En Route to the Longmen Grottos

The drive to the Longmen Grottos

Pa writes, "We drove on a small bus from Zangzhou to the Longmen Grottos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We traveled on a modern toll road. Road repair workers in orange fluorescent jump suits, plastic Jersey Barriers, cell phone towers. 

At every conceivable spot next to the highway wood framed, plastic covered rows of greenhouse farms. Crops in these green houses surely were worked by hand or with the aid of small machines. Every hour or so there was a rest stop similar to our turnpikes. 

 The Yellow River valley is famous for its silt and also its large volume of water. This combination makes for great soil for growing food. Only 10% of the land in China is suitable for farming. With great soil by a water source, populations grow. When the river floods, people die. Millions of people. The cycles of the river inform the history of the area. The river has two names: The Mother River and The River of Sorrow.

Above is a satellite image of the part of China we are visiting, Henan Province.  On the right is the city of Zhengzhou and in the middle of the image is the Yellow River with its many meanders.  To the lower left is the city of Luoyang and the Longmen Grottos along the Yi River.

We saw a cluster of coal-powered electric plants with their cooling towers -- one per week is installed all over China.

In this great flood plain, erosion trenches are plentiful. The soil seems soft, easily excavated and so people have carved irrigation trenches and dwellings into the hills as well as the Buddhas of Longmen. 

A Dwelling Built Into the Soil

Over time people have done a lot with bricks. Most structures and towns are made of three layers of brick put together to the height that a few people could work with a scaffold.   With such a soil and construction of new housing (30 floors) and the destruction of old brick houses/compounds (workers in their regular street clothes smoking while swinging sledge hammers) a great deal of dust comes up. Added is the air pollution of (outside of metro areas) gas powered tools/carts/scooters and the burning of trash. A haze predominates.   On the 2 1/2 hour drive to the Grotos we came to the very outskirts of Luoyang ( where we visited Yoyo's orphanage the previous day). Dirt road to early paved. Truck (carts of vegetables) farmers bringing their vegetables to a field that became a busy open air market. Live small animals for sale. Open air butcher on carts is present. Butchered meet hanging up for sale.  Moments later driving through the dust, densely packed single story shops made of cement. About 15 feet by 15 feet openings and about 30 feet deep. Electric power.   So far we have no indication of the sky scrapers and modern streets yet to come, invisible beyond the dust/smog. The whole transition from truck farmers to bright city was so fast. Continuous construction, mile after mile .