Xiamen – China’s ‘Garden on the Sea’

The Chinese south-eastern port city of Xiamen in the Fujian Province, was in the news as the host city of the 9^th BRICS Summit in September 2017.  Formerly known to the Western world as Amoy, the city, with an urban population of 1.8 million, encompasses 2 main islands and a region on the mainland. Known as the ‘Garden on the Sea’, Xiamen has an excellent harbor, sheltered by a number of offshore islands.   The city is known for its mild climate, Hokkien culture and colonial architecture, as well as its relatively low pollution. It was a British treaty port from 1842 to 1912.

Until 1840, Western powers were allowed to trade only in Canton (now Guangzhou), under strict controls.  After China lost the First Opium War in 1842, Britain took over Hong Kong and forced China to open five treaty ports – Canton, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai.  In Xiamen, the Gulang Island or Gulang-Yu became a foreign enclave with consulates and luxurious homes.   

After the Communists established the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the new government focused considerable attention on developing Xiamen’s infrastructure and economy.  When Deng Xiaoping initiated his Opening Up Policy, Xiamen was made one of the first four Special Economic Zones in 1980 with special investment and trade regulations attracting foreign investment, particularly from overseas Chinese. Being the home town of many overseas Hokkien Chinese, who had migrated to South East Asia during the rule of Qing dynasty, Xiamen benefited from their contribution and its economy prospered rapidly.

Today, Xiamen has more Taiwanese investment than any other city in China. With Siming and Huli districts forming its SEZs, the city has a diverse and well developed economy.  Important industries are fishing, shipbuilding, food processing, textiles, machine tools, telecommunications and financial services.

Ferry ride to Gulang-Yu

A visit to Xiamen would not be complete without setting foot on Gulang-Yu, the island just across the harbor. A UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site, the island is about 2 km² in area, and is reached by a 5-minute ferry ride from downtown Xiamen. Although only about 20,000 people live on the island, Gulang-Yu is a major domestic tourist destination, attracting more than 10 million visitors per year, and making it one of China's most visited tourist attractions.  Gulang-Yu not only bans cars, but also bicycles. The only vehicles permitted are small golf cart like electric buggies and electric government service vehicles.

Soon after Xiamen became a treaty port following the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, foreign residents from as many as 13 countries established their presence at Gulang-Yu. As with the Shanghai International Settlement, the British played a predominant role in the administration and Sikh policemen from British India were entrusted with the policing of the Settlement.  The consulates, churches, hospitals, schools, police stations, etc. built by those foreign communities explain the predominantly Victorian-era style architecture that can still be seen throughout Gulang-Yu.

The spread of Christianity in 1900s brought western music to the island. Churches and museums were built, and people enjoyed going to music halls to hear performances. Since then, the island's local culture mingled with western music and art, altogether transforming Xiamen’s cultural environment. Xiamen, home to a number of prominent musicians, also has the honour of hosting China’s only Piano Museum, thus earning the sobriquet ‘The Island of Music’.

Xiamen’s oil painting industry

Xiamen is also famous for its oil painting industry.  80% market shares in European and American market is taken up by hand painted oil paintings exported from this city.  Xiamen Wushipu Oil Painting Village has more than 5,000 artists, with ability to produce all kinds of oil paintings with different specifications and styles.

Nanputuo Buddhist Temple

Another important attraction in Xiamen is the Nanputuo Buddhist Temple, adjoining the beautiful campus of the Xiamen University. Nanputuo Buddhist temple has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. Its latest incarnation dates to the early 20th century, and today it’s an active and busy temple with chanting monks and worshippers lighting incense. The temple is fronted by a huge lotus lake.  Visitors can climb the mountain behind the temple for beautiful views of Xiamen and surrounding nature. 

With its clear waters, long and wide sandy beaches as well as its stable winds, Xiamen is one of the major hot spots for Kite Surfing in China, and often hosts various domestic and international competitions.  From April till December you will find perfect cross-shore winds and warm to mild water temperatures 

Xiamen may not exactly be in the same league as Taipei or Hong Kong, but it is a typical sea side  city with abundant tourist attractions in the form of picturesque islands, mountains, temples and parks etc., providing visitors with a full sightseeing schedule.

