Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

So Kaifeng...how awesome is Kaifeng?
Thanks for asking, I shall tell you.

Kaifeng is a small city with around six hundred thousand people. Yes, you read right, I did say it's a small city and here in China, it is a small city. The old city is still surrounded by its walls and believe it or not there is an ancient city buried nine meters below the current one which was the capital of China between AD960 - 1125 on several occasions.

Why is there an ancient city buried beneath?
Thanks for asking, I shall tell you.

Kaifeng has been flooded over three hundred and sixty times in seven hundred and forty or so years. They used to rebuild but then they gave in and admitted defeat until someone had the crazy idea of beginning again. The current city is kept low to the ground as tall buildings have been banned to keep from destroying the ancient city below.

I just love old and ancient cities!
Especially those with existing walls and small buildings.

As I have been here on several occasions in the past I thought the place to begin my adventure would be the ancient Imperial Palace.

DRAGON PALACE (History)

Kaifeng, was the capital of the Song Dynasty for over one hundered and sixty seven years prior to the capital moving to Xian city. When Beijing became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the Dragon palace was re-built as a Taoist temple. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it became Prince Zhou's mansion but a flood in the late Ming Dynasty damaged it. Emperor Shunzhi of Ch'ing Dynasty named it 'The Dragon Pavilion', so the pavilion now has an emperor's memorial tablet in the palace.

Now for a bit of folklore about Pan Lake and Yang Lake?

The straight path from the Dragon Pavilion to the South Gate divides the lake in two, the west is Yang Lake (to memorise General Yangye, the east is Pan Lake (named after Premier Panmei). Supposedly Yang Lake is always clean and smooth while Pan Lake is commonly dirty. According to the folklore, Yang Lake is clean because General Yang devoted himself and his family to the people and nation while Premier Pan did a lot of bad deeds.

Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Flamin Groovies
The album was Flamin Groovies 'Teenage Head'
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