Zhuhai Adventures

It’s a Saturday and we are still jet lagged but desperate to explore our locale. We have been reading about Tangjia Ancient Town an area quite close to our building.
Tangjia old town is a maze of tiny streets, low rise buildings that are either shops or cafes with living quarters above. After translating some public notices we work out that not all of the older buildings are actually ancient – most are from 17th Century but some of the Temples date from earlier.
It is a very busy day for visitors and we are soon dodging electric bikes, mopeds and huge 10 seater golf-style visitor buggies carrying sightseers, which is easier said than done in the narrow alleyways.
Our first stop is the Temple of …well the Three Temples. Dedicated to Kam Fa the goddess of fertility, Man Mo God of literature and war and the Buddha, which I guess has most things covered! These Temples are right next to each other linked by a large courtyard with distinct entrances. The doorway to each has a traditional raised threshold which you must step over to separate the spirit from the material world. Inside there are shrines with effigies of the relevant Gods, Goddesses and Holy men and women. There are also statues of lion dances and dragons and some carvings in relief on the walls, they are beautiful and peaceful spaces.
We are surprised to see that each temple still has many recent offerings and decorations left by devotees. A few visitors are bowing their heads in prayer or meditation and we back off to allow for privacy. Isn’t China a secular country? It seems that spirituality is still important to ordinary people everywhere, and that is not a surprise.
As we walk further into the tangle of the Old Town we pass more Temples; if they are open we step inside for a quick look they are not very large, but we want to cover more ground rather than investigate each one.
Right in the centre of town we come across a museum, it was a noble family’s house and has been beautifully renovated. Through the entrance doors there is a courtyard just outside of the main doors to the living area. This small quad has a pool with goldfish, turtles and some lovely plantings, it reminds us of the Spanish Moorish and Indian traditions we have seen, of making water features within the house to create a feeling of cool and peace.
The museum is home to a special exhibition of textiles at the moment, and it is beautifully curated. There are examples of original fibres at the start and as we ponder about what they are, a very helpful young man with excellent English comes over and stays with us to give us a really wonderful tour and explanation. ‘This is hemp’ the first clothes were made from this.
‘Can you guess what the silkworm feeds on from the colour of their cocoons?’
We couldn’t… ‘Some mulberries, some cherries blossom’.
This continues, he shows us a very thick rugged garment that shepherds wore made from sheepskin- this protects from the cold … ‘But can you guess what else?’
We could not… ‘Wolves! If the man is bitten, he is not injured as it is so thick!’
We see a huge loom from the 17th century that is made with wood from more ancient times, everything is repurposed. There are many hand looms and spinning wheels.
One of Rob’s favourite exhibitions is an art installation created from hundreds of cotton flowers or bolls ‘shadowing’ a cotton shirt.
‘This has two meanings can you guess?’
We could not… ‘This is how many cotton flowers it takes to make this shirt, and this is a serious message about fast fashion. Please consider before you buy what it takes to create your garments!’
My favourite section was the beautifully laid out china bowls containing all the natural ingredients used in the dyeing process, we were able to touch, smell and of course guess what they each were and what colour they would bring to the cloth.
This wise and pleasant young man stole our hearts and at the end of the tour he gave us the gift of a tiny cardboard linen shirt.
At the end of the town, we find ourselves at the entrance to a park, but we are far too hot and tired to climb the hill into the cool looking trees, instead we head into a café and grab a cold drink. Inside we are surrounded by cats: pregnant cats, skinny cats, scary cats, sleepy cats and kittens – but they all have one thing in common, and this now becomes our name for the café which we continue to pass in the coming days. The Ugly Cat Café.