was our day for visiting what is rightfully called the greatest of all archeological sites in China, the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses Dig, located in Lingtong County, nearly 30 miles east of Xian. Passing through Xian in the early morning, we saw people ballroom dancing (as their morning exercise) and, of course, the omni-present tai-chi practitioners; we also passed an empty zoo before reaching the fertile countryside. For millions of years, the annual deposition of mineral-rich dust or loose soil over this region of north central China has provided farmers with a renewable source of nutrients for grain crops.

MARCH TO ETERNITY The Terra Cotta Warrior site is made up of three distinct pits (or digs):

• Pit #1 Contains over 6,000 warriors and horses, of which approximately

1,200 figures have been fully or partially restored. They’re believed to represent the actual imperial bodyguard (Qin period, 480-220 B.C.)

• Pit #2 Military encampment. • Pit #3 High ranking guards, etc. This is the best preserved of the pits and is the only one not to have been set afire by peasant rebels around 207 B.C.

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We also visited the Bronze Chariot Hall exhibiting two full-sized funerary chariots unearthed near the tomb mounds in 1980/81. We stood in a circular room and watched a 30-minute film entitled “Eighth Wonder of the World”. This gave us a better idea of how the tombs and figures were created and the subsequent burning of the sites. UCLA is consulting with Chinese officials to better detect valuable treasures not yet discovered. There is real concern for color deterioration when a terra cotta piece is exposed to the air (oxidation), so the project has essentially been stopped until they can solve this fading issue. Therefore, we saw very few workers digging in any of the pits. We did tour two restoration labs and thoroughly enjoyed the grounds and gardens. The entire site is under the protection of UNESCO. The usual crush of merchants is here replaced by beautifully tended gardens. For lunch, we went to the famous Da Fa Chang Dumpling restaurant next to the Bell and Drum Towers where we washed down an endless variety of dumplings with rice wine and very good Chinese beer. On leaving the restaurant, we were suddenly accosted by aggressive merchants in a part of Xian that is dirty and relatively uninteresting, quite a contrast from the bucolic site we had just visited.

Old Xian is a walled city (10 miles in length) with four gates and a moat. We visited the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, second largest only to Shanghai and almost certainly the finest museum of ancient Chinese history in China, if not in all of Asia. It was opened in 1991 and is designed in the style of the Qingxing Gong, a Tang period palace with four main wings. They have three permanent exhibitions: Zhou Civilization, Han Culture Dynasty and Imperial Tang China – all very wonderful. In the process, we learned that hemp/ fiber paper was introduced to the western world by the Chinese in 140-87 B.C. and that the one and two oxen iron plough was designed and introduced during the Tang dynasty (600-900 A.D.). The highlight was a specially arranged visit to see the Tang Dynasty Murals (706 A.D.) stored in the vault of the museum. They are extraordinary! Even

Bill Clinton appreciated them during his visit to Xian. That evening, the good weather held up and we dined on top of the City Wall near the South Gate. Watching the lights come on across the city was great.

SUNSET OVER XIAN

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MAY 26 – CHONGQING After the luggage was loaded for the trip to the airport, before leaving Xian we paid a visit to the Great Mosque of Xian. Along the way, we noticed workers standing on street corners holding up the tools of their trade (e.g., paint rollers); most were from the country looking for jobs in the city and this is how they advertised their skills.

On the short ride to the Muslim section of the city, we talked about China’s birth control policies. Fines for breaking the government rules on family planning vary from 1,000 Yuan to 6,000 Yuan ($750), depending on where you live. As we know, boys are at a premium, because they are needed to work on the farms, and even more importantly, a father’s name is passed on only through the male heirs. Confucius said it was a sin not to be able to pass on one’s name. The stigma is so real that first-child girls are often left at the hospital, fueling a vigorous adoption business. While the Buddhist traditions of Chinese culture are well known to most visitors, the influence exerted by Islam is not. Yet, of the religious beliefs within China today, none can claim stronger belief than Islam. The first mosque in Xian was built in 742 A.D. by Persian merchants. The mosque was moved from its original site to its present location during the reign of the first Ming emperor (Hong Wu reigned 1368-1398). The mosque we visited has, since the Ming period, been refurbished and expanded over the course of time. Today, the structures reflect the designs of the Ming and Qing periods (14th-19th centuries) and combine a unique blend of both Chinese and Middle Eastern design. The whole complex is very tranquil, but doesn’t look anything like a typical mosque – no minarets, for example. We saw lots of dragons and learned that each dragon has nine sons, each one with a unique capability. Columns and tablets were supported on the backs of turtles. Our biggest challenge was to work our way through the bazaar that surrounds the mosque, with all their “one-day-old” antiques. My favorite visit was to the herbal medicine shop where we could see “prescriptions” being filled. The window sign advertised (in English as well as Chinese), special concoctions including those for “married couples.” Our air flight to Chongqing (meaning “double happiness”) took only an hour. Xian’s airport is new and splendid; Chongqing’s is outdated, but being replaced with a “humongous” facility. Why? Because Chongqing is big and ambitious! It’s one of four municipalities and covers 22 counties, 14 districts and is home to 31 million residents! The city itself has 6 million inhabitants, but that was yesterday’s count. There is construction everywhere typifying the “urbanization of China.” While Chongqing is 3,000 years old, it has had its ups and downs. A British Consulate’s report in 1937 declared it “the worst Consul post in China, or maybe the world - no water, no sanitation, no banks, no schools, primitive hospitals and lots of rats” was a part of the description by the reporting officer. Still, in 1939, it was the capital of China, and under the direct control of the central government. The Liberation Monument was the tallest building in 1939 rising to only 150 feet. Today, there are skyscrapers everywhere, all with elevator shafts, but many without elevators because there isn’t sufficient power to operate them. This is just one of the fascinating ironies of China!

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In the 1960s, Mao expected to be invaded by Russia, so he pushed development of manufacturing, especially munitions. Today, Chongqing boasts automotive (Ford JV) and motorcycle plants, chemical and pharmaceutical facilities, and steel factories, along with coal mines and textile mills (mostly silk, and some processing of cotton fabrics). The area is very fertile with rice, corn and wheat being the principal crops. There is 42 to 84 inches of rain every year. Summers are hot and humid, earning Chongqing the nickname of “furnace city.” We noticed far fewer bicycles in general in China, than on our last trip. This was particularly true is Xian and Chongqing, probably because of the sprawling nature of those cities. There is no plan for any underground transit in Chongqing, but they are upgrading their railroad station. There were few traffic lights and pedestrians “sort of” have the right-of-way. Arguably, it’s more dangerous to drive in Chonqing than to drive in New York! The city is quite hilly, not unlike San Francisco. And there are buildings going up everywhere. I have never seen such rampant construction, including a nearly-completed, very spectacular soccer stadium! In the old days, buildings were never taller than seven floors to avoid having to have an elevator. Since 1985, they’re all much higher, even if there isn’t sufficient electricity to operate the elevators. Our first stop in Chongqing was the Stilwell House Museum, which overlooks the Jialing River. General Joseph Stilwell was Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese forces in World War II’s China-Burma-India theatre between 1942-44 (also know as the “War of Resistance”). A West Point graduate, and best know for the Flying Tiger Heroes, his strong-will and direct approach to duty brought him into conflict with Chiang Kai-shek. Their fractious relationship led to complaints to President Roosevelt and Stilwell’s ultimate removal from his post. He is, however, remembered with great fondness and respect by the Chinese for his contributions to improving training and battle conditions for the average soldier. The displays in this museum, formally Stilwell’s residence, and rehabilitated most recently in 2003, are, regrettably, limited mostly to photographs that are not particularly well preserved. We then headed to the Marriott Hotel, a dazzling $200 million investment by a Chinese local who has made good and is attempting to “give something back” to the community. We partially unpacked and attended a reception to welcome Secretary Larry Small, who had delayed his departure from the U. S. in order to receive an honorary degree at Dickinson College. Given our choice as to dinner venue, Judith and I (and many others) chose an attractive Western restaurant on the top of the Marriott. We both had Scottish oysters and our first steak since coming to Asia. We loved it! Despite the smog/fog, nighttime Chongqing is a sparkling “city of lights.” I’m sure there was a lot more to see than just the lights, but we were exhausted and quietly retired.

