2009年1月30日 星期五

松潘

松潘 ~中国~
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松潘 ~中国~
街の「バター茶」
大通りから入った路地で、何やら黄色い食べ物が売られているのを発見。
見ていると売り 子のお姉さんがわざわざ作ってくれました。黄色の食べ物とはヤクのバター、バター茶にするそうです。もとはチベット族の飲み物だったバター茶ですが、松潘 では、多くの人々に朝食として親しまれています。高地でしか採れないザンパーという麦に、チーズに砂糖、そしてバターをお湯に溶き、あっという間にできあ がり。ヤクの牛乳から採ったバターは、とても栄養があるそうです。美味しそうに飲むお姉さんの表情がとても印象的でした。
街の「バター茶」

[成都都江堰水利工程 青城山卧龙熊猫自然保护区茂县松潘九寨沟]

4。松潘
A.松潘古城
松潘,古名松州,四川省历史名城,是历史上有名的边陲重镇,被称作“川西门户”,古为用兵之地。史载古松州“扼岷岭,控江源,左邻河陇,右达康藏”,“屏蔽天府,锁阴陲”,故自汉唐以来,此处均设关尉,屯有重兵。
唐朝时,吐蕃首领松赞干布派者前往长安求婚。使者路过松州,被州官扣押,松赞干布大怒,亲率大兵二十万人入侵,唐都督韩咸战败,唐太宗命史部尚书统军抵达 松州,经川主寺一役,唐军大胜。松赞干布返藏后又遣拾使臣送黄金以求通婚和好,太宗晓以大义,将文成公主嫁与松赞干布,传为千古佳话。
进入松潘县城,方圆十里的城门城墙高大古老,保存完好。

据《松潘县志》记载,明洪武十二年(1379年)平羌将军西玉在平定威、茂士官董贴里叛乱军,挥师北进,进驻松州之后,上书皇帝朱元璋,建议在松州设置军卫。
松州设卫时,丁玉调宁州卫高显来权负责筑城事宜,在西缘山麓,东傍江岸以上筑墙,历时五年,筑成一段城墙。古墙砖长50厘米、宽25厘米、厚12.5厘 米,所用灰浆系用糯米、石灰、桐油熬制而成,每块青砖重达30公斤,砌成十多米高,6200多米长的城墙,工程艰巨。今天,在松潘的“窑沟”“窑坝”山 上,遗留有为筑城烧制青砖而造的古窖遗迹。

明英宗正统年间(1436-1449年),松潘发生民变。高踞西山之巅的变民,可观察到城中的布防情况。民变平定后,负责松潘兵备的御史冠琛,将西部城墙 由山麓筑到山巅。嘉靖五年(1526年)松潘总兵又增修外城一千余米,历时60年,才使松潘城制初具规模。
松潘古城有门七道:东曰“觐阳”、南叫“延熏”、西号“威远”、北作“镇羌”,西南山麓者称“小西门”,外城两门,东西向称“临江”、南北向称“阜清”。 各城门以大块平行六面之条石拱圈,使顶部呈半圆形,门基大石上镂有各种雕图案,别具匠心,耐人寻味。临江门旁石壁上,镌刻着崇帧十六年(1644年)关于 减免苛赋的布告。
古城墙门堡始建于明太祖洪武十二年松州卫和潘州卫合并为松潘卫时。门洞厚十五丈,造工坚实,经数百年风雨而不蚀不坏。登上城墙可饱览周围的雄壮景色。

