Raise the Red Lantern - Lianhua Mt Park's Tea house and bamboo forest

Lian Hua tea house

In my little oasis in Shenzhen, there is a small bamboo forest surrounding a traditional tea house. During the day, if one's heart is open, the winds will whisper of the magic that unveils itself when the sun has slid behind the snow mountains of the Himalayas in the West. 

As the neon lights of the city buildings ignite, the red lanterns hidden like fireflies in midsummer grass blink on. The warm South China sea breeze sways them back and forth spreading a warm red glow in the tangle of the forest.

It is the most magical place to me. Here, I dream of Red Dragons, Jade Rabbits and other creatures of yore who would appear along the lantern lit lanes of the Middle Kingdom's ancient realm. 

Some say that Chinese
lanterns were invented
on the night before the
Chinese New Year for the
Buddhist monks to use
instead of fire torches to
light their way in search for the divine figure of the Buddha and his followers. Other believe that the lanterns have special properties to ward of evil spirits and show good luck to your door.

Lanterns were more than a means to light the way; they also illuminated those of the Noble class and Emperor. The size and the materials of the lamp acted as beacon of status, advertising to all that passed by the wealth of the family. Lamps of wealthy were mostly made of silk and velvet and hung from the higher floors.  

Over time, lanterns would decorate most houses - poor or wealthy- in China. People would use the lanterns to announces important events that the families were going through.

• Red lantern:  Red is a symbol of happiness, life and luck. When it was placed outside the house, it meant a marriage or birth was taking place within the family.
• Blue lantern: Blue symbolizes sickness or poor health in China. If hanging, it would mean that a family member's health was degenerating.
• White lantern: White in China represents death. When two white lanterns are placed on top of doorway with a white sash across the door, the family was in mourning.

To me, the lanterns symbolize the mystical world of the Middle Kingdom that lies beyond the Western mind.

Oh nooooo......

Now, I have to worry about the hiking trails, too....  

If this was another country, I would say this was a English mistake but cars in China are such a real menace. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone trying to take on the hiking path.

Shenzhen Escapes

I have found hiking is one of the few things you can do easily in Shenzhen........  

Dotted among the clusters of ever growing taller high rises are a number of city parks where stone trails lead you away from the city's dizzy urbanization to the lush, primordial tropical landscape and the birds' songs tune out the horns and hammers of modern China.

My favorite place to take a quick little hike is Lianhua Mountain Park, located near the New City Hall and the Children'sPalace. 

Lianhua Mountain Park is beautiful swatch of green located in the center of Shenzhen with a dozen trails that criss-cross the small cluster of low lying mountains. 

In the center of the park, there is a bronze statue of the late ruler Deng Xiaoping, atop the 106-meter high hill.  To get there, you must take the main trail of the Lianhua Mountain Park, which in some parts have been cut into a cliff and connected by a suspended bridge.

Sunsets are not seen often in polluted China but watching the neon lights appear on the buildings is just a spectacular in a sort of gaudy way.

If you are not up for an energetic walk, you can languish on the rolling lawns, under the shady greens, or watch young and old fly kites in the kite square. There is also a nice lake on the adjacent ground for fishing and boating. 

When darkness comes, I like to get lost in the bamboo forest. Red lanterns line the way making you feel like your path has taken you into a magical world of an old Chinese myth.

Dafen Painting Village - Shenzhen, China: In search of some kind of wonderful

Yesterday, I took the new subway line out to the hinterlands of Shenzhen. This line rises above ground like a mighty dragon taking to the sky.  From here, you can see the amazing urban sprawl and rapid building. Only a few years ago, this area was the hilly farmland that supplied the fresh produce for the fishing village that was Shenzhen once.


I got off in nondescript neighborhood filled 7-11's, street vendors and gated high rises whose modernness is undermined by the blowing laundry exploding out the windows. Everything looks the same here. Nothing is too beautiful nor too ugly.


I walked around lost trying to get my bearings. Outside a KFC, I asked someone for directions.  He pointed me in the right direction and I stumbled down the stairs into the Dafen Painting Village. 


The Dafen Painting village like every other industry in China is about mass production and specialization in its abilities for knock offs of great pieces of art. China is highly skilled at making a realistic fakes. In the new China, innovation and creativity is not really encouraged.  Mindless mass production is the way (even in thought)......


In fact, Dafen is the world's

leading center for 

mass-produced works of art. 

The painting village exports 

about five million paintings 

every year --- 60% of the 

world's reproductions. Some 

artists paint up to 30 

paintings a day.  


Most of the paintings you 

will see will end up in some 

hotel or office building in 

the west. Hanging as a 

testament to 

Globalization.... (creations 

of the west mass produced in 

the east)!



Yet, it is not a completely sad tale.  If you walk around to the shops, you can find a few startling original works trying hard to blend into the mix of Picassos, Van Goghs...... 

Creativity in China is hidden in the ashes and waiting to rise again like the Phoenix! 


I think I will make my mission this year to find these quiet little flames and sparks.

If it were only so easy.....

When you leave the subway at Luhou for the Hong Kong border crossing, this is how you should leave.....  

I usually end up having to wait in line at two different check points and then get pushed and elbowed by the mainlanders who will knock down their elders for a seat.

Street Art in Shenzhen China

The Yang of China: The dragon

Many buildings in China have holes so that dragon spirit can pass thru.  This is my building's dragon door in Shenzhen.