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MAY 27 – ANOTHER EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD? After another incredible Chinese breakfast buffet, we set off to Dazu, a two-hour bus ride through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen. It’s acre after acre of traditional terraced Sichuan countryside; every square foot of which is planted, mostly in rice paddies. Under “Communism with a Chinese Style,” the government owns the land, but leases it to farmers, developers, and businesses. At the beginning of this experiment (1982-84), property was leased for 15 years. Terms were modified in 1991 to permit farming leases of up to 50 years, and commercial leases for as many as 70 years. Lease “taxation” is normally on an annual basis, but new homes often require payment in full at closing. Because of China’s “planned economy” approach, they were not affected as much as other Asian countries in the 1998-99 economic downturn. Most see China’s move to a “market economy” as risky, as they worry whether their current 9% annual growth rate is sustainable. Their new premier (as of 2003) gets credit for more practical policies, including reducing school taxes, which run from ¥500 to ¥1,200 per child per year. Most of us were surprised that children had to pay at all for school and learned that many families cannot afford even this small amount to send their children. Hope Charities is one form of philanthropic support for poor families. There is another program specifically for girls to combat the argument that when girls marry, they move in with the husband’s family, so why even bother educating girls! I suspect Dazu, which means “great abundance”, was once charming. It isn’t today. Dazu’s population is 80,000 and is just one of 22 counties in Sichuan province, which has an overall population of 300,000. We started and finished at the unimaginative Dazu Hotel, twice to use the “5 star” rest facilities and once for lunch. We had come this far to see the famous Bei Shan Grottoes stone carvings, which are to some, the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

DAZU CAVE SCULPTURES

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These remarkable carvings date from the last years of the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D. – 907 A.D.) to the Qing (1644-1911), with the majority carved during the southern Song (1127-1279). They are largely Buddhist in theme, but combine elements of Confucianism and Taoism. There are two major groups of sculpture: the Bei Shan (“North Hill”) and Baoding Shan (“Precious Summit”). We visited them in that order. Bei Shan has 290 caves carved into a 500 meter high cliff. The first figure is a statue of the founder Wei Junjing, with an inscription dated to 895 A.D. recording the making of the sculpture, as well as a contemporaneous peasant uprising. I was intrigued by the sculpture of a Bodhisattva, who, in Buddhist tradition, is a figure who has achieved “enlightenment,” but chooses to stay in this life to help others achieve the same goal. After lunch, we visited the Bao Ding carvings - my favorite as they’re more exposed and, therefore, easier to see. They were almost all carved between 1179-1249. At the bottom of the steps we traversed to take in this extraordinary work, we saw the “great wheel of the law.” We were frequently reminded of one of Buddha’s teachings, which says, “eliminate desire and you can eliminate suffering.” While these images are powerful and richly symbolic, there was a lighter side to our visit. In addition to fighting our way through the bazaars, we watched with fascination, as eight Chinese workers with digging irons and winch tried to move a huge slab of marble down a staircase. In that context, you marvel even more at how these carvings and temples ever came to be. We did purchase a wonderful book depicting some of these carvings. On the way back to Chongqing and the M. S. East Queen, we stopped at a little family commune for a glimpse into everyday Chinese life. These people live off the land. To provide a small income, one of the six families (20 persons in all live in the compound) has developed a modest business of curing, making and selling pigskin belts. It was all very primitive. Boarding our chartered boat on the Yangtze was great fun. The M.S. East Queen can accommodate 195 passengers and we were only 25! We had the entire boat to ourselves! There are four decks, plus a top deck, three bars, fitness room, major massage area, and the ship’s store, complete with resident artist. We each had an extra cabin just to store our luggage! I used ours as a quiet place to work on my journal. After a welcome reception and sumptuous dinner, we were off to bed, skipping the movie on the Three Gorges Project, but not without a farewell glimpse of the wonderful lights of Chongqing.

ALL ABOARD!! JUDITH WITH BILL HURST

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MAY 28 – THE YANGTZE VOYAGE

Some of us started our day with Tai Chi exercises on the top deck. The problem is, Tai Chi requires grace and coordination and I don’t have any or at least not the right kind. Still, with three instructors, it was fun and worked up an appetite. Cruising the Yangtze is beautiful; at least, the countryside is. At the time of our cruise, the river was very muddy. The shore is dotted with elevation markers; a constant reminder of the effects of the new dam construction. The Three Gorges Dam lies 70 meters above sea level. The goal is to raise the water level to as high as 175 meters by 2009, which will displace 1.3 million people. As of today, the water level is 145 meters above sea level. The highest flood level to date was 153 meters (above sea level) in 1981.

The Chinese completed an earlier dam on the Yangtze in 1989, at the time the third largest dam in the world. The entire project was projected to cost $20 billion, but most western economists expect the price tag will reach $60 billion. While many countries (including USA) and The World Bank, etc., pulled back their financial support, the Chinese have chosen to push ahead with the substantial involvement on the part of many countries for technology and equipment. When completed, the dam will provide 9.5% of China’s electric power and will replace the use of about 80 million tons of pollution - producing coal each year.

One of China’s growing concerns is the accumulation of silt at the mouth of the Yangtze; 500

million tons of silt flow into the ocean each year resulting in Shanghai’s (which means “above the sea”) being 36 miles inland from the East China Sea whereas it used to be right on the sea. The Chinese do not discuss an even greater risk in this current tension filled world; the vulnerability of this imposing dam to military attack. The consequences of a successful bombing in terms of the destruction of human lives and property loss are unthinkable. After breakfast, we had a brief Smithsonian National Board meeting. Larry Small gave us a great overview of the Smithsonian’s international focus and relationships starting with artifacts from the Wilkes Expedition (1838) and including our first fine arts museum, the Freer Gallery (1923). We also discussed Smithsonian priorities and development. Judith awoke feeling poorly and skipped tai chi and breakfast. As the day progressed, she didn’t. She stayed in bed hoping it was just “something she ate”. We got the ship’s doctor to see her and after a thorough examination, he concluded that it was some form of an intestinal bug and gave her both western antibiotics and Chinese medicine, and ordered her to take fluids, no food and rest. But, I digress. Back to the morning of May 28. I skipped a lecture and demonstration on Chinese calligraphy and indulged in a reflexology foot massage. It was transporting! Following lunch, we docked at Shibaozhi (Precious Stone Fortress) and climbed to the top of a nine-story red pagoda. This structure was built against a huge rock formation in 1819 to replace an iron chain worshippers had previously utilized to get to a temple at the top of the rock in the eighteenth century. In 1956, three more stories were added, each floor dedicated to famous generals of the Three Kingdoms period, local scholars and renowned Chinese poets. Legend has it that you can reach heaven and still higher, super heaven – which most of us did, despite the fact that I’m really scared of heights.

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The temple at the top was Buddhist, but has been adapted to the practice of Taoism. The views from the top are spectacular, and we could see a new village (homes, school, and hospital) built to provide for the 9,000 local relocated residents. The Chinese government has allocated ¥15,000 (nearly $2,000) per person for those who suffer hardship on account of the Three Gorges project. However, the people must prove this and often remove their roof and windows to make their case. Fortunately, there was an easier way down from the temple, which gave us time to shop in the bazaar that lined our descent.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

Judith got up long enough to attend a “Becoming Asian American” presentation by Francey Youngberg of the Smithsonian Asian American Program (APA*), but then went back to bed. I bagged the scheduled Acupuncture and Massage Lesson to work on my journal, and the doctor visited Judith. Later, I joined the rest at the Captain’s cocktail party, and yet another spectacular Chinese dinner. Judith beat me in a game of gin rummy (she’s wasn’t too sick to do that!) to conclude our second day on the Yangtze.

VIEW OF THE EAST QUEEN FROM THE TOP *The program’s goals are to reflect the experience of APAs in all Smithsonian work; improve the public appreciation of APA’s role in American history, and empower APA communities by increasing their sense of inclusion in the national culture.

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MAY 29 – GORGEOUS GORGES By 7 a.m., we were into the first of our Three Gorges passages, and Judith had miraculously recovered – at least partially. We entered the Qutang Gorge through the majestic Kui Men, two imposing cliffs, which resemble a towering door into some other worldly destination. The image of this imposing scene appears on the Chinese RMB 5.00 Yuan banknote. This gorge is only 8 km long and takes about 20 minutes to traverse. The cliffs of rock are quite shear and rise 4,000 feet above the water. Photography is difficult as the sun was right in our eyes, though much of this passage doesn’t really get much sun and as a result, lacks the usual vegetation. We passed an interesting dredging operation, which takes on the silt and discharges the water. The Qutang Gorge is the narrowest stretch of the river on our passage, only 150 meters at its widest point.

There was just time for breakfast before we approached the Wu Gorge, 45 km long with an expected passage time of 40 minutes. The cliff faces rise so sharply, that some say “the sun rarely penetrates to the river.” The most famous of the peaks is the Shennu (Goddess) Peak, which is believed to represent the figure of the maiden Yao Ji, the 23rd daughter of the Queen Mother of the West. Along the river, we saw mandarin orange groves, white goats, and many spectacular waterfalls. Our guide pointed out a “tracker” road where Chinese coolies pulled junks up the river with a rope. We passed a cave where 10,000 people reportedly lived during the Ming dynasty.

In this majestic place, it’s hard to comprehend how much it has changed just since June 1, 2003, when the water level was raised from 75 meters to 149 meters above sea level. Amazingly, this took only ten days – that says something about the power of the Yangtze! While we were all struck by the verdant nature of the passage, our guide reminded us that in the fall, the maple trees change color and it’s a cacophony of color. The Yangtze truly connects the north with the south. Our guide let us in on one local secret: the girls from the south are smaller, smarter and prettier. Oh, by the way, she comes from the south!

ON THE SHENNONG RIVER

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As we cleared the Wu Gorge, we arrived at Badong, a thriving river port that lies near the confluence of the Yangtze and one of its tributaries, the Shennong Xi. Here, we boarded a local ferry for a journey along the Shennong River to Tujia, an upper river village where we disembarked to board local (“peapod”) longboats poled by Tujia boatmen, the traditional mariners of the junks, whose ancient “tracker” road we had just seen. This region of Hubei province has only been open to foreign travel in the last 15 years, allowing visitors to see a side of China rarely before visited by foreign travelers or even by most Chinese citizens. The Tujia are a minority people; they speak their own distinctive language. It has been suggested that they are descendants of the ancient Ba culture, which flourished along this course of the Yangtze River over 3,000 years ago. The scenery is unrivaled anywhere along the middle section of the river – crystalline waters, rich forests, and towering rock formations. This region is home to several species of endangered flora and fauna, including the elusive Golden Hair monkey (it maintained its elusiveness with us) and many varieties of medicinal plants (fortunately, Judith was already cured!). Our boatmen jumped in the water to pull us up the rapids while a retired boatman (age 57) came on board to sell us postcards. Our return through the rapids with the current, took a fraction of the time used to go up. We were told that these waters contain salamander, pike, eel, carp, and the “foolish” fish (very small). We did see a king fisher (white breast, black back) and some of what they call egrets. Back on the ferry, we spotted a coffin in a cave high above the water. You can write your own storybook theory about how it got there.

