Day 8: 17 June, 1997

Yanan railway station 延安火車站 (6:30 a.m.)

Yanan Sheng Di Hotel 延安聖地賓館 (7 a.m.)

Treasure Tower 寶塔 (8:30 a.m.)

Yanan Revolution Museum 延安革命紀念館 (10 a.m.)

Yanan University 延安大學 (12 nn)

Zao Yuan 棗園 (1:30 p.m.)

Yang Jia Ling 楊家嶺 (3:30 p.m.)

Yanan University 延安大學 (5:30 p.m.)

Yanan Sheng Di Hotel 延安聖地賓館 (10:15 p.m.)

We were forced to get up early because the train reached the terminus - Yanan station. When I woke up, I felt someone had turned on the air-conditioning - of course there was no air-conditioning in the train, and the fact was that the temperature of Yanan was lower than in Xi'an, since it is in the north. Also, it was early in the morning, so the air was cool. We walked down the compartment, and felt the fresh and cool air there, what an atmosphere of a town.

Yanan railway terminus 延安火車站
We had a 17-seater van (the people there called it "luxurious medium bus 豪華中巴") waiting for us, and Mr. Yang from Yanan University greeted us there.

7 a.m. Yanan Sheng Di Hotel 延安聖地賓館

Originally we were going to stay in Yanan University (Yanan U), but Mr. Tung said the condition there was not good (later we knew why), so we better stayed in a hotel. Mr. Cheung said it was the finest hotel in Yanan, I believed so. The building was not big, but well-decorated. Joe and I stayed in room 304, while others stayed in rooms on this floor or on the floor below. The rooms were good, with big beds, high quality colour TV (Konka), lamps, air-conditioner etc.. I loved the golden blankets. In the bathroom, there were everything we need for a bath, and we regreted that we brought our soaps, shampoo and toothpaste.

Beside the beds, there was a wooden case for storing things, and there was a row of buttons controling lights, TV etc. (It was the first time I left Hong Kong since my childhood (I've been to Guangzhou and Taiwan when I was small), so forgive me if you think these descriptions are redundant). There was a phone which we can call other rooms, so we used it a lot to talk to other trip-mates.

We then had our breakfast there, many of us were tired-looking. Then, got on the van, and went to our first spot in Yanan.

8:30 a.m. Treasure Tower 寶塔

Treasure Tower 寶塔

Treasure tower was the landmark of Yanan. It was built in Tang Dynasty, high up the hill, so that almost everyone in Yanan could see it. The staircase was very narrow, and could only let one person to go through each time. Also, the ladders were very steep, and there was very little room to move about. It had nine storeys.

While we climbed to the top floor, we could see Yanan clearly. Yanan was a town, built on the sides of Yan River 延河. As it was during the dry season, there was little water in the river, so we could see the walls on each side of the river. It had a small town centre, other areas were villages and farms.

We decend to the bottom of the tower, it was quite dangerous and we climbed carefully. There were some
Yanan 延安全景
stalls around. One stall was selling badges, another stall rented clothes (e.g. soldier clothes) to tourists, so that they could take photos. There was an old military jeep of the Red Army, tourists could pay to ride on it and took photos. We walked around for a while, and then went to the next spot.

10 a.m. Yanan Revolution Museum 延安革命紀念館

Yanan was the base of the Communist Party after the Long March, and the early leaders of the Party lived here for several years. This meseum collected objects during the early years of the Revolution. It had a grand outlook, with a large open space in front, and a tall statue of Chairman Mao Zedong. He looked forward confidently. We took photos of the statue, and then went into the museum. There were maps introducing the wars fought by the Red Army, a lady in the museum introduced the story of the Party to the tourists. Besides, there were photos of early party leaders, and also some of the things used by them. We could see guns and other military supplies at that time. After we had seen all the things in the museum, we went out and took photos around. We were given some time to visit some of the souvenir stores. The most popular souvenirs were little red drums 安塞腰鼓. There were Chairman Mao badges, but were relatively expensive. We also saw some commemorative coin and stamps to celebrate the successful cross of the stuntman Ke Shou-Liang 柯受良, who flied across the Yellow River in a race car. Some audio tapes recording songs about the revolution were for sale too.

