Today, like most of the last three days, has seen steady, relentless rain in Xining. It is promised to be much the same for the next few days. I'm not mad keen on cities; Chinese cities especially; and Chinese cities in the rain most particularly. Things can only get better - I start my trek on Monday, and Billy Connelly's proverb will start to come into play - "There's no such thing as bad weather; just inappropriate clothing". I have been warned by someone who lives here, and has travelled fairly extensively in this area, that this trek will be tough - partly because it is still early in the season. I have been thrown by knowledge of the trekking season in Nepal - which is in its prime during May and August. Here, some 1250Km further North, there is still snow on the hills to a comparatively low level - about 5800m. Doing my trek does mean that I won't be publishing anything until at least 2012-06-03. I am currently dividing my luggage into two parts - to take on the trek, and to leave here at the hostel for the duration of the trek. It is looking as though I can exactly split my luggage - so I'll be carrying less than 10.5Kg.
In between the rain I managed, yesterday, to get to the Tibetan Medical Cultural Museum. This is a splendid brand new museum, a fairly long way out of Xining, containing a great deal of the medical aspects of Tibetan culture. It does also hold a new Thangka - the largest in the world. It is 640+m long (for comparison - the Bayeux tapestry is about 70m long), and has to be displayed as a serpentine path, doubling back on itself multiple times. It has been done by some of the world's greatest Thangka painters, and is undoubtedly a masterpiece. It displays the history, chronology, creation myths, religious stories, and many other aspects of Tibetan culture. Walking the Thangka is a slightly frustrating experience - one keeps thinking, somewhere after the half way point "I must be getting very near the end" continually. The creation of the Thangka is very much Chinese inspired and does both have curious omissions and some delightful "Chinglish" in the display captions. The lineage of a certain office contains (to use computer terminology) a "off by one" error, though other comparable lineages are complete. The best display caption was the one describing a panel showing the "38 Dainties". This was curious, because adjacent captions were correct, but this was the only incorrect caption. It should have read of course "38 Deities".
No matter how good a display, and how great the Thangka; nonetheless it is a museum, and a tourist attraction. I find this very sad, because the contents of the museum are actually very sparse, considering the breadth and width of Tibetan culture. Also, the Chinese have managed (for me) to completely kill the culture in putting it in a museum. The nearest comparison I can think of is Westminster Abbey. This can be considered a museum; it certainly is a major tourist attraction; but the crucial difference is that Westminster Abbey is also still a functioning Christian establishment, fulfilling its original and intended purpose. This keeps it alive, in a way that Buddhism, and Tibetan culture is not within this museum.
It's still raining.
In between the rain I managed, yesterday, to get to the Tibetan Medical Cultural Museum. This is a splendid brand new museum, a fairly long way out of Xining, containing a great deal of the medical aspects of Tibetan culture. It does also hold a new Thangka - the largest in the world. It is 640+m long (for comparison - the Bayeux tapestry is about 70m long), and has to be displayed as a serpentine path, doubling back on itself multiple times. It has been done by some of the world's greatest Thangka painters, and is undoubtedly a masterpiece. It displays the history, chronology, creation myths, religious stories, and many other aspects of Tibetan culture. Walking the Thangka is a slightly frustrating experience - one keeps thinking, somewhere after the half way point "I must be getting very near the end" continually. The creation of the Thangka is very much Chinese inspired and does both have curious omissions and some delightful "Chinglish" in the display captions. The lineage of a certain office contains (to use computer terminology) a "off by one" error, though other comparable lineages are complete. The best display caption was the one describing a panel showing the "38 Dainties". This was curious, because adjacent captions were correct, but this was the only incorrect caption. It should have read of course "38 Deities".
No matter how good a display, and how great the Thangka; nonetheless it is a museum, and a tourist attraction. I find this very sad, because the contents of the museum are actually very sparse, considering the breadth and width of Tibetan culture. Also, the Chinese have managed (for me) to completely kill the culture in putting it in a museum. The nearest comparison I can think of is Westminster Abbey. This can be considered a museum; it certainly is a major tourist attraction; but the crucial difference is that Westminster Abbey is also still a functioning Christian establishment, fulfilling its original and intended purpose. This keeps it alive, in a way that Buddhism, and Tibetan culture is not within this museum.
It's still raining.
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