HAPPY “CAMPERS”

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Back on the East Queen, we were treated to a wonderful BBQ lunch. That was such an “ordeal,” following an exciting morning, that I indulged in a full-body massage so I’d be ready for our third passage, this time through the Xiling Gorge, the largest of the gorges (47 miles in length). We passed through Ox Gorge (Huangniu Xia) where the river widens and sweeps under the Huangling Temple, which stands amid groves of orange and pomelo trees (a variety of citrus related to the grapefruit). The Tang dynasty poet, Du Fu (771-772) wrote of this passage: “Three dawns shine upon the Yellow Ox, Three sunsets – and we go so slowly, Three dawns – again three sunsets, And we do not notice that our hair is white as silk.”

AT THE LOCKS

Finally, we arrived at the locks of the Three Gorges Dam project, waiting for the Dam Authority’s permission to enter. There are five locks, but only four are needed based on the current water level (135 meters above sea level). Each lock is 34 meters wide and 280 meters long; our ship was 16 X 91 meters. When you approach the lock, you can’t imagine you can fit inside let alone have five other ships of equal size join you! When everyone was positioned, we were three deep (lengthwise) and two abreast. We could shake hands with passengers on the ship to our starboard side and touch the side of the lock on our port side. There are two gates, each weighing 800 tons, that take only three minutes to close; it takes only eight minutes to fill (or discharge) the lock. Still, you need to figure at least thirty minutes per lock to move all the boats into position. We had an elevation drop of 70 meters (145m to 75m) and accomplished our passage using three locks @ 20 meters, and one lock @ 10 meters. In due course, we felt confident enough to let the captain proceed without us and retired to the cocktail lounge, followed by our Farewell Dinner. The theme was the “Emperor’s Banquet,” and they played it out to perfection! The costumes were wonderful, the food superb. It had been quite a day, so much so that we skipped the in-house video “China in Revolution”, and retired. We went to sleep with great confidence that the captain would successfully complete the full navigation of the locks without us.

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MAY 30 -- THE SABBATH, GREATEST DAM AND SHANGHAI

Our first destination for

the day was the actual Three Gorges Dam site. True, we had passed through four locks the night before, but we wanted to see it all, or at least, as much as is complete so far. The project was inaugurated in 1992; work began in 1993, and it is expected to be finished in 2009. At four times the size of Hoover Dam and much larger than the Hong Kong airport, the Three Gorges Dam is the greatest modern civil engineering project undertaken by mankind. But how big is it?

VIEW OF THE DAM

It’s 2,309 meters long. There are currently 15,000 workers, down from an earlier maximum level of 23,000. The government built some attractive residential halls and a center for the workers, which will be converted to an international hotel after 2009. The base of the dam is local pre-Cambrian period granite. The concrete work, to assure consistent quality, had to be poured at the same temperature, throughout the year. We passed a “field” of containers used to haul the concrete. They even had a separate building to wash out their containers (what a car wash it will make!). We started on the down-river side, to inspect the two power houses and the spillway. The one power house with 14 turbines along with the spillway is complete. Since each turbine weighs 600 tons; the engineers first had to build the world’s strongest bridge to haul the turbines across the river and into their places. The spillway sorts and spews out river rubbish to avoid fouling the turbines.

The second power house, with 12 turbines, is currently under construction. It was raining (our first rain of the trip) so photography opportunities were limited. The up-river side cast a new perspective and a better view of the locks. Total time to clear the five locks is three hours. The government would like to charge for lock passage. Boat operators argue that they should be reimbursed for the three-hour delay in a river that had been available to them for centuries. The solution to this stand-off is, currently, no charge. A more controversial, but related issue, is their plan to add a ship lift or elevator by 2009 that can move ships that weigh less than 3,000 tons through in 30 minutes (our ship weighs 5,000 tons). The biggest problem, aside from the economics (there will be a charge), is that there is no existing proven technology to lift and move 3,000 tons a vertical distance of 113 meters. Finally, we visited the Exhibition House, resplendent with lots of photographs and some very helpful models of both this mammoth construction and land maps of China showing the full run of the Yangtze and related arable land. We also learned of projects that would remedy the endangerment of sturgeon and dolphin in the Yangtze.

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Leaving the site in great awe, we marveled at what has already been accomplished. Water level has already been raised from 75 meters to 145 meters. To accommodate the displacement of many more people, the project will continue in two steps: to 156 meters and then to the final 175 meters above sea level. It’s not clear how many of the 1.3 million affected people have already been displaced. Of the $20+ billion cost estimate (in 1994 dollars, and not updated since then), 60% is for dam construction and 40% for people relocation. As we returned to our ship, we saw the Yiling Temple and discussed the Chinese view of the Fa Lun Gong cult—and it was only 10:15 a.m.! In the meantime, Judith decided to see the doctor again for what she thought was an antibiotic shot to address her continuing illness. Instead of an injection, she got a three-hour+ intravenous “cocktail” of heaven knows what, which did finally “do the trick”.

We managed to pack our growing pile of acquisitions and were ready to leave the East Queen before 1 p.m. On our way to the airport, we drove through the city of Yichang and stopped at its museum. Compared to what new construction we had seen in other cities in China, there is little going on in this “seedy” little city of 1.3 million population. While there are records of Yichang dating back 2,400 years, there is evidence of civilization for more than 6,000 years. The city has been plagued with fires as far back as 2,400 years and as recently as WWII when Japan occupied the city. The oldest standing building in Yichang is a Catholic church, (one of the few we saw or even heard of) built in 1890! Near Yichang is Zhongbao Island, which eventually will be completely submerged by the rising Yangtze. Many of the 5,000 or so archeological relics (some dating from the Stone Age) from this island have been recovered and are displayed in the museum we visited. The museum building was spartan and poorly lit. However, the relics were very much worth seeing. In fact, one bronze dui (food receptacle) was stolen in June 1999 and showed up at Christy’s auction house priced at $80,000. The villain was caught and sentenced to death. The museum has a wonderful shop of reproductions and stones, and we felt compelled to buy a bronze vase with a phoenix design (a reproduction from the Xia dynasty, roughly 2,000 years ago). Continuing our trip to the airport, we passed a snake farm (Chinese consider snakes a delicacy and extract some medicines from them) and talked about China’s definition of human rights, as opposed to ours in the U.S. China’s, as enunciated when Clinton visited Tiananmen Square in 1998, is based on what’s right for the nation (e.g., each child is entitled to a good education, medical care, food, etc.), while the American view of civil rights centers on the rights of the individual.

Our flight to Shanghai took a little more than 90 minutes. The Four Seasons Hotel on Weihai Road is elegant, as was our suite. For weary travelers, it was time to completely unpack, consolidate acquisitions and send out laundry. Judith wisely opted to rest and eat porridge in our room and go to bed early. Room service provided her with the usual peach colored rose, a silver bowl with porridge, tea and wheat toast, which the waiter toasted in the room with a toaster brought along for the purpose! I joined four others for dinner at the chi-chi T8 restaurant located nearby in an equally chi-chi shopping gallery. We were later joined by an Asian director from JPMorganChase (friend of Edgar Masinter’s and headquartered in Hong Kong) who added a local business dimension to our conversation. I took a taxi back to the hotel, while the others wandered back, working off dinner and sightseeing as they went. Judith was asleep.

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MAY 31 – A WORKING DAY IN SHANGHAI I was besieged with a rash of phone calls from Roger Liu, an organizer for the Shanghai International Charity Forum, when I arrived the night before. I refused to have a briefing that night, but did agree to meet him for breakfast at the Four Seasons. It seems that the Forum’s schedule had been completely changed, and I was to speak once on May 31 and once again on June 1. Worse yet, it was imperative that I sit on the dais and be introduced as part of the Opening Ceremony. So much for my S.I. plans to meet Tess Johnston, who is, without question the leading western expert on the city of Shanghai, as well as noted author and lecturer. The big fuss was that the very popular Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng, was to address our group. This is significant because this particular mayoral position is a member of the Political Bureau, and the two most recent Chinese premiers have been former mayors of Shanghai.

As it turned out, the Deputy Mayor substituted for Mr. Zheng, who was tied up with Jim Wolfensohn (small world!). After the Opening Ceremony (four short talks) and lots of photos, our host, the Shanghai Charity Foundation, celebrating its tenth anniversary, introduced the Forum’s theme “Charity: Love and Harmony.” I quietly exited after several more presentations to return to the Four Seasons to revise my talks and send faxes to my office. The Chairperson for the afternoon session was Chair of Social Policy Committee, Duma of Moscow, member of Moscow Charity Council and President of “Peoples’ Aiding Center” of Russia. Even with simultaneous interpretation, she wasn’t easy to follow.