2017/9/9

Xiamen China (Amoy) 4K

Sundarbans – the beautiful Jungle

R Ganesh*

The Sundarbans is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve located in the Sundarbans delta spread across West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. It covers approximately 10,000 km2 area, of which 60% is in Bangladesh and the remainder in India.  It is one of the largest remaining areas of mangroves in the world. The area is also known for its wide range of fauna, including 260 bird species and other threatened species such as estuarine crocodile and the Indian python. However, it is the Royal Bengal Tiger, which is the main draw of  the Sundarbans.  The Royal Bengal Tigers of Sunderbans have developed a unique characteristic of swimming in the saline waters. Tiger spotting was one of the main reasons I was attracted to the Sundarbans and once I finished my office related work in Kolkata, I immediately headed over to Sundarbans for a short break. 

I had spoken to the two brothers - Rajesh and Mowgli Kumar - of Backpackers Sundarban Tours for the trip, and they had taken care of all the arrangements for transport from Kolkata /accommodation and safari cruise at the Sundarbans. I was picked up by them in Kolkata and after 3-4 hours of drive, we reached Namkhana from where we took a crowded boat to take us to Sundarbans. On the other side of river, we took a cycle rickshaw - the only means of public transport- to reach a small eco-village, where we were going to stay for the duration of the trip.

 

After having a lovely lunch, we roamed around the village in the summer heat. Call me crazy,  but I loved walking in the village and its solitude even with the harsh sun on my head. In the evening, I went on the little boat ride around the area to have a closer look at the mangrove forest. It sure was exciting to enter the various creeks and experience the silence and stillness of the forest.  I tried my hand at rowing the boat but my technique was all wrong and after many futile attempts, I retired to being one of the passengers of the boat.  Besides me, there were four more travellers - two girls from Hyderabad  and a couple from United Kingdom.

 

The next day, we got up before sunrise and got ready in a hurry. All of us were excited at the prospect of what was in store for us during the cruise around the Sundarbans.  I,for one, was waiting to explore this area for a long time and the D day had finally arrived.

 

Even as we were returning from the Forest Department after obtaining necessary permissions, there was commotion on the river bank. Someone had spotted pug marks of the famous Bengal tiger on the banks and all of us rushed to the area and had a closer look at the marks. The guide explained to us that the marks were fresh and we all were very excited and nervous - maybe it was going to be our lucky day !

 

 

We were joined on the boat by an experienced guide and and he explained to us about the Sundarbans in detail.  The core area is free from all human disturbances like collection of wood, honey, fishing and other forest produces. However, in the buffer area fishing, honey collection and wood cutting are permitted in limited form.  Of course, the villagers venture into the core area and that is when the tiger-man conflict raises its ugly head. It is a vicious circle as the opinion on who is to blame depends on who you talk to - the villagers or the forest department.

 

The only means of travelling the park is to by boat, down the various lanes formed by the many flowing rivers. The habitat is traversed by many narrow tidal channels forming small to large islands. Tigers readily cross these islands and the guide recounted the various stories of his tiger sightings.  As we moved along the narrow channels, all of us were deathly quiet and a bit nervous as well, wondering whether we were walking directly into a trap set by the predator of the forest - the elusive Royal Bengal Tiger. 

 

The Sundarbans National Park also houses an excellent number of reptiles as well. Some of the common ones are olive ridley turtles, sea snakes, dog faced water snakes, green turtles, etc. We sighted deer, monitor lizard and many species of birds during our cruise but the tiger remained elusive. Even though it was hot, all of us were as excited as little school children on their first picnic. The boat kept chugging along the river and our eyes scanned the forest to find any kind of a movement. It was fun and a first hand experience at how the eco system works in this part of the world.

