Day 13. Zhangqui Stone Village
This morning we started early as we wanted to reach the traditional stone village of Zhangqui that Ray had read about and we didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
On the way out of Jinan we spot an old German-style pub and not
far from it a Christian church - remnants of the past, where this
area was part of the German concession; certainly out of place to
everything we've seen thus far.
[German-style Pub]
The day was stinking hot, and although the roads weren't hilly
or packed with traffic, we were stuck mainly on long straight and
uneventful highways. By midday, we were scared that we'd
missed the small town because the locals were giving us conflicting
pieces of information; some of the people we asked didn't know
where the stone village even was. The closer we got, the
further away the village seemed.
By late afternoon and after a spot of lunch we decided to pull
over and ask again - our fears were justified - we'd missed the
turn off; but only by few kilometres. A quick chat at a local
store secured the services of a friendly gentleman on a motorcycle
who acted as guide and lead us back to the crucial
intersection.
[Our kind guide]
The road was tiny, only wide enough for one vehicle; both sides
snuggled between crop fields and winding its way up a gentle slope
towards a small mountain range. There was lots of activity
and quite a few people were busy ploughing the fields, collecting
straw, drying herbs and corn.
[Family ploughing a field]
Gradually the road started to pass through what seemed the start
of a town - we weren't impressed at all and were wondering whether
this village had disappeared off the map while the rest of China
increased in size. We pressed on and eventually came to a
medieval looking gate, where we were quickly ushered aside, sold
tickets and guided towards some guesthouse.
We rode through a second gate, or rather around it, and
experienced a most surreal moment - almost like passing through a
time gate. Once on the other side, we could hear the sound of
spiritual music coming from a small temple above the thick entrance
gate.
It was easy to forget the hustle of bustle of the busy streets
and modern China. The music and birds, the greenery, cobbled
stone path and the anticipation of what lies ahead bequeathed upon
us temporary amnesia.
It was only after passing through the gates that we started to
realise what a real treat this was going to be.
[Village Entrance]
Our bikes rattled their way along the cobbled path and didn't
miss an opportunity to buck you off if the wheel got caught between
pavers.
Eventually we arrived at a huge stone structure. If you
use your imagination, you could probably see Chairman Mao under all
the weather-beaten paint.
[Chairman Mao - Perhaps under the weather]
The air was getting colder and the sun beginning to set, but the
end of the day certainly didn't detract from the delightful
surprise this village was proving to be; every one of us was
grateful for the chance to see some real living history.
It took us a good 10 minutes to reach the guest house which was
nestled in the middle of the village. The large doors at the
entrance were guarded by two soapstone dragons and we had to push
our bikes up a steep set of steps in order to reach the central
courtyard.
Once there, we were shown where to park and lock up our
bikes. We locked them out of habit more than anything else;
China has shown us that petty crime is not something we should
worry about in these small communities. The owner brought out
a pot of tea and we all sat down for a moment.
[Resting before trip to Pagoda]
Although exhausted, we were rather jubilant about this
historical gem. From the garden we could see a pagoda perched
atop a nearby hill with views over the whole village. It was
going to be a race against time; with the sun setting it was only a
matter of minutes before we would miss the chance to a panoramic
view of the whole village.
[Zhangqui Stone Village Pagoda]
Without washing up or resting, we grabbed our cameras and set
off towards the pagoda. Along the way we realised that the
village of today isn't completely true to the antiquity we had been
led to believe. We came across mud brick buildings in various
stages of decay, but weren't sure why they were abandoned - some
looked as though they could easily be liveable.
We threw a couple of theories around, but the one which seemed
most credible was that the population had dropped during these last
years and people moved out to find employment in larger
cities. This was certainly supported by the fact that we
didn't find a single child in the area nor young people.
[Local women doing their washing]
A small track climbed through a well-manicured green garden
towards the pagoda. We could see that someone definitely
takes care of the garden as well as the pathway; with lots of small
repairs and pruned shrubs. Perhaps our entrance fee went
towards the upkeep?
The pagoda was open and we found a small staircase leading to
the top - a perfect place to gain an overview of the village.
From the top we could clearly see the village nestled within the
valley. It looked like it was a strategically well-placed
village, with the mountain range guarding on three sides and only a
narrow entrance to the South.
[View of Zhangqui Stone Village from Pagoda]
It was meditatively peaceful on top. And as the wind
gently blew away the day's warmth from the air, we realised just
how lucky we were to find this place and why someone decided to
build the pagoda on this very spot.
[Small dragon guarding the entrance to our guest house]
We walked down slowly towards the village, where we made a small
detour to pick up some drinks to accompany the evening's meal.