Day 13: Typhoon and Chen Clan Academy

We woke up to stormy skies today, and our planned shopping trip was postponed due to flooding on Shamian Island.  Typhoon Hagupit has rolled in and is dumping lots of rain on Guangzhou.  The temperature is significantly lower, too.  It was a nice change of pace to be drenched in rain, not sweat!

So, Rosa and Maggie, our terrific tour guides, made a quick change of plans and took us to the Chen Clan Academy and Guangdong Folk Arts Museum.  This is a large complex that once served as living space for members of the Chen clan when they traveled to Guangzhou for study or business from other parts of China.  Something like 5-8% of the population shares the Chen surname, and families in 72 counties in the province contributed to the construction of the complex.  It is also known as the Chen Ancestral Hall, and the other purpose of the space was to be a place for ancestor worship.  We toured the main area only, but it has 19 buildings covering a total area of 15,000 square meters.  I couldn't help but be reminded of the Camp Meeting grounds back home as we learned about the Chen Clan Academy.  In 1959, the Folk Arts museum was established by the government in the Academy buildings.  It has since been chosen as one of the "Eight Sights of the Goat City" since then!  

Despite the downpour, we enjoyed the displays of carved wood and stone, sculpture, and even ancient inkwells!  I was particularly interested in the hall where they have several rooms set up to look like a Guangdong home of 100 or 200 years ago.  We saw the unmarried women's room, a typical married woman's room, the scholar's room, and a traditional living room.  We also observed an artist creating beautiful ink paintings using just his hand and fingers-- no brush!   

After that, we headed back to the hotel for basically a free day.  I have to admit, I am rather tired of hotel rooms.  But, AK needed some lunch and a nap.  She wasn't really sleepy at her usual naptime, having conked out on the bus in Daddy's arms.  So we played for a while and she took a warm bath, since she is still having a few tummy "issues" and we are out of prunes.  The bath relaxed her, did the trick we needed it to do, and she fell asleep soon after. It couldn't be the pizza and whipped cream from yesterday, could it?  I think we have broken every baby feeding guideline over the past few days and it may be coming back to haunt us.  

Tonight we are going to go eat Italian (yay!!!) with a few other families from our group, and then get a good night's sleep in preparation for tomorrow.  Big day:  our paperwork goes to the US Consulate at 10:00AM (10 PM at home).  We have to hang out in our room in case there are any questions and the guides have to call us.  We pray all goes well with this last step.  Then, hopefully, shopping and a final group dinner.   

Maybe it's the typhoon, or slow connections, or my computer is tired, or the planets have misaligned, but Blogger is not cooperating with the pictures.  Again.  And frankly, I am sick of fighting with Blogger, even though I want my pretty pictures to accompany every post.  

I wish I could quit you, Blogger.  

So sorry, no pictures today, but trust me, Anna Kathryn's smile is still the cutest thing EVER. 

Good night (or day, since it's 4 PM here) from China!  

Edited to add: I was able to add a few pictures tonight!

The front doors of the Hall. The big guy behind us is a protective god one of the emperors who once resided here had painted on the doors to protect him from nightmares.

A giant, carved inkwell.

Enjoying our day, despite the rain!

This artist makes the beautiful, detailed ink drawings by hand.