 

 

Sundarban is the paradise of wild life and greenery of dense forest. Photographers from different parts of the world come here to capture the panoramic view of Sundarban. The Englishman with us was busy capturing the nature’s splendor in his splendid SLR camera.

 

Despite not being able to spot the Royal Bengal Tiger, it was an unforgettable experience and it left me craving for more. The trip was very well organized by the brothers and when I left this magical place on Sunday, I was hoping that this trip would be the first of many I make to the Sundarbans.....

 

R Ganesh is a Mumbai based professional and an avid adventure traveler

 

 

 

 

 

Training stray dogs to protect villages from Tiger attacks in Sundarbans

Global Warming has led to an increase in tiger man conflict in the Sunderbans. Due to a 45 cm rise in the water, the salinity levels in the Sunderbans have increased drastically. This has forced the tiger to move towards the northern (more densely populated parts) of the Sunderbans resulting in an increase in tiger man conflict. There has been an increase in the attacks in the Sunderbans lately because of lack prey. Desperate villagers in turn, attack and kill the tigers.

Following the tragic news that three people were killed by tigers, conservationists from the Zoological Society of London came up with a project  to train stray dogs to keep the tiger at bay in the Sunderbans. For the first time, humans' canine companions are being used to help protect man from tigers, and therefore, tigers from man.

Field staff from ZSL working on tiger conservation and research in the Bangladesh Sundarbans had a tough job persuading the locals to protect endangered Bengal tigers, as they gained a formidable reputation as man-eaters.

The Sundarbans form the world's largest mangrove forest and are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The forests are dense and rich with wildlife, providing many resources for local communities - and they are also home to one of the largest surviving populations of wild tigers in the world. The tigers are the top predators of the forests, and ensuring their survival helps keep the wildlife of the forest in balance. 

Around 50 people are killed each year by the tigers of the forest, and most at risk are those who have to work in or close to the forests' borders. It is not completely understood why tigers become man-eaters but it is thought that some older, sick or injured tigers may find hunting humans easier than animal prey. The human-tiger conflict in the Sundarbans is escalating and despite tigers being legally protected since 1974, many are still being killed in response or anticipation of attacks. It is estimated that there are only 300-500 tigers left in the area. 

Conservationists Monirul Khan and Adam Barlow from ZSL have worked on various projects to conserve tigers. One of which is training the local stray street dogs to act as a deterrent for any prowling tigers that come too close to the village borders. By alerting the villagers to a tiger's presence, the animal can be frightened away instead of being hunted and killed. Although using dogs to protect humans from animal predators isn't a new idea, it is the first time they have been used in the battle to save tigers from extinction.

The following 48 minute BBC documentary – ‘Man-eating Tigers of the Sundarbans’ - explores the man-tiger relationship and efforts of the London Zoological Society in training stray dogs to protect villages from Tiger attacks.

Man Eating Tigers Of The Sundarbans - BBC

The Uncommon Genius : A tribute to RK Laxman by Rajdeep Sardesai

For the first six years and a bit of my professional life, the Common Man was an intrinsic part of my life. Every morning, a little after 9 am, two individuals would file into the Times of India office, almost like clockwork. One was close to 70, the other was just 23. The generation gap did not matter a jot: RK Laxman was very generous with his time and intellect with a young journalist who looked at him with awe and excitement.

He would walk into office in a trademark white shirt and black trouser with a black bag in hand. He could have been just any other commuter rushing into the Old Lady of Boribunder from the Victoria Terminus station on the other side of the road. But the man who made the common man a household name was anything but common in his genius with a sketch pen. Every morning, for over 50 years, he captured the sights, sounds, and yes, above all else, the wit, humour, sarcasm of India. In a newspaper plagued with negative news, the Laxman pocket cartoon became an oasis of  laughter.