松潘城内,小桥流水,景观独特,一条湍急而清澈的河流从松潘古城的东端穿过环城路向西流,在切过中央大街后,转往南流,从南城门左侧流出松潘古城,使得整 个松潘古城顿时活泼生动起来。尤其河两岸的人家,依着河岸在河面上架起古意盎然的竹楼,欣赏远山近水,非常写意。
松潘是一处重要的历史纪念地。清咸丰年间,税赋沉重,由此引发了一场轰轰烈烈的藏、羌人民反清大起义。起义历时六年,领导这次起义的领袖是松潘羌族女英雄 额能作。起义军曾攻下九关六堡,占领松潘古城(今松潘县城)两年,多次击败清军围攻,消灭清军数千人。
B.青藏高原的边缘-泯江源头(高原风光)
C.红军长征纪念碑碑园
坐落在松潘至黄龙的路途中,元宝山顶,园名为邓小平题写。
汉白玉的碑座形似雪山,高24米的碑身为三角立柱体,象征红军三大主力紧密团结,坚不可摧。碑顶上立着近15米高的红军战士像,双手高举,一手握枪,一手持花,象征红军长征的胜利。
5。九寨沟县
淦海池
经松潘入九寨沟,过白河、九道拐后,便来到九寨沟外的一个游览区--淦海池。
淦海池是入沟前的一个景区,虽无飞瀑蓝湖,但秋色、彩叶比九寨沟内毫不逊色,更有一片九寨沟内看不到的大草原风光。淦海池可说是仙境的缩影,缓缓的溪流透 出沉静的柔美,草原上成群的牛马悠然进食。金秋时节,秋色满山,群山云雾笼罩,美不胜收。山脚下牛马成群,风光绝妙,令人兴起纵马狂奔之兴。

松潘古城门
松潘古城门票
松潘古城
长征纪念碑碑园
长征纪念碑碑园
甘海子

Skellig Islands

Unesco World Heritage Sites: A refuge of early Christianity - Skellig Islands in Ireland

The Irish island Skellig Michael is the best preserved early Christian site in the world.

From a distance the Skellig Islands appear to be little more than jagged rocks rising out of the stormy Atlantic, eight miles off the West Coast of Ireland. One of the islands, Small Skellig, has always been uninhabited and is a bird refuge, known for its huge colony of gannets. The other, Skellig Michael, is an Unesco World Heritage Site where Irish monks built a monastery sometime between the sixth and ninth centuries. There are more than 20 island monasteries off the Irish coast, but none is so remote and difficult to reach, which is why it remained almost unchanged for more than 1000 years.


he Skellig Islands (Irish: Na Scealaga) are two small, steep and rocky islands lying about 16 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. They are famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Little Skellig

The smaller island is Little Skellig (Sceilig Bheag in Irish). It is closed to the public, and holds Ireland's largest and the world's second-largest Northern Gannet colony, with almost 30,000 pairs. It is about 1.5 km east of Great Skellig.

Great Skellig

Also known as Skellig Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl in Irish), this is the larger of the two islands, rising to over 230 m above sea level. With a sixth-century Christian monastery perched on a ledge close to the top, Great Skellig is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wildlife

Both of the Skellig islands are well known for their seabird colonies, and together comprise one of the most important seabird sites in Ireland, both for the population size and for the species diversity.

Among the breeding birds are European Storm-Petrels, Northern Gannets, Fulmars, Manx Shearwaters, Black-legged Kittiwakes, Common Guillemots, Razorbills and Atlantic Puffins (with 4000 or more puffins on Great Skellig alone). Smaller numbers of Choughs and Peregrine Falcons can also be seen.

The surrounding waters teem with life also. Grey Seals are common, and Basking Sharks, Minke Whales, dolphins and Leatherback Turtles have also been recorded. The islands have many interesting recreational diving sites due to the clear water, abundance of life and underwater cliffs down to 60 metres (200 feet).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


Wikipedia article "Skellig Islands"

San Francisco

The city that houses the world's largest man-made park (Golden Gate Park) and the "world's crookedest street" (Lombard Street) started out as a small mission and presidio on the San Francisco Bay. Established by 18th-century Spanish settlers, the area became a part of Mexican territory when Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. The mall trading settlement that was established became known as Yerba Buena, named for the mint-like perennial plant that grew abundantly in that area. The US acquired California in 1846 and changed the name of the town to San Francisco on this date in 1847.

Quote

"If you're alive, you can't be bored in San Francisco. If you're not alive, San Francisco will bring you to life."William Saroyan

2009年1月29日 星期四

the Oberammergau Passion Play

Festivals | 25.01.2009

Bushy, Virtuous Actors Sought for Germany's Hit Passion Play

Actors taking part in the Oberammergau Passion Play will be paying their final visit to the hairdressers next month as preparations begin in earnest for the mammoth theatrical event.

