Things to do in Ma'anshan

The Chinese textbook "A Record of a Journey to Mount Baozen" is a memory from my school days. This time I brought my children here to take a look and experience the fun of Huayang Cave firsthand. We then went to the Wu Zixu Ancient Trail and gained a lot of knowledge.

Walking in the ancient town, I feel that the surrounding buildings are very simple and have an antique feeling~~Here, you can also see pawnshops and ancestral halls with very contemporary characteristics. It feels like traveling through time and being in the same time and space as the people in the past! ! ! It feels like walking here, the pace of life has slowed down, and the impetuous heart has calmed down. It feels that this place must have been very prosperous in the past, and there must be thousands of lights at night. Now everything has returned to normal, and I feel a little sad about the passage of time! !

Most of the porcelain is from the same period as the Six Dynasties Museum. Geographically, it's very close, no wonder it's called Nan Ge's Little Pony. I was surprised to see so many pieces that weren't so rigid and had distinctly period-specific features. They were much more lively than what I saw in Nanjing. Perhaps the local customs here are more relaxed. Ma'anshan doesn't have many attractions, but this place is worth spending two hours exploring.

The Confucius Temple and Jiangnan Examination Hall along the Qinhuai River in Nanjing offer stunning nighttime views. A stroll through them in the gentle autumn breeze is incredibly pleasant. There are free performances and some attractions that charge admission, so you can choose what to do. In short, anyone visiting Nanjing should definitely check them out.

If you haven't been there, it's worth a visit. It's a famous spot in Nanjing, always packed with people. As for the boat tour, if you haven't been before, you can take a ride, but it's probably a one-time thing, so the price isn't great. It's a 40-minute round trip on the boat, listening to the announcements, watching the night view of the Qinhuai River, with its many bridges along the banks. You can learn about history, see the waterscape and night view, and soak in the atmosphere.

We were very fortunate that our top guide today was Ms. Dong Ling. Her professional expertise was solid; she didn't just recite from memory. She eloquently explained the stories and archaeological backgrounds behind each of the museum's treasures, making dry history vivid and easy to understand. My son and I deeply experienced the thousand-year history of Nanjing. Highly recommended!

My second visit to West Lake was great; the boat tour was excellent. The dock was easy to find, the staff were very friendly, provided clear explanations, and helped with any issues. There were also sightseeing buses, which were nice but a bit pricey. Taking the boat tour and then walking around was both perfectly fine.

Shanghai After Dark — The Bund Never Sleeps ✨“Where the river reflects a thousand city lights and the future rises above a timeless waterfront. The Bund is more than a view — it’s Shanghai at its most magical, where elegance, ambition, and endless dreams meet.” 🌃❤

I went to see it during the May Day holiday. Some of the performances were nice, but they were too short. Almost all the activities inside were for children. I can only say that the performances were worth the money. It was still very beautiful at night, especially the fountain, which was really nice to see.

The Zhu Ran Tomb Museum in Ma'anshan, which is not even a popular attraction in the local area, should have been heard of by few people nationwide. But in the eyes of a poor student who once studied art history for five years, this museum can be regarded as one of the most low-key treasures of art history in China. Zhu Ran, who participated in the operation to capture Guan Yu and set fire to Liu Bei with Lu Xun, was a little famous in the Three Kingdoms. But the importance of the museum does not lie in the identity of the tomb owner, but in the batch of lacquerware unearthed in the tomb. We know that the history of Chinese painting is long, but the works that are really painted on paper or silk are basically no earlier than the Tang Dynasty because the materials are very difficult to preserve. There are many records of paintings from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period in ancient books, and even many names of painters are left, but there has always been a lack of factual basis. The lacquerware in Zhu Ran's tomb directly fills the gap in the art history of this period. This batch of lacquerware was a high-end handicraft at the time. One of them has the words "Shujun Zuolao" on the back, which should be a product customized by the Shu Han workshop for Dongwu customers at that time. Lacquer paintings are mainly based on figures, some depicting court banquets, singing and dancing, and aristocratic life scenes, as well as historical stories, which are a true display of the painting techniques of the time. The figures have rounded lines and different movements and expressions. Compared with the silk paintings or brick carvings of the Western Han Dynasty, they are more vivid and vivid. They are similar to the style of drum-beating and rapping figurines of the earlier period, allowing people to get a glimpse of the painting art style of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. This time, we took advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday to visit. The museum is in the center of Ma'anshan, but it is unusually quiet. There were only two visitors throughout the whole process. Friends who are interested in art, if you travel to Ma'anshan, you must not miss it and go to the scene to appreciate the Chinese painting treasures 1,800 years ago.