He never ridiculed anyone; his cartooning skill was based on capturing the simplicity of life, notslapstick humour but truly located in the many ironies of public life. A pothole not repaired for years, a broken telephone line, a politician who kept cash under the table, or most famously, Indira Gandhi taking son Sanjay in a pram, Laxman's cartoons were funny but never offensive. He didn't  want to anger the readers, but wanted to take them on a joyride with a quiet chuckle. As he told me once, "My sketch pen is not a sword, it's my friend."

Finding the Common Man

I asked him once how he discovered the Common Man. "I didn't discover him, he found me," he said, with a glint in the eye. The idea, he said, was to reflect on the sheer bewilderment of the man on the street as he explored a rapidly changing world. The common man was the humble bystander who in his checked coat and dhoti simply observed the funnily strange society around him. Laxman liked to lampoon politicians, but he also was friends with them, including his contemporary Bal Thackeray. The story, possibly apocryphal, is that Laxman and Thackeray applied for the same cartoonist job at the Times of India in the early '50s. Laxman got it and a miffed Balasaheb never forgave the South Indians for taking jobs away from local Maharashtrians.

When he wasn't drawing politicians, Laxman would sketch crows. He found something uncommon in the most common bird. "What a beautiful crow is sitting outside my window," he would remark like an excited child. He was tight-fisted with his money but not with the mind, almost arrogant about his skill but not about his craft. Every morning, he would share his thoughts at our editorial meeting. He had a sharp political mind and one which he said had not been "tainted" by Delhi. "Living in Mumbai gives me the benefit of distance, the closer you are to those in power, the more they will corrupt you!"

  

His journalism mantra was simple. "Start each cartoon or each article as if it's your first, and think about your reader before you think about yourself," he would tell me. The simplicity of communication was the hallmark of a durability that is unparalleled in news journalism: he started with Jawaharlal and ended with Rahul.A few years ago, we gave Laxman 

A few years ago, we gave Laxman the CNN-IBN lifetime achievement award. He came on a wheelchair and received the award from Abdul Kalam. He cried on stage. So did I. A man who had brought a smile to millions of Indians across generations was in tears. So was the audience. It was perhaps the final act of an extraordinary life: we had laughed with him, how could we not cry? And now that he is gone, there is a sense of emptiness. Farewell sir. And thank you.

(Article courtesy : Scroll.in) 

R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore in 1921.  His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six sons;  an older brother is the famous novelist R K Narayan.  After high school, Laxman applied to the JJ School of Art, Mumbai hoping to concentrate on his lifelong interests of drawing and painting, but the Dean of the institute wrote to him that his drawings lacked, "the kind of talent to qualify for enrolment in our institution as a student", and refused admission. He finally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mysore.  While a college student, Laxman illustrated his elder brother R K Narayanan’s stories in The Hindu. His first full-time job was as a political cartoonist was for the Free Press Journal in Mumbai. Later, he joined The Times of India, and became famous for Common Man character. His "common man" character, featured in his pocket cartoons, is portrayed as a witness to the making of democracy.

O PESHAWAR

(The massacre of 141 people including 132 students of the Army Public School by Taliban drew world’s attention to Peshawar, the fourth largest city of Pakistan.  Mandesa’s Blue Planet attempts to explore the past and the present of the city in news for tragic reasons).

Renowned as one of the longest living cities of South Asia – once famous for its shady boulevards and heavenly sunsets against the towering Tatara mountains in the background, Peshawar is rightfully called a ‘Frontier City’.  Its strategic location on the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia made it one of the most culturally vibrant and lively cities of the region. The city, which is also the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly North-West Frontier Province), is situated on the eastern end of the historic Khyber pass, close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.  It is a Pakistani city with a distinct Afghan flavour.

Peshawar, a living city for nearly 3000 years ranks with Rome and Athens in its longevity.  There is perhaps not another city in South Asia that has a longer continuous living history, not even Delhi or Lahore.  But the city is not the same as before.

A noted conservationist says “the problem is the city’s cultural and historical foundations have been replaced with hatred and discrimination based on gender, caste, creed and religious schools of thought – which is  a sure shot recipe for ruining any culture”. “The cultural desert and materialist Mecca that Peshawar has lately transformed into, shuts out the precious past and any prospect of reviving tourism in future” says noted journalist Adil Zareef.