As no wigs are used, participants must grow their hair and beards well ahead of next year's performances. The hair decree, as it is called, comes into force on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25.

Some 2,500 villagers have applied to take part in the next staging of the play from May to October 2010, according to its artistic director, Christian Stueckl.

"That is 300 more than we had the last time the play was performed in 2000," he told a press conference in Munich, outlining details of his third term in charge of the production.

The passion play has been performed every decade since 1634 by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau in the southern German state of Bavaria. Its origin dates back to the Thirty Years War when the village was decimated by the bubonic plague.

The surviving population promised God that if he saved them they would commemorate it by staging a dramatic representation of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection every ten years.

The only time the play was not performed was during World War II.

Local actors

2009年1月23日 星期五

Love for the Forests Deeply Rooted in German Psyche

Environment | 23.01.2009

Love for the Forests Deeply Rooted in German Psyche

Throughout their history, Germans have had a fascination and love of forests and trees. The country's woodlands and glades have been an inspiration to writers, philosophers and everyday citizens alike.

In the works of such poets as Rainer Maria Rilke, trees stand undaunted in the mysterious German forest, permanently providing shelter and succour, wilderness and nature.

Virtually every German town has woods on its outskirts, originally planted to provide timber for construction.

As one forester put it: "The woods are not some remote ideal to be approached in literature or hiking boots, but an intimate part of even the most urbanized life."

"Forest fascination" is associated with the nation's treasury of sagas and fairy tales, where robbers hide out in the woods, bad wolves devour grandmothers and little girls in red-riding hoods, and children lose their way in the thickets and stumble into the hands of evil witches.

Nazi fascination

Forest in ThuringiaBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Forests can be enjoyed all year round

Mythical glorification of trees first reached its zenith in the songs, prose and paintings of the Romantic period. The Nazis were likewise obsessed with the concept of the forest.

In 1935, Hitler's deputy and later war criminal Hermann Goering, from his forest hunting retreat, said: "We have become used to seeing the German nation as eternal. There is no better symbol for us than the forest, which has and always will be eternal.

"The eternal forest and an eternal nation -- they belong together," he said before the defeat of the totalitarian Nazi state.

But in a Germany decimated after World War II, Germans still kept heading to their beloved forests.

"It was there," argued Berlin journalist Klaus Hartung, "that the German soul was able to exhale everything that it had inhaled during the history of Germany."

Forest decline

Buecherntal, the Black Forest, GermanyBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The Black Forest has become part of German folklore

By the late 1970s the decline of the forests had become apparent. In the 1980s in Bavaria alone, 2.5 million hectares of woodland had been visibly damaged by pollution.

Vast numbers of trees in the fabled Black Forest of Baden-Wuerttemburg were under threat. The German word for it is "Waldsterben," or forest death.

One-third of the western part of the country's surface area is forest land.

The shock ran deep when reports became commonplace that the spruce and fir were dying. Acid rain, an airborne poison that originates in factories, power plants and automobile engines was blamed.

In a chemical reaction still not fully understood, when the sulphur dioxide and nitrogen are brought down out of the atmosphere by rain, the resulting liquid renders both water and soil unable to support tree life.

Forest protection

German forestland affected by acid rainBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Acid rain threatened vast tracts of German forest lands

Groups such as the German Association for the Protection of Forest and Woodlands campaigned to save the woods.

Dozens of other environmental groups, including Robin Hood, the Black Forest Union and the Freudenstadt Action Unit Against the Dying Forest, were dedicated to saving trees.

Ex-chancellor Helmut Kohl warned 20 years ago: "The damage to our forests is dramatic. Our forests are of inestimable importance for the water cycle, for our climate, for our health, for our recreation and for the identity of the German landscape.

"If we do not succeed in saving our forests, the world in which we live will be changed beyond recognition," he told the German Parliament.

Step in right direction

German Greens leader Cem OezdemirBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: German Greens leader Cem Oezdemir has campaigned for forest protection

Since then, an environmental revolution has taken place. Power plants' smoke is filtered, and catalytic converters have been installed in cars, reducing emissions.

Germany's Greens party has also helped bring about change. Now, Germany is the global market leader in wind and solar energy, and is a pioneer in climate policy, hosting regular, lively debates on environmental policies.