12 nn Yanan University 延安大學

After that, we went to Yanan University. A new, brown building was located near the main gate. It was Run Run Shaw Building 逸夫樓. Run Run Shaw was so rich! We could see his name even in this remote part in China. We went into a canteen to have our lunch. As usual, not many dishes suited us, and the rice came lately. We had Coca-Cola, but no ice cube was supplied. I had been drinking lots of soft drink in those days. I heard Mr. Yang (from Yanan U) said that there was a psychologist visiting the university, and after lunch, I had a chance to talk to him. He was Dr. Rowell from the U.S., studying the development of psychology in China, and had been to Shanghai and Beijing. I asked him what did he feel about the development of psychology here, he said the government hadn't put much resource in it.

We went back to the hotel to have a rest before going to the next spot. Because Yanan was not big, so that much travelling time was saved and we could had time to rest. In fact, we could reach the spots we visited within 15 minutes.

1:30 p.m. Zao Yuan 棗園

It was a base of the Revolution, early leaders lived in the "caves 窯洞" there. "Caves" were home for most people in Yanan, they were built (but not naturally formed) in the hillside, and appeared to be rows of rooms. In Zao Yuan, we could see a conference room used by early leaders and also the caves they lived in. We could actually go into the caves of Zhou Enlai 周恩來, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi 劉少奇 and others. It gave the feeling of simple and hard life, and a village atmosphere. Inside the caves, we could see beds and tables.

Chairman Mao in front of the "caves"
We walked around and saw a primary school of "Project Hope 希望工程" there, we could hear students reading. There was a steele of Chairman Mao, and his words were crafted on it: "Serve the people 為人民服務".

3:30 p.m. Yang Jia Ling 楊家嶺

Yang Jia Ling was another spot which contained the buildings belonged to the Revolution period. Two little boys followed us all the way. They did not buy the ticket, since they knew a path along the hillside to go there. We could see many "caves" up the hill. The biggest building there was the "Central Main Hall 中央大禮堂". It was a light-brown building with blue window frames, built in 1940. We went inside, and found it was like any other halls or churches, with many benches and a stage. At the back of the stage, there was a big craft of Chairman Mao.

After leaving the hall, we visited other rooms, and other caves which Mao and others stayed. While we were leaving, the boys were still following us, Kelvin and I tried to talk to a boy, but he didn't understand our Mandarin (it seems that the people there had a different accent or pronunciation. Our Mandarin worked quite well in Xi'an, but some people in Yanan said they didn't understand what we were saying, although I did understand what they were saying by listening and guessing). But communication could exist without words. The boy gave us two Christmas cards (The English words said it was a Christmas card, but the Chinese words said it was for new year), and Kelvin gave him a single line paper of History Society for return. We visited a souvenir store, and I bought a necklace.

5:30 p.m. Yanan University 延安大學

We were back to our hotel for a snap before going to Yanan U again for dinner. After the dinner, I went for a walk outside the canteen. There was a large field for playing football and other sports, and many of the people playing there were wearing football jerseys of famous foreign clubs (AC Milan was quite popular) and of course the jersey of China, although all of them were imitations. The residential hostels were in fact "caves" and also two-storey buildings, just like temporary housing 臨屋 in Hong Kong. I knew why we were not staying in Yanan U then (public hygiene was a big problem, especially for the toilets. At lunch time, I asked where the toilets were, and I was brought to a place marked "public toilet", it was just a place with trenches, surrounded by walls, without water supply). The library was newly built.

We then went to Run Run Shaw Building to have an interflow session with Yanan U students. Frennie and