“After the mass exodus of old residents from the walled city to the suburbs in the early 1980s, invasion by migrants and tribal drug lords with loads of black money has jacked up property prices and replaced traditional Pakhtun hospitality and courtesy in exchange for gun culture, violence and vandalism. It now defines the acquired ‘post-Jihad Peshawar Culture” moans Zareef.

Peshawar derives its name from the Sanskrit word Purushapura. Its recorded history goes back as far as at least 539 B.C. The Kushana king, Kanishka, moved his capital from nearby Pushkalavati in the 2^nd Century CE.  During Kanishka’s reign, Buddhist missionaries arrived and convinced the Emperor to embrace their religion. Soon, Peshawar became a great centre of Buddhist learning and patron of Gandhara school of art and culture.

Kanishka, who became an ardent follower of Buddhism, built what may have been the tallest building in the world at the time – the Kanishka Stupa, outside the old city of Peshawar. The glory of this stupa has been described in detail by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian (Fahien), who visited Peshawar in the 5^th century CE.  The stupa was eventually destroyed by lightning.

The Pashtuns began a conversion to Islam, following the early annexation of their territory by the Arab Empire from Khorasan. Pashtun emperor, Sher Shah Suri, turned Peshawar’s renaissance into a boon when he ran his ambitious Delhi-Kabul Shahi Road through the Khyber Pass and Peshawar in the 16^th century.  In 1818,  Peshawar was captured by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, following which the city experienced a relative decline.

After the defeat of the Sikh Empire in the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, Peshawar was incorporated into British India.  The British laid out a vast Peshawar Cantonment to the west of the city  and made it the frontier headquarters. They also connected Peshawar with rest of India by Railway line. The legendary Frontier Mail, rechristened Golden Temple Mail in 1996, ran from Peshawar to Bombay (now Mumbai), through which it is believed that Prithviraj Kapoor travelled from his home town to become a film actor.

The British also constructed the Cunningham Clock Tower, popularly known as Ghanta Ghar, in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.  They also contributed to the establishment of Western style education by setting up Edwardes College and Islamia College in 1901 and 1913 respectively.

Peshawar grew to become the cultural centre of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  Its culture has been evolved over the years and has principally been influenced by Gandhara , Pakhtun and Hindko cultures. Since, Pakhtun’s were largely rural and Hindko’s are mostly urbanites, Peshawar itself consisted of predominantly Hindko speaking population until recently.

1947, brought the end of tolerance.  What was once a cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic city, Peshawar witnessed mass exodus upon partition of India and Pakistan.  Affluent Hindu and Sikh families with properties in the cantonment and walled city fled overnight to make way for a new breed of property grabbers.

Can you imagine Bollywood’s close connection with this historic city?  Their ancestral homes are on the verge of collapse or being axed by property sharks.  Dilip Kumar’s home is in a dilapidated condition, while Shah Rukh Khan’s ancestral house in Mohallah Khudadad still stands.  Prithviraj Kapoor’s imposing haveli ‘Kapoor Mahal’ is likely to be pulled down to make for a modern building. Anil Kapoor’s ancestral home is also intact.

The city’s cultural fabric got enriched when Afghan singers and poets migrated to Peshawar following the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.   But along with singers and poets, also came the hardliner clerics preaching conservatism.  When the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Islamic Coaltion came to power in 2002, it banned public performance of music and prohibited playing of recorded music in public transport .

The music of Peshawar did not die. It simply went underground.  Popular Rock stars like Rahim Shah, Sajid and Zeeshan emerged out of unlikeliest of places making their riffs and ragas heard, slowly and surely.   The music needs to rise again to subdue the sound of blazing guns and return peace to Peshawar.

ED : Mandesa31

 (Courtesy : Adil Zareef : Friday Times,  Culture Peshawar,  Khyber Gateway  & UNESCO)