History, Culture and... Pandas!
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| China History, Culture and... Pandas! |
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| Chengdu, just north of Leshan and the Grand Buddha, had one main drawcard for us: the Giant Panda Research and Breeding Centre. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| These little guys above were so precious. They had a nice big green area (complete with bamboo jungle gym) to play in and were only separated from us by a large trench. These little ones were six months old and we spent a good hour just watching them play, eat and bathe. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| And then there were the lesser pandas, or red pandas as they are commonly known. Not nearly as popular, and not quite as endangered as the giant panda, these critters didn't seem to receive the same amount of attention and care as their cousins. They looked so sad...we actually spent quite a while with them because we thought they deserved some attention too. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| And on to Xi'an (pronounced Shi'an), a nice historic city with even more ancient history lying deep underground nearby. These are the Teracotta Warriors, 2200 years old! Built for the tomb of "the first emperor" they were individually carved and made up a complete standing army, including horses and chariots. The tomb was raided soon after the emperors death and was discovered again in the 1970's by a farmer digging a well. Today they are still working at uncovering and putting all the pieces back together. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Still further north from Xi'an lies Pingyao, another World Heritage site, and a beautiful historic walled town. Ancient gates and little winding alleyways made this town a pleasant place to stop for a couple of days. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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