That does not mean the nation's forests are now suddenly glowing with health. The latest tree vitality measurements in German forests reveal that the picture remains grim due to the influence of climate change and drought.

But at least for now more attention is being paid to the problem.

Tallinn

Wikipedia article "Tallinn".

Insight | 24.01.2009 | 04:30

Unesco World Heritage Sites: Tallinn

In 1997 the old town of Tallinn was put on the World Heritage List.

The Estonian capital, Tallinn, is a city that’s developed rapidly since achieving independence in 1991 after the break-up of the Soviet Union. At the same time, though, Tallinn is one of Europe’s most historic cities. The origins of Tallinn date back to the 13th century, when a castle was built there by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. And, the Estonian capital developed as a major centre of the Hanseatic League.

Report: Helen Seeney

2009年1月20日 星期二

Finding Treasures in Beijing's Disappearing Past

Beijing Journal

Finding Treasures in a City’s Disappearing Past

Doug Kanter for The New York Times

Li Songtang at his museum in Beijing, where he displays relics saved from demolition sites in the rapidly modernizing city.


Published: January 18, 2009

BEIJING — The destruction of this 800-year-old city usually proceeds as follows: the Chinese character for “demolish” mysteriously appears on the front of an old building, the residents wage a fruitless battle to save their homes, and quicker than you can say “Celebrate the New Beijing,” a wrecking crew arrives, often accompanied by the police, to pulverize the brick-and-timber structure.

But before another chunk of ancient Beijing disappears entirely, a hospice administrator named Li Songtang can often be found poking around the rubble, looking for remnants that honor what was among the world’s best-preserved metropolises until a merciless wave of redevelopment gained the upper hand.

Since the 1970s, when Mao inspired his Red Guards to pummel every “reactionary” Confucius temple and Ming Dynasty statue they could find, Mr. Li has been salvaging architectural remnants and stowing them away, sometimes at considerable risk.

Manchu hitching posts. Ornate wooden doorways. A giant granite horse that graced an emperor’s palace. These and thousands of other objects fill Mr. Li’s warehouse and spill across the grounds of the hospice he runs in Beijing’s eastern suburbs.

Every item has a tale. That Song Dynasty lintel etched with a frenzy of folk scenes? Pulled from a pig sty. The lacquered screen that tells the history of a clan of scholars? Fished from the burn pile.

The most historically significant items are displayed in his private museum, where every Sunday he can be found leading tours and exhorting people to cherish the old before it is too late. “For 50 years I’ve been watching the destruction of this magnificent city,” he’ll say in admonishment. “We’ve been treating history like garbage.”

It is difficult to overstate how much of China’s old imperial capital has disappeared in recent years. When the Communists took power in 1949, they inherited a city marbled with 7,000 alleyways, or hutong, a Mongol word that referred to the space between tents. In Old Beijing, hutong were the capillaries that fed the walled compounds where most people lived.

Even if the Communists forced aristocratic families to share their courtyard homes with scores of working-class families, the structures, and their stone-and-wood artistry, remained largely intact. Monument-building and road-widening claimed swaths of the old city in the 1950s and ’60s, and more damage was done during the Cultural Revolution, but the pace surged in the 1990s, when China’s embrace of market economics fueled a redevelopment juggernaut.

In the years leading up to the Beijing Olympics in August, the destruction took on a manic pace. According to Unesco, more than 88 percent of the city’s old residential quarters are gone, including many government-designated heritage zones whose protections existed only on paper. Today, just 1,300 hutong remain, and many more neighborhoods, like the colorful Qianmen district just south of Tiananmen Square, are scheduled for renewal.

Michael Meyer, who documents Qianmen’s hutong life in his book “The Last Days of Old Beijing,” says most residents are not terribly nostalgic about the old city. For them, a freshly painted facsimile of a 500-year-old Buddhist temple is just fine.

“Imagine waking up one morning and discovering that Chelsea, then Greenwich Village, have been replaced by malls,” he said. “Those who are trying to preserve a bit of the city’s legacy are increasingly isolated and powerless.”

