Reflections

- or is it the Eyes that Look at Heaven?  Two tall peaks, each with a pool of water at the top, gave the ancients the inspiration for the name of this mountain range in Zhejiang Province near Hangzhou.   Then the mystery thickens, because it is for us to find out their meaning – if [...]

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Ginkgo Heaven – why I whisper thanks to every ginkgo I see on the street   Tianmushan near Hangzhou, south of Shanghai,  is most famous for its elegant Japanese cedars which line the paths around the nature reserve, but there are also about 250 native ginkgo trees spotted around the area.  This gathering of the world’s [...]

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  Musings on Autumn in China   Autumn in China begins around August 7 according to the Chinese lunar calendar.  This is hard to understand from a Western point of view because the temperatures are still brutally hot in most places except the far north.  More of a “turning point” than a change in temperature, [...]

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Further musings on the Fall – Autumn rhythms in China   Autumn in China begins around August 7 according to the Chinese calendar.  This is hard to understand from a Western point of view because the temperatures are still brutally hot in most places except the far north at the beginning of August.  I hid [...]

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