CHARLIE IN CHINESE

I followed a presentation on “Social Responsibility and the Media” in Mexico. My talk was (appropriately) entitled, “Corporate Philanthropy in the United States.” Again, I quietly retreated to catch up with Judith who took me on a tour (her second) through the Shanghai Museum, which possesses a collection of 120,000 precious works of art in 21 categories. Its collection of ancient Chinese bronzes, ceramics, paintings and calligraphy is renowned. The total cost of the new (1996) building exceeded $70 million, 85% provided by the government and 15% from gifts from home and abroad. With limited time before closing, we raced through Chinese Minority Nationalities Art, Chinese Jade, Ming and Qing furniture, and the “Art of Cartier”, with a quick stop to see Chinese painting so I could experience the amazing indirect case lighting that intensifies gradually as you’re standing right in front of a work on paper, and dims as you leave. It’s a design from NYC, but even the Met doesn’t have it. My favorite exhibition area was the jade, with incredible display cases of material dating back as far as 5000 B.C. and ranging from ritualistic to ornamental in purpose. Truly great. Also truly great are the grounds surrounding this beautiful museum, set on the site of the old race track and circled by office buildings of exciting modern architecture.

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I returned “to work” at 6:30 p.m., when I joined Forum dignitaries at the head table, and most of the other 300 participants at the famous Peace Hotel. After that, I raced to the Shanghai Center Theatre to catch the end of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe with Judith and my Smithsonian friends. By coincidence, the International Charity Forum had taken their participants to the same show the night before. It was very entertaining; I didn’t even fall asleep. JUNE 1 – LAST FULL DAY IN SHANGHAI After breakfast on the executive floor of the Four Seasons, I was off to work. My panel of six was entitled “Charity and Enterprise” and lasted from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon. This proved to be an excellent, interactive session, all of which was simultaneously translated. There were at least four Chinese CEOs at a roundtable of 20 (with 10 or more seated behind). I made friends with the Chairman of the Shanghai Bank and will follow up with him. There were also representatives from J. A. International and Save Our Children.

After that, I was anxious to join my S.I. group for lunch at Club 7 and a French Concession walking tour with Tess Johnston. Our luncheon venue was the Joseph House built in the 1920’s by the prominent Sephardic Jewish couple, Hannah and Ray Joseph. Later, it was home to members of the Italian mafia. The tour of the French Concession that followed proved to be “what used to be here and what you don’t see…...” Tess Johnston, a former US diplomat who speaks Chinese with a Virginia accent, is a preservationist whose field is colonial architecture. She is often referred to as the “Southern Belle of Old Shanghai” and is leery of any change, of which there has been much. As we bussed and walked in a zigzag fashion through the French Concession, we passed a former dog track and jai alai fronton, the Jesuit area (Sisters of Mercy), the H. E. Morris’ Mansion (founder of the North China Daily News, the largest English newspaper in Asia), and spotted architecture in a variety of styles: Art Deco, Tudor, French Country, and Spanish Colonial. We visited the Old China Hand Reading Room, a charming “book shop” which, amazingly, sells Tess’ books! We purchased four, and had them autographed - naturally. We stopped at Shanghai’s Arts and Crafts Museum, a mansion built in the early 1900s and the former office of the U.N. World Health Organization. We drove by French and U.S. Consulates and checked out the Song Mansion. Mr. Song had three beautiful daughters: one was passionate about money, the second one loved her country (this one became a devout Communist) and the third one was passionate about power. This sister became Madam Chiang Kai-shek.

While real estate prices have soared in Shanghai, they’re still attractive to the wealthy of Hong Kong and Singapore, who buy homes for a get-away or on spec. Often the first floors of formerly attractive Colonial buildings have been converted to retail uses. Many of these lovely old homes are now occupied by 20 to 30 people. Chinese don’t believe in clothes dryers, so laundry hangs from nearly every veranda and porch so the sun can “purify” the clothes. Notwithstanding all of Tess’ descriptions of “the old days”, my favorite sights were the wonderful plane trees that arched over most of the streets in the French section and an exquisite split bamboo fence. We returned to the Four Seasons along the Bund, the old financial district on the Shanghai side of the Huangpu River, which includes the Shanghai Bank, Peace Hotel and University Club. On the other side of the bustling river is Pudong, all built since 1993. There is a very conspicuous TV tower (with six hotel rooms on each “bulb”!), an 88 story skyscraper, and all kinds of headquarter offices for insurance, technology and banking. Despite the brilliance of some of the architecture, both old and new, you still see the worst mess of telephone and electric distribution lines. Motorbikes are very popular and there are nearly as many of them as bicycles. Traffic is chaotic!

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While I worked on this last day in China, Judith, Mary Ourisman, Sandra Small and Joseph Chang toured a charming little town called Khujiajiao, about an hour away from Shanghai. They all came back enthusiastically declaring it was the best place they’d been in China. The town is built on a series of canals and is unspoiled by tourism. It provides a living example of China as it used to be with cobbled streets, romantic winding canals crisscrossed with lovely bridges and a bustling market place. One bridge was built by a Buddhist monk whose mother had died while trying to cross the river just before he was born. An elderly monk saved the baby and out of gratitude, when that baby grew to be a man, he built a stone bridge high enough for boats to pass under and gradual enough that bicycles can be wheeled over. There would never be a reason again for anyone to die trying to cross that river.

No one in Zhujiajiao pesters you to buy, buy, and buy. They are all helpful and warm when

you show an interest but don’t act as though it is a matter of life and death if you decide not to purchase anything. There is a charming little museum in the heart of the market area, which tells the story of rice – its growing, marketing, processing and sale. The ladies reported that this town was not to be missed on the next trip. Before changing for our farewell dinner, Judith and I went shopping for another suitcase to lug our “loot.” We ended up with a Louis Vuitton knock-off, and it took lots of negotiating to get one both large and cheap enough. We dined at “M On The Bund” looking out at the lights of Shanghai and across the river to Pudong. Dinner was delicious blessedly sans chopsticks and the view was incomparable! JUNE 2 – SOUTHWEST TO CAMBODIA It required an early rising to get our luggage set out by 5:30 a.m. On the way to the Pudong International Airport, we passed the economic zone created by the government as an experiment for foreigners with special trading privileges in the 1980’s. The government established another one for Chinese companies in 1990, which has been very successful despite the fact they had to relocate one million people. There are a zillion new apartment buildings, all very attractive, lining the highway, along with a continuous bank of oleander trees. We crossed several great bridges and were told that both the arch and suspension bridges were invented in China. Their mag-lev train, running to the airport, is impressive; it goes 450 km per hour (280 mph). The Pudong airport is huge and very futuristic, but somewhat quiet at 7a.m. There was a “Pennsylvania Dutch” sounding sign posted over an elevator in a corridor leading to the restrooms in our concourse: “The Lift Leads Don’t To The Toilets.”

We flew first to Guangzhou on Shanghai Air, and then on to Phnom Penh on China Southern, each flight taking a little over two hours. The Phnom Penh airport is new and impressive, but the temperature was 90º+F and the humidity was about the same. Still, we had not traveled far from the airfield before we realized that Cambodia was different. The pace was different; the people were different. As it turned out, we had come to an oasis—and we liked it! Two million people live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s largest city. Phnom Penh is favorably located at the beginning of the vast delta of the Mekong, providing waterways to the ports of southern Vietnam and south Cambodia.

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The total population of the Kingdom of Cambodia is 12 million. The Communists still say “Kampuchea,’ instead of Cambodia. The state religion is Buddhism, practiced by 90% of the population. However, Cambodia’s form of Buddhism also embraces Animism (the spirit of the land and water) and Hinduism. A Buddhist temple is called a “wat.” There remains a strong French influence; in fact, only recently did English (as the global “business” language) replace French as Cambodia’s second language. As we bussed into town, we saw lots of evidence of manufacturing, principally textile and garment work. The United States has given Cambodia a Most Favored Nation (MFN) status in permitting the importation (to the U.S.) of 250 different items without tax. In our drive to the hotel, we were caught in a shift change (3 p.m.), and the streets were flooded with people. There are more motorbikes than there are cars. The import tax on new cars is 120%, so nearly all cars are brought in as used. The public health record is poor; life expectancy is 54 years for men and 56 for women. The current population is 56% female, principally because of heavy losses of the male population and the atrocities during the Khmer Rouge period from 1975-79. One highlight of our drive was the variety of trees lining the road: frangipani, the flaming orange tree (we call it flamboyant), bougainvillea and Indian purple trees. Raffles Hotel Royal, built in 1929 (a vintage year for many reasons!) and a masterpiece of French Colonial architecture, is truly of the “old world”. It was completely restored in the ‘90s and is as charming as it is elegant. It’s the kind of place that prompts you to immediately relax. And we were only staying one night! From our room’s balcony, we looked across to the National University. There are two swimming pools at this hotel and we didn’t have time for either one!

We unpacked only enough to stay one night and then were off to The Royal Palace. On the way, we passed the new U.S. Embassy presently being constructed on a choice site (costing $4 million in real estate alone). The uninteresting construction fence around the embassy has been painted with murals by students at the Reyum Institute of Arts and Culture on the theme of “images on democracy.”

