Hi all, thought you might be interested in this.
The last full lunar eclipse to occur until 2014 is on THIS SATURDAY, the 10th of December.
The eclipse will not be fully visible to much of the world, but lucky Yunnan residents get to see the whole thing! (Check out shadowandsubstance.com/20111210ecl/USA12102011a.png for a world map).
Having seen a similar event earlier this year in India, I can recommend making the effort to get out and see it.
The local timings for viewing the event in Kunming, courtesy of NASA at eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JLEX/JLEX-AS.html, are as follows.
The initial penumbral (partial / 'shadow cast by the edge of the earth's atmosphere') eclipse begins at 19:34.
The partial umbral (actual hard shadow from the earth) eclipse begins at 20:46.
The total eclipse begins at 22:06. As this begins, be on the look out for special colours on the moon. Once it sets in, the moon will apparently be coloured with a reddish or orange hue of unknown nature, due to unpredictable atmospheric conditions at the time. Mid-eclipse will occur almost half an hour later at 22:32. The total eclipse will end at 22:57. The partial eclipse will end at 00:18 and the penumbral eclipse will end at 01:30AM on Sunday, December 11.
It might be worth getting a little out of town to see this. I'm thinking of going to see from the cemetery parking lot on Yu'an Shan, accessible by a small road leading off the main one up to Bamboo Temple. To get there, head directly west from Xuefu Lu / Huangtupo.
If someone has a car I'd appreciate a lift!
Enjoy,
Walter
Fishing 'season' ends on slowly reviving Dianchi Lake
Posted byWe delayed a week due to bad weather and went down last weekend, though it took us all day to get there.
We found the village named in the linked Chinese article - Shati (沙提) - and indeed there are lots of boats there, but they are all made of metal, not of wood. Currently because it is the end of the season they are all hauled up on land being re-coated. There is quite a lot of pollution as the village burns off its rubbish right next to the lake... even though they fish from it. Some government garbage collection effort is necessary!
Anyway, it should be possible to get a half-day on one of the boats when the season re-opens, according to the locals it runs from about April/May through October.
Nearby villages also have boats, it's not exclusively that one place, but that's where a fairly large fleet of fishing boats is based (upwards of 25 of them).
The easiest way to get there is to get a bus from near Haigeng Gongyuan in the Dianchi Road area of southwest Kunming for 4元. The bus simply goes straight down Huanhu Lu (环湖路), and the very last stop is close to Shati, either you can walk there down the main road (about 15 min) or you can get a cab or local bus from there.
Unfortunately, much of the nearby area to the northeast along the coast has been destroyed and is completely overdeveloped with stupid empty 'resorts', golf courses and ridiculous housing developments. There is an exception though. We also found a natural area a little beforehand, where the severe cliff topography has prevented over-development and there are still some beautiful little villages with some lovely old traditional houses still standing. The locals said that in March or April, when the water is lower, it is possible to walk across the lake and around the cliff. Could be a nice trip!
Archaeological find changing understanding of Yunnan's Bronze Age
Posted byActually the date (1400-1500BC) would mean it was earlier than the Dong Son culture proper, instead contemporary with its predecessor in the mid Vietnamese middle bronze age, the Đồng Đậu culture.
en.wikipedia.org/[...]
Archaeological find changing understanding of Yunnan's Bronze Age
Posted byRelevant Wikipedia pages: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%90%C3%B4ng_S%C6%A1n_culture and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu_(state)
Archaeological find changing understanding of Yunnan's Bronze Age
Posted byAlien, the immediate north around this period was the Shu Kingdom of Sichuan.
The Shu were very talented bronzeworkers.
However, the site of the discovery is very close to Tonghai (通海), which although probably a far later toponym, literally means "connection to the oceans", and probably refers to the area's ancient role as a critical stop on trade routes connecting central Yunnan's lake-plateaux with what is now northern Vietnam via the Red River. In a sense, once you had arrived at Tonghai, you had arrived at the "oceans" (large lakes). Similarly, if you left Tonghai southward bound for the Red River, you were heading toward the ocean proper.
Note also that the Dongson bronze drum culture of northern Vietnam is very significant in the region. It spread its influence and artifacts to Yunnan as well as Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Therefore I would hazard a guess based purely upon geography and timing that the early evidence of bronzeworking discovered in Tonghai was likely due to technological and cultural influences from northern Vietnam rather than Sichuan's Shu Kingdom.
Fishing 'season' ends on slowly reviving Dianchi Lake
Posted byThree of us are going down to try to get a sail on Sunday, one more space in the car, PM if interested!