Jiaxiu Pavilion and the Guizhou Provincial Museum...‏

Today we were able to take in a lot of Jadyn's culture; it was wonderful and amazing! We started the day at the Jiaxiu Pavilion - here is some information - built in the 26th year (1598) of the reign of Wanli, Ming Dynasty, straddling on a huge turtle-like rock in the Nanming River in the south of Guiyang City. An imperial inspector, Jiang Dongzhi, built the pavilion and named it Jaixiu because he believed the people in Guiyang were the most talented in world. The pavilion and some other buildings around it combine to form a harmonious scenic architectural complex, customarily known as "Eight Scenes of a Mini West Lake".

It is a magnificent three-storied building 20-meter-high with three eaves and a pointed top, containing carved windows and red lattices and upturned eaves on all sides. Downstairs is the Floating Jade Bridge which spans both north and south banks. Under the bridge, the clear blue swirling water forms a pool named Hanbi. When night falls with all the lights on, the outline of the pavilion and the bridge are reflected in the river as if it were a fairyland.

In this pavilion, tourists can have a look at the rich collection of stone engravings, calligraphy works, paintings and woodworks by ancient artists. Among them, there is a long antithetical couplet with 206 characters written by Liu Yushan, a member of the Imperial Academy from Guiyang, in the Qing Dynasty, which has 26 more characters than that one in Daguan Pavilion in Kunming, which claims to be the longest one in the world.

Then, we went on to the Guizhou Provincial Museum which was truly amazing! We were able to learn about the minority heritage of which Jadyn is most likely either Miao or Dong. There were so many wonderul artifacts and historical relics; we really tried to soak it all in. We were able to do a little shopping at the museum since the prices were so reasonable. There is a particular type of jade that is specific to Guizhou; of course we had to get some of that:)

Tomorrow we will be going to a local park where monkeys roam free - can't wait to see that! There is also a Buddist temple at the top of a mountain that we will climb. Looking forward to seeing more of Jadyn's birthplace; until then, enjoy the pics from today!