One of Mr. Li’s earliest childhood memories is of the destruction of his family’s courtyard house. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, he watched neighbors burn their own books and smash heirlooms. “People were so afraid that the Red Guards would find antiques in their home, they would toss them into the river at night so no one would see,” said Mr. Li, who came from a family of doctors and teachers.

Like many from the educated classes, Mr. Li was ridiculed, beaten by classmates and then sent to the countryside, where he toiled alongside farmers for nine years. After returning to the city, he devoted himself to rescuing whatever scraps of history he could find. His efforts have sometimes attracted the attention of officials, who have accused him of stealing and obliquely criticizing government policies.

He acknowledges he never paid for anything, although he might give demolition workers a few dollars to cart away a heavy object. “I came to realize that so much of Beijing was destroyed because no one was willing to pay these men for overtime” to haul away relics, he said, half-jokingly.

Mr. Li’s struggle to open his Songtangzhai Museum is a tortured tale that involved five years of kowtowing, cajoling and a “gift” of 148 prized items to the Culture Ministry. The $4.50 entrance fee to his museum, which occupies an 18th-century house, does not cover the cost of operations, so Mr. Li subsidizes it from his own pocket. He says he has never sold any artifacts.

“I have 1,000 stories that I can never tell,” he said conspiratorially, and then offered a few choice words to describe those who blocked his way — and those who have promoted the demise of Old Beijing. But then he corrected himself. “The Communist Party has improved Beijing immeasurably,” he said with a taut smile. “They are doing a wonderful job.”

2009年1月14日 星期三

St Juliot, a village near Boscastle in north-east Cornwall, UK








St Juliot is a village near Boscastle in north-east Cornwall, UK.


Hardy wrote flood of poems 'in expiation'.
In 1870 the famous British novelist, short story writer, and poet Thomas Hardy was sent to plan a church restoration at St Juliot. There he met Emma Gifford, sister-in-law of the vicar of St Juliot. She encouraged him in his writing, and they were married in 1874. After Emma Hardy died in November 1912 and was buried in Stinsford churchyard, Thomas was stricken with guilt and remorse, but the result was some of his best poetry, expressing his feelings for his wife of 38 years.
From Satires of Circumstance, Thomas Hardy's 1914 book of poems about Emma.
I found her out there
On a slope few see,
That falls westwardly
To the salt-edged air,
Where the ocean breaks
On the purple strand,
And the hurricane shakes
The solid land.


Bath of St. Juliot Parish, Cornwall
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freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
... in the church at St Juliot.
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This is St Juliot's church:
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Interior of St Juliot's:
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St Juliot's is a very pretty church ...
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Map showing location of St Juliot ...
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The hedges are the view at St Juliot
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St Juliot Church
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Churchyard St.Juliot
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... St Juliot, Boscastle, Cornwall.
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St Juliot, Cornwall, England other ...
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St. Juliot's Original Watercolour
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大噴泉 (Jet d’ Eau)

日內瓦地標-大噴泉  ■文、攝影∕林揚
《2009/01/06 15:37》

 日內瓦位於瑞士西南端,緊鄰祥和平靜的日內瓦湖,是許多重要國際組織,包括聯合國歐洲總部、世界衛生組織( WHO)、世界貿易組織( WTO)、國際勞工組織( ILO)及紅十字會總部的所在地,名氣響亮,讓許多人誤以為日內瓦是瑞士的首都。
 大噴泉 (Jet d’ Eau)是日內瓦最重要的地標,漫步在日內瓦湖畔,首先印入眼簾的就是那一柱擎天的巨大水柱,加上陽光的加持,一道彩虹依偎在旁,自然成了遊客獵景的目標。
  大噴泉水柱原本高 82公尺,是羅納河 (Rhone,一稱隆河 )裡的發電廠用來消耗夜間過餘電力的設施。後來發電廠廢除,日內瓦人不習慣消失的噴泉, 於是在 1891年移到現在湖中的位置。 1951年重新安裝新的馬達之後,噴泉水柱增加到 140公尺高,每秒噴出的水量高達 500公升,瞬間壓力可 達七噸以上。
 像一把直衝雲霄、閃著冷光的長劍,在藍天相襯之下,這世界第一高噴泉之所以成為日內瓦地標,一切看起來似乎都那麼理所當然。