TYPICAL CAMBODIAN ROOFLINE

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The Palace is like a “fairyland” facing the confluence of the four rivers of Phnom Penh: Upper and Lower Mekong, the Tonle Sap and the Bassoc. We began our tour of the Palace in the Throne Hall (without shoes) where the major ceremonies are held. The current ruler, H. M. King Norodom Sihanouk has the distinction of celebrating two coronations: in 1941 at age 14, after which he abdicated to his father, and in 1993, when he returned following the signing of the peace treaty. Today he’s 81 years old and has been spending his time in Beijing being treated for prostate cancer. The Royal Palace was built in the mid-19th century on the site of the original citadel, Banteay Kev, and is the official residence of the king. It was modeled on the glittering Grand Palace in Bangkok, which we would later visit. The chandeliers are from France; the 30 X 8 meter carpet from China. The walls are lined with cases displaying gold and silver objects. The highlight of the palace is the Silver Pagoda (built in 1892), so named for the flooring, which contains more than 5,000 silver tiles. The pagoda is also called the Wat Preah Keo Morokat (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and is the focal point of devotion for Theravada Buddhists* in Cambodia. The staircase leading up to the pagoda is made of Italian marble. Inside, the Emerald Buddha (carved from jade) is seated on a high dais, while directly in front stands a life-sized image of the Buddha formed of solid gold and encrusted with diamonds. On the Palace grounds, there are lots of images of Garuda and Vishnu, the Naga (5-headed serpent), and a beautifully painted wall depicting the Hindu epic of Ramayasa. We saw a small gray horse, a gift from Napoleon III, given to honor the opening of the Suez Canal, and a marble Buddha from Burma. The gardens throughout the Palace grounds are breathtaking. “Traveler” palms, so called because they grow in accordance with the points of the compass, dot the landscape. On our return to the hotel, we went through a very attractive French Colonial-style neighborhood, past the Art Deco Central Market and spotted monkeys playing in the park. That night, we were invited to the home of Prince Norodom Sirivudh, half-brother of King Sihanouk. The U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, Charles Ray, his wife and the DCM, Mark Storallo and his wife, joined the festivities. The Prince could not have been more gracious. He’s nuts about jazz and plays the piano and guitar, both very well. We were “royally” entertained by a young girl and her grandmother who is teaching the child the intricate art of classical Cambodian dance. This traditional form of dance was nearly lost as a result of the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge and is slowly being revitalized. A traditional drummer entered the stage and a young Cambodia man with a beautiful tenor voice sang Neopolitan love songs to us in Italian. The Prince accompanied several of the group, including Ambassador Ray, who sings a very mellow baritone. Oh yes, the food was fabulous, especially the desserts and exotic (to us) array of fruit. They included fresh lychee, longan, mongosteen, and rambutan among others I couldn’t identify. What a way to celebrate a Buddhist holiday in recognition of the full moon! The evening was also significant politically, as the Prince kept getting called to the phone by members of his Royalist Party who were negotiating an agreement with the Communist Party to establish a coalition government. Cambodia hasn’t had a functioning government since last summer when elections produced a deadlock. The next day’s newspaper indicated that those negotiations had achieved the desired results. *It is the practice of Theravada Buddhists (a community-centered religion) for all men to become a monk for at least one year before marriage (even King Norodom Sihanouk was a monk for a year); women “participate” by weaving robes for their son as they enter this devotional time.

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JUNE 3 – FAREWELL PHNOM PENH We had to have our bags out at the reasonable hour of 7:45 a.m. which allowed us time for a delightful breakfast in Café Monivong and a quick and successful assault on the hotel’s attractive gift shop. In my mind, success is achieved when we buy more gifts than books! We were off for a morning of museums and NGOs (non-governmental organizations). On our way to the National Museum, we passed by the Central Market, which sells everything to everybody. I was particularly impressed with the plant and flower offerings. At this early hour, there were already lines of trucks, with 20 passengers or more per vehicle, ready to return to the country. People had come to the city to visit family and/or to do their shopping. There is much talk about building a new market that will have air conditioning and elevators. It sounds pretty dull compared to the bee-hive of activity evident in this unusually shaped historic market building. We turned on to Preah Norodom Boulevard, the main street, and passed the Fine Arts School and the home of the richest man in town, who happens to be Vietnamese.

The National Museum of Cambodia is a gem. Founded in 1917, it was forced to close its doors in 1979 on account of looting during the Pol Pot regime, and didn’t reopen until 1993. The first big challenge was ridding the museum of bats! In front of the museum is Mekong Square, which is reserved for celebrating royal events, like “royal plowing” which recognizes the beginning of the rainy season from May to October. The museum is organized chronologically and often by type of material (e.g. bronze, stone, wood, ceramic, etc.). Much of the collection has come from temples where, until the 13th century, Hindu and Buddhist cultures co-existed. We started with a room full of bronzes; then, moved on to sandstone sculptures of the pre-Angkorian period. One of the most beautiful, and haunting sculptures was “Durga” (“earth goddess”) or, as many refer to her, the “Cambodian Venus”. The head and arms of this Venus are missing, and two pieces of her body were found fifty years apart. What a great reunion! On another stone sculpture we noticed what scholars call “beauty folds.” Women in America today would call them layers of abdominal fat or “love handles”! We saw many representations of Ganesh, the elephant-shaped god of knowledge and prosperity. In another room, we saw the museum’s collection of schist sculptures, a rare and very hard-to-carve stone. There were some larger-than-life images, which are impressive when you realize that they were carved from a single stone. We saw a sculpture of two thin monkeys (they looked like men to me) locked in mortal combat because one had stolen the other’s wife. There was also some very beautiful pink sandstone.

Some of the most impressive stone carvings were the original pediments from Angkor Wat. It was pointed out that having them here in the museum allowed us to more easily study them than we could have in their former location atop the actual temple. There were a number of Buddhas commissioned by King Jayavarman VII, the “power broker” of Angkor Wat. Judith was attracted to the many sepia toned photographs of sculptures and temples by John McDermott.

Changing media, we visited rooms of rattan wood carvings, including chairs and a huge boat

cabin so large no one could possibly have moved it. On to ceramic vases and Khmer pots, one the shape of an elephant that was actually used to pour tea. Toward the end of our tour, we were amazed at the fragment of a bronze head that is reported to have once crowned a 6 meter tall sculpture. There was also a very lovely 19th century wooden image worshipping a Buddha.

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By now, we had completely encircled the square inner courtyard, an idyllic space complete with four lotus ponds and a central Buddha. Under this monument was inscribed:

“If you want a good rebirth, you must liberate from the delusions.” We sat under a porch overlooking the gardens to discuss conservation while enjoying tea and fruit. Despite the fact that the museum is essentially open to the air with all extremes of temperature and humidity, the environment is at least stable, so up until now, the museum’s conservators haven’t been too concerned for the condition of the objects. A team of French conservators are working on the stone sculptures and the Smithsonian’s Freer/Sackler Gallery has just entered into a three-year agreement to do the same with the bronzes. A Freer conservator, Paul Jett, joined us at the museum to explain this collaboration. Later, we visited the stone conservation workshop housed in the basement and were told that most of the paintings in the collection were also stored in that basement! The National Museum, in addition to tackling its own gargantuan challenges, also advises the provincial museums, many of which are simply closed for lack of funds. The National Museum attracts 47,000 national visitors and 44,000 foreigners each year. The government funds staffing and utilities; their modest gift shop and fundraising effort has to cover the rest. They get some internal support from UNESCO, but most outside help comes from Friends of Khmer Culture. Our next stop was the Sobbhana Boutique, a shop established in 1993, which provides an outlet for fine silk, silver work and other high quality handcrafts made by local women. The Sobbhana Foundation was founded in 1985 by H.R.H. Norodom Marie Ranariddh and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for Cambodian women and children. Sobbhana has been active in assisting refugee families, advocating for women’s and children’s rights, providing skill training and supporting rural health care and education. The statistics they presented to us are scary:

§ The average Cambodian woman gets less than two years of schooling § 80% of Cambodian women are illiterate § 40% of Cambodian students in lower school are female; that number drops to 20% in

secondary school § 18% of the 10 to 14 year old female population is already working

We happily purchased some very beautiful silk items.

Next on our NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) list was the Reyum Institute of Arts

and Culture, created for research and for the preservation and promotion of Cambodian arts and culture. This is a store-front museum and work shop supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and Toyota. They’re doing research on Cambodian ornaments, Wat wall paintings and bamboo tools. The hit for our group was the children’s art projects. The director and many of the workers joined us for a tapas lunch at Friends, the Restaurant. Founded by a Frenchman, Sebastian, more than ten years ago, this NGO focuses on helping street children and their families. After a rigorous training period, these children prepare and serve the very fresh and delicious food. More than twelve inter-linked programs exist to provide training and support for street children.

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We had left behind the Chinese and Phnom Penh’s shiny, modernistic airports. Now we’re into tiny, crowded and outdated. The flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap took less than 45 minutes and flew us directly over a 100 mile long lake called Tonle Sap, (Khmer for “Great Lake”). The Tonle Sap River flows north into the lake in the spring and south to the sea in the fall. The lake itself expands in total area as much as four times in the rainy season. When the water recedes, small, over populated pools are left behind, making fishing a very easy task.

Founded in the 16th century, “modern day” Siem Reap has a population of 300,000; 800,000 people live in the entire province. Route 6, our road to town, is literally lined with hotels and motels, including many more in varying stages of construction. The area is almost totally dependent

on tourism, with some agriculture and fishing. We were intrigued with a number of white nets stretched over parts of lawns and fields. It turns out they are traps for crickets which are attracted to artificial light at night, and then drown in water containers hung below the nets. They are shipped to Thailand where they are considered a high protein delicacy.

The Grand Hotel d’Angkor

(also a Raffles Hotel) was built in 1933 by the same French architect that designed the Raffles Hotel in Phnom Penh we had just visited. We were warmly greeted with silk scarves called kromas and a cold fruit drink. The Otis elevator (capacity of 3, including operator) is as old as I am.

CHARLIE WEARING A KROMA IN HISTORIC ELEVATOR WITH ATTENDANT

I took a swim in the most marvelous pool and signed up for a massage the following day. After a group briefing session, Judith and I had a candlelight dinner alone, enhanced by a 2002 Pinotage red from South Africa.

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TIME OUT

The history of Cambodia, and especially Angkor, is complex. I don’t pretend to understand it well, but here’s my rough outline, particularly as it relates to Angkor Wat:

§ Modern-day Cambodia is bordered by the Gulf of Thailand, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. The Khmer Empire was much larger, extending from parts of Thailand (then called Siam), and the shores of the Bay of Bengal in the west to Champa (central Vietnam) in the east. It was “a map in motion.”

§ The name Angkor is a variant of the Sanskrit term nagara, the “capital city.” The monuments of Angkor were built mainly between the 9th and 14th centuries and represent one of the most impressive examples of collective human energy and creativity in existence. A succession of Khmer kings, ruling from the center of power in Angkor, utilized the great wealth and vast labor force of their kingdoms to undertake the construction of public works, including roads and reservoirs, and magnificent temple structures dedicated to ancestors and tutelary deities. These endeavors were intended to symbolize their power and divine right to rule.

§ A temple-mountain stood at the center of each of the successive capitals established by the Khmer kings and their followers. Angkor Thom, the most magnificent of these urban complexes, was built in the late 12th to early 13th century by the greatest, and most ambitious, of the Khmer rulers, King Jayavarman VII (c.1181-1220).

§ Angkor Wat, is one of the largest religious monuments ever built. It is dedicated to the Hindu god, Vishnu. More than 1,000 monuments have been cataloged across the expanse of the Khmer realm, with more than 200 concentrated in and around Angkor, now known as the modern town of Siem Reap. At its peak, the population of Angkor (the largest city in Southeast Asia if not the world as it was then) approached one million people.

§ After the decline of Angkor in the 15th century, the Khmer moved their capital south of the Tonle Sap to, what is now, Phnom Penh. This move was likely precipitated by the distraction of building so many monuments to themselves and their gods, not to mention the expense. Prolonged strife with neighboring states, (the Thais in Siam and the Cham in Champa) also drained the Khmer kings’ resources. This move to Phnom Penh took place over 400 years (1433 to 1860) and occupied two or three interim venues along the way. In 1863, France established Cambodia as a protectorate. Independence was granted in 1953, after France had recovered much land for Cambodia, including Angkor.

§ French archeologists “rediscovered” Angkor in the mid-19th century; conservation began in 1907.

§ From 1970-75, civil war erupted between the Khmer and the military. § In 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized power and the “holocaust” followed; all

conservation at Angkor stopped in 1972. § In 1979, Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, was ousted by the Vietnamese. With

the help of the U.N., the “puppet party” was replaced by the Cambodian Peoples and Royalist Parties. Overall, Cambodia endured this “civil war” for thirty years and lost a significant part of a generation of its population, particularly the male portion.

§ In 1991, a peace treaty was signed and in 1992, UNESCO designated the Angkor temples as an official World Heritage site.

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(CAVEAT) I’m sure there are some inaccuracies in the above, but before going into Angkor Temple descriptions (not to mention current day Cambodian politics), I needed to establish some sort of framework for eleven hundred years or so of history. At least, it was all A.D., although archeologists have traced human life in the area back to 3000 B.C.

JUNE 4 – ANGKOR AWEIGH! This was the day Judith and I had been waiting for. A large part of our decision to come on this trip centered on the opportunity to visit Cambodia, a country neither of us had ever been to, but one to which we felt connected because of our involvement with the Cambodian refugees in Greenwich. On the way to Angkor Wat, clearly the centerpiece of any visit to Angkor, we passed a children’s hospital founded by a Swiss doctor who raises money for his project by playing the cello in concert. The sign in front announced, somewhat startlingly, an epidemic of dengue fever and malaria! (Some of our group munched on malaria pills – we had decided not to.)

A huge moat surrounds Angkor Wat providing a peaceful reflection to the magnificence of the temple complex, itself. Most tourists enter through the broad, much photographed west gate. Thanks to Bill, we came in - at the crack of dawn - through the east gate; a much narrower, less prepossessing entrance, but one we had all to ourselves and which beautifully reflected the watery early morning light. Angkor Wat’s grandeur was thus gradually revealed instead of our being confronted with it all at once.

Angkor Wat was built as a Hindu temple in

1180 and converted to Buddhist usage in the 16th century. This complex is different from other Angkorian temples. It was created primarily as a funerary monument, and so its design conforms to Hindu funerary practice. The temple is built in layers on a series of terraces that ascend from gallery to courtyard to steps to sanctuary. The bas-relief narrative panels on the first level show hundreds of repeated figures of devatas (female divinities) and apsaras (heavenly nymphs). These exquisite bas-reliefs are to be viewed by moving counter-clockwise around exterior walls of the monument. The second level bas-reliefs depict scenes from Hindu legends, including the Ramayana and The Churning of the Sea Milk (in which the elixir of life is drawn from the ocean). One series of panels represents 36 scenes from heaven and only 32 from hell (that was comforting). Other stories record historical events and military conquests. It’s important to understand that these reliefs were carved in situ. One team of stone workers would roughly sketch in the scenes, while, later, master craftsmen finished and polished the details.

EARLY MORNING AT ANGKOR WAT

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The third, and

highest level of the temple complex at Angkor Wat, supports the central tower, which soars 700 feet and is surrounded by four smaller conical towers, one at each corner. The third level is known as the home of “1,000 Buddhas” and has four symmetrical pools. Construction materials include sandstone on a base of laterite (high iron-content clay which hardens when it oxidizes). One wall collapsed in 1947 and is being restored by the French.

“CLASSICAL” ELEMENTS OF ANGKORIAN DESIGN There have been, and continue to be, many restorations because of the instability of the sandy soil. German scientists are measuring the deviation of this movement by inserting glass between stones. If the glass breaks, the archeologists know they have a shifting problem. Stable or not, the splendor and complexity of this powerful and majestic Khmer monument, is impossible to describe. Hopefully, our digital and film cameras will help to register our awe when actually in the presence of these magnificent architectural achievements. We left from the west gate, which faces the setting sun, the symbol of the end of man’s earthly life. This was always the main entrance, in keeping with Hindu funerary ritual. Can it get any better than this?

WE RETURN IN THE AFTERNOON LIGHT FOR A PHOTOGRAPH

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We next approached the south gate of Angkor Thom, but not before two of our group took a run at this temple-mountain astride an elephant. Talk about Kodak moments! Angkor Thom was built in the late 12th - early 13th century by King Jayavarman VII. It is entered through one of five monumental gateways. Surrounded by a high wall and a wide moat, Angkor Thom was the center of a metropolis that was larger than any other city in the world at the time. Spanning the moat is a bridge, with fierce figures representing evil on one side and benign figures representing good on the other. Each “team” is engaged in a tug of war with a snake (Naga). Musing on this eternal and unresolved struggle, we left and returned to the hotel for lunch, with a short stop at a small, early brick temple. Highlights were the brick and stone lintel carvings. The French undertook restoration as early as 1960.

On our way back to The Grand

d’Angkor, we talked about the ambitious King Jayavarman VII who reigned for nearly forty years (1181-1220). J VII’s focus on prolific building programs eventually compromised the quality of his temples, especially the ornamental sculptures and carvings. It’s likely that by over-extending his resources, J VII directly contributed to his kingdom’s decline. In addition to the temples J VII built in homage to his deceased parents and deities, to his credit, he built more than 100 hospitals. Jayavarman VII was a Buddhist, but by the 13th century, there was a swing back toward Hinduism—resulting in a concerted effort to remove all images of the Buddha from public sight. One of our guides estimated that over 30,000 images of the Buddha were chiseled out of existing monuments. To recover from our stimulating morning (and the heat), Judith and I both had relaxing massages and a cool lunch. Then, we were ready for more temples a’la Khmer.

A TEMPLE FIGURE

Our first stop was at the Angkor International Documentation Center, one component of the

Authority for the Promotion and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA), which is in charge of research, and the protection and conservation of Angkorian cultural heritage. At this stop, we witnessed how these young scientists catalog each and every stone in a given temple, a huge undertaking. At the second stop, part of the Department of Monuments and Archeology, we observed their focus on documentation of current infrastructure and resources and on ceramics of the Khmer area and period, specifically the ancient kilns. They’re creating a lot of data, but it’s not clear how much information will come out of this work. Still, there is important work in training young Cambodian scientists and conservators to care for their heritage.

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Later in the afternoon, and with light made to order for photography, we arrived again at Angkor Thom. We passed through the South Gate, which we had visited that morning, and moved on into the city. We began with Bayon, a magnificent temple with 4 gently smiling faces portrayed on each of its 72 towers (by my computation, that’s 288 smiles).

ONE OF “288” IN THE AFTERNOON LIGHT Constructed during the reign of King Jayavarman VII, this temple complex marks the geo-

physical center of Angkor Thom. There has been some debate about the four giant faces ornamenting the temple’s towers, as some believe the shrine was dedicated to the Hindu gods, Shiva and Vishnu. However, excavations in 1933 confirmed that the image in the main sanctuary was the Buddha protected by a serpent (Naga). The four-fold faces depicted on the tower are not the Buddha, however, but rather the compassionate bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara, (the deity of mercy that is venerated in China and wherever Buddhism is practiced in East and Southeast Asia). Of all the meanings of this temple, the most readily understood is that of casting a benign aura over the four compass points of the Angkorian empire, as the faces of the tower look out on all four directions. Most also agree that Bayon is one of the finest examples of classical Khmer architecture. Bayon is the last of the great temple-mountains constructed in the Angkor region, and sadly, was never completely finished. The bas-reliefs are exceptional: animals (including a deer nursing), acrobats entertaining, Sumo wrestlers, wine drinking, etc.—it’s all about daily life in 12th century Angkor. I was also reminded that we had seen a magnificent head of Jayavarman VII at the National Museum in Phnom Penh.

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The Royal Palace Elephant Terrace was the next stop in the golden light of early evening full of slanting shadows and bird sounds. Facing the square of the ancient city of Angkor Thom, in front of the royal palace, the terrace is beautifully decorated with elephants—almost life-size—carved in profile and was probably the site for royal appearances. Beyond this terrace and the terrace of the Leper King (some speculate the leper King was Jayavarman VII, because of all the hospitals he built), are the tranquil palace grounds. The wooden buildings with glass ceramic tiles have vanished, as has the small temple-mountain called the Phimeanakas, built by Suryavarman I (1002-1050), which functioned as a chapel. Parakeets serenaded us from the heavy forest canopy. Returning to the hotel, we freshened up in time for dinner at Amansara, a tranquil (and expensive) hotel in what was a royal guest villa. Although this spot was just across the street from our Grand Hotel, Judith and I flagged down a “rickshaw” and had a brief tour of the town for $5 (Bill suggested the driver would have taken us all the way back to Phnom Penh for that fee!). We capped off our extravagance with champagne at the hotel’s piano bar, where they played, “Moore.” JUNE 5 – TO THE COUNTRY Following another Café D’Angkor breakfast, we were joined by Darryl Collins, an Australian art historian who has lived and worked in Cambodia for over a decade. Our destination was the celebrated and beautiful complex of Banteay Srei, among the earliest of all the Angkorian temple structures (967A.D.).

BANTEAY SREI – THE “CITADEL OF WOMEN” We started early (7 a.m.) as it’s an hour’s drive through the country even on a newly paved

road; it would have taken twice that time only a few years ago. It was a beautiful drive. Many of the homes we passed are built on concrete stilts to thwart flood waters. The stilts, either concrete or

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wooden, are planted in concrete pads to foil termites. They can eat an entire house, stilts and all in one year’s time, and lurk nearby in their termite mounds just waiting for the spot where an unsuspecting wooden stilt meets the earth. The open space underneath the house provides for air circulation and makes space for a hammock and an ox cart. The design of the ox carts, capable of being pulled by both water buffalo and oxen, hasn’t changed in more than 1,000 years. They give the farmland a sense of historic solidity in addition to the fact that they are perfectly suited for the jobs they do. We passed extensive rice paddies and watermelon patches. The Cambodians grow their rice both short-term (takes three months) and long-term (six months). The former is seeded; the latter involves transplanting seedlings and is the preferred method for the best taste.

One of the most prosperous villages, Pra Bak, is supported by a reservoir, built in 980 A.D.

Sugar palm trees are very valuable and can yield over 100 pounds of sugar a year per tree. We could see the villagers’ ladders affixed to the palms. The sugar is retrieved by scampering up these “ladders” and harvesting the blossom, which then drips syrup through a bamboo reed into a bamboo container. After hours of boiling, this syrup solidifies into sugar. As we learned about sugar production, we were serenaded by a particular bird; identified by our guide as a “drongo.”

The highway passed through fields once dotted with land mines. Always dangerous even to this day, not long ago, one needed to hire an escort for protection from both the mines and/or desperados. Banteay Srei (“the citadel of women”) is built of pink, red and yellow sandstone and is one of the few temples not endowed by royalty. Instead, it was commissioned by Yajnavaraha, a Brahmin priest, himself a key figure at court who was guru to Jayavarman V. Banteay Srei is built of laterite for the most part while the roofs are made of brick. The laterite walls are full of tiny holes, suggesting that worms may have gotten to the clay before oxidation could take place. Banteay Srei’s charm is derived from its small scale, and the extraordinarily fine state of preservation. The use of fine-grained reddish sandstone allowed the artisans to carve the figures in high relief (almost 3-D). Fine decorative figures adorn all the surfaces of the structure, including a lovely background of carved foliage. The bas-relief panels draw on scenes from the Hindu epic, Ramayana. The French first discovered the temple in 1914, but no cleaning or restoration was attempted until 1924. George Malraux’s infamous removal of valuable carvings and statuary from the temple, spurred the French archeological team to protect this exquisite structure; Malraux was arrested and imprisoned in Phnom Penh. Banteay Srei is the first temple at Angkor to be completely restored using the method of anastylosis (using original materials to rebuild).

“KING’S MONASTERY”

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Just warming up, we next visited Ta Prohm, located within Angkor Thom and built in 1186

in honor of his mother by - you guessed it - Jayavarman VII. Ta Prohm was built as a Mahayana Buddhist sanctuary, dedicated to the bodhisattva of wisdom, Prajnaparamita. The temple’s low, expansive plan reflects the impact of Buddhist monastic architecture and contrasts with the towering verticality of the temple-mountains. Notwithstanding the style and symbolism, this is everyone’s favorite temple because of the forest’s encroachment. What photo opportunities! None of the guides can agree on the popular name of the trees that literally grow out of the stones: kapoc, ficus, whatever. The native name is “spong,” and it’s a soft wood, loses leaves in the summer, and grows very fast. The stone at Ta Prohm is a green color, which intensifies in the summer, because of lichen and moss. The place was swarming with camera toting Japanese tourists. We were full of excitement but out of film, so we returned to the hotel for lunch. I managed another massage, and Judith got a foot massage. This is really tough duty! After lunch, we visited the Institute for Khmer Traditional Textiles, a private organization that has worked to revive and conserve the rich legacy of Khmer silk textiles. We met with the founder, Morimoto Kikuo, who led us through his shop, employing over 300 Khmer men and women. We watched the entire process of spinning, dyeing (with natural dyes) and hand-weaving traditional designs and colors into garments, wall hangings, table covers, etc. Fascinating! Of course we patronized the shop.

THE WORKPLACE

We then returned to Angkor to visit Preah Khan, a 12th century complex also built by Jayavarman VII (after defeating the Chan in a “sea of blood”) and dedicated to his father. It is one of the largest temples in Angkor and since 1985, has been the focus of intensive conservation (not restoration) by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Here, we were ably led by Andrew Dennis of WMF, who also happens to be a passionate birder. Whenever we heard a bird call, as so often happens as the sun starts to fade, Andrew cocked his head and said, “Oh, that’s a ____________.” Andrew told us that he has personally identified 200 species of birds in the immediate area.

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WMF, headquartered in New York, has two goals for Preah Khan: sustainability and training the Cambodian peoples in the art of conservation. WMF’s annual budget for the maintenance of this site is $150,000, now mostly funded by individuals. American Express used to be their major source of funds. Parts of the temple are in ruin and WMF plans to leave those areas in that state.

EVENING AT PREAH KHAN

As we walked to the temple, Andrew pointed out a tree that produces strychnine (the poison),

a charming “rest house” and rose-breasted parakeets. The temple’s ground plan is similar to Ta Prohm, but greater attention was paid to its approaches; one of the avenues is lined with carved stone boundary posts. Holes in the inner walls of the central sanctuary suggest that they may once have been decorated with brass plaques. There’s also a hall built for performances by royal dancers. The enigmatic head of Jayavarman VII, the earlier mentioned prize of the National Museum in Phnom Penh, was discovered here in 1958. Our farewell dinner was at the Victoria Angkor Hotel, one of Angkor’s newest hotels, built in the 1930’s Art Deco style. JUNE 6 – WAT’S NEXT? We learned at breakfast that President Reagan had died the night before. Judith and I would attend his National Cathedral memorial service five days later.

After breakfast, Darryl Collins did a wrap-up briefing that helped to frame our experiences with Angkorian temples and monuments, but in a broader context. In effect, he extended our boundaries of the Khmer Empire to Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, and highlighted the importance of the Mekong and Tonle Sap flood plains. Using satellite images, he explained that funerary temples face west signifying “death”; those monuments dedicated to “rebirth” face east. Using satellite images, he pointed out the three principal mountain ranges and the difficulty of access they cause, and went on to report on the historic wild game hunts for tigers, panthers, and bears. Darryl

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described the duplications of cross-cultures and the distant sites, including Khmer sites in Thailand and Laos, reminding us how far the Empire once extended. He showed us photos of ruins of the 6th century temples, Sambon Prei Kuk. He whetted our appetites even further by describing The Mekong World Heritage Tour to the ancient capitals of Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. With luggage out to go to the airport, we set off for a short visit to Wat Bo, an 18th century monastery representing a later period of Khmer history. It is, however, one of the oldest Theravada Buddhist monasteries in Siem Reap. We first toured their museum to see pre-historic funerary pottery, along with 16th century historic ceramics from Thailand, and 9th-10 century Khmer ceramics. The sanctuary (vihara) of Wat Bo serves as a present day ordination hall and contains wall paintings depicting secular scenes including an amusing opium-smoking Chinese merchant.

STUPAS AT WAT BO

As we pulled away from the Grand d’Angkor, we looked at the top of the trees in the adjoining park and saw, conservatively, 1,000 fruit bats hanging in their usual upside down position!

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It was only a 40-minute flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok, which boasts a very large airport—and eleven million people. Much has changed since I visited in this “city of contrasts” in the early ‘90s. This was Judith’s first visit, albeit for less than 18 hours, and I was anxious to cram in as much as possible. Since my last visit, a new highway has reduced the drive time from the airport by a third, to less than an hour; and the 127- year- old Oriental Bangkok (a Mandarin Oriental Hotel) has been completely refurbished within the last two years. (I thought it was perfect before). We didn’t even wait for our luggage to be delivered to the room. While the others shopped and/or rested, Bill Hurst, Judith, and I set off for the Palace. As our taxi sped us away (on the left-hand side), we immediately passed a Catholic school, Muslim graveyard and the French Embassy; and we hadn’t even gone two blocks. We drove by gold shop after gold shop in a special district of Chinatown. Thai businessmen see gold as a good investment, so have built up significant inventories of 24 carat gold. Interestingly enough, Thai gold merchants will only buy from Chinese traders. HAPPY TRAVELER #1

The present king of Thailand is very popular, as is the queen (both are in their early 70s). They have four children: one daughter married an American yuppie and was ex-communicated until she got her divorce; the crown prince is a playboy and not very popular (though he is still being groomed to follow his father). Another daughter is very involved in charity projects and is well regarded. There’s even a movement to consider permitting a daughter to succeed the king. As we approached the Palace, we passed the former Royal Zoo, which has been converted to a lovely park. The Palace is surrounded by a starkly gleaming white wall. The king’s flag is yellow; the queen’s is blue. Inside, the colors and decoration are astonishing! The first thing you see is a golden Vishnu on top of a gold Garuda. There is an obvious Chinese influence throughout the palace, which may account for the fact that nearly two-thirds of the foreign visitors are Chinese. There are two entrances: one for Thais and one for foreigners. There are three significant buildings to attest to inter-cultural relationships: a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple, a Thai Royal Library, and the Cambodian Royal Parthenon (open only once a year, on April 6) with its enormous guardian figures. There are great sculptures of white elephants, which are considered sacred and are all the property of kings. The story is that Buddha’s mother had a dream that she experienced an immaculate conception with a white elephant (this is long before Mary and Joseph).

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The first structure built (in 1782) was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, outside of which

were the traditional bodhi trees (the ones that Buddha sat under to contemplate). There’s a beautiful sub-temple with doors of mother of pearl inlay and gilding on lacquer, and a three-headed elephant (God of Rain). This place knocks your socks off! We passed under a porch with the most beautifully preserved paintings telling the story of Sita, the heroine. In this area, as well as throughout the grounds, there is continuous repair and preservation. Then, we entered the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, without shoes, of course. The Buddha sits on top of a mountain of gold figures and objects and wears one of three robes (which the king himself changes!): one each for the rainy season, dry season, and cool season. All four walls are painted from mosaic marble and quartz floor to the very ornate ceiling. Outside, there’s a Chinese deity (Goddess of Mercy) flanked by two phoenixes. Visitors pray for fertility and make offerings of chicken eggs. The residence is architecturally western in style. It serves as the royal state house, housing royal guests of the king; other government visitors stay at the Oriental. All royal buildings in the Palace complex have three-tiered roofs. We passed the Coronation Hall, but it was closed. The Banquet Hall is elegant and contains huge portraits of the monarchs. There’s also a Royal Armory and a funeral parlor, where the royal bodies are kept until cremation, which takes place on the Palace grounds. By this time, we had reached the Palace Museum but it was also closed. We had seen a lot in less than an hour! Next stop was Wat Pho, which houses an immense reclining dead Buddha. I paced it off and determined the statue is 150 to 160 feet long. Its feet are decorated with mother of pearl! In Burma, there’s a similar temple where the Buddha is over 200 feet long and built of a base of plastered brick and then, gilded. I understand the Burmese are building a new one three times that long, and that you can actually go inside of it although I can’t image why you’d want to.

On the way to the river, we passed through a street market with all kinds of dried squid, shrimp and other fish—very smelly. Bill negotiated a good rate for a “James Bond” boat, with its long egg beater-like propeller, and off we went. A boat like this can hold twenty+, but it was just the three of us. The Chao-Praya River divides the city. For 15 years (until 1752), the capital of Thailand was on the other side of the river. The first king was Chinese, so he chose that side and built the Temple of Dawn. There is a lot to see on both sides of, and in the river, although on this visit, the corpses were missing. We passed the Thai Royal Navy headquarters, lots of slums and a Sofitel hotel built six years ago that never opened. Across the river from the Oriental is the Peninsula Hotel, built four years ago, whose competition prompted the Oriental’s renovation. Too soon, we were back at the Oriental where there seemed nothing to do but shop in Jim Thompson’s boutique. Our final, final dinner (for now just eight of us) was on the hotel’s terrace, overlooking the Chao-Praya. The sumptuous buffet offered everything (I passed on the crickets!), including a variety of barbequed items. There were a few speeches, lots of thank-yous and quite a few bottles of wine consumed. On our pillow that night was a note with the following quote:

“Slumber awaits to house the mind from care.”

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JUNE 7 – HOMEWARD BOUND With bags out at 4:30 a.m., there wasn’t much time for either slumber or “mind caring.” We departing passengers, (now only four) plus local guide, didn’t exactly fill our 22-passenger bus. Our flight to Tokyo left on time and arrived early. Ditto our flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. Ditto the third leg to Dulles. Judith slept and read; I worked on my journal. It was a good way to pass the 20+ hours. It had been an extraordinary journey. I sign off with this image of smiling serenity, which pretty much sums up the way we both felt after this amazing journey.

A PEACEFUL FAREWELL

IMPRESSIONS

1. This was an incredible experience: to see, to study, and to embrace such important past and present cultures, such intriguing symbolism and spiritual tales. We are both enriched and energized by our journey, and grateful to the Smithsonian for offering us this opportunity.

2. China is a power house! A sleeping giant – or maybe one that has recently awakened. It is

more than just the oldest continuous civilization, more than capable of producing chefs who make the world’s best bread pudding. The planet’s most populous country has a well-educated, ambitious people. It is true that their approach to human rights is based on their own needs as a nation, compared to our own focus on individual rights. Communism in China has evolved with a “Chinese style” that, for the most part, works for them as they attempt to move from a planned economy to a market economy.

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3. Neither the EU nor the United States has granted China Market Economy Status (MES) and

probably won’t without China’s increased compliance with international norms regarding corporate governance, property and bankruptcy laws, and state influence and operation of their financial sector. Without market economy status, Chinese firms will remain vulnerable to trade protection measures in the medium term. Notwithstanding the fact that our nation’s capital purchases all of its July 4 fireworks from China, some predict that the United States is unlikely to grant China MES within the next decade. China’s centuries of wars, unifications and some acts of barbarism, have left some real scars, but there is a clear conviction that China needs to build a network of global partnerships. My sense is that their authoritarian government, still guilty of repressive measures, will moderate as they realize that information exchange and mutual understanding are critical to the Chinese integration into the global society and for the functioning of its rules-based economic system. What’s next? Taking China’s pulse is difficult! Adding to the language barrier and cultural differences are the complexities and bamboo curtain of China’s unique political system. The United States needs to work at this. There are lots of reasons why China should be our number one partner in the 21st century.

4. China highlights?

• Physical – The Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Three Gorges Dam project, to name a few stand outs.

• History – The succession of dynastic periods dominates Chinese history and, on balance, overshadow periods marked by wars and atrocities. And the trails are well documented with incredible tombs – the expectation of the “next life.” It was fascinating to track the movement of their slave - based society to a feudal society. And then on to the current “mix.”

• Politics/Society – The present absence of a dominant ideology has created a spiritual void, leaving making money as the dominant “religion”. Class warfare is out; competitive trade is in. The future depends on whether Chinese authorities adopt a “bully” or “leader” philosophy.

• Entertainment- The Opera School and Acrobatic Troupe combined with the warmth and enthusiasm of great traveling partners.

• The Journey Itself – There is still vivid evidence (the Great Wall, etc.) of China’s unification (220 B.C.) but our visit to the Private China Club offered the best view, at least while sitting down, of the “passage” of imperial China, into the tumultuous early years of Republican and Warlord rule culminating in its present incarnation as a meeting place for Chinese and ex-patriots alike in modern private club in China.

5. I predict that the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 will be an unqualified success.

Contemporary artists and musicians are receiving global acclaim. Beijing’s $300 million National Theater of China, a stunning titanium and glass complex, will be a showcase when it opens in eighteen months. It was, incidentally, designed by the same French architect who is responsible for the recently collapsed Charles DeGaulle airport. While 70 % of Chinese people live in rural communities, the cities are growing and prospering at unprecedented rates. The changes in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian since we visited in the fall of 1990 are unbelievable. Are there risks and challenges? Absolutely, but I predict that the “new China” will be very successful in the 21st century

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6. Cambodia is a mixed bag. A lost generation, a weak government, and disturbing health

conditions and economy have, and will continue to take their toll. Cambodia’s population is a little more than 12 million – the size of a major Chinese city. On the other hand, this is a beautiful country with wonderful people. We will return to Phnom Penh, and the Angkor community. We are fascinated by their past and want to help them, in some small way, to build a stable future and to preserve their incredibly rich heritage.

7. Thailand is still an unknown for me, having only visited Bangkok on two brief occasions.

The Palace is a fairyland; the Chao-Praya River is a mystery; and the rest of the country beckons.

8. Next trip? We’d like to return to China for the Beijing summer Olympic Games XXIX. That

would be my ninth Olympics and a 56-year reunion. More importantly, will be return visits to Cambodia and Thailand and first-time visits to Burma and at least one other country in that area—perhaps Viet Nam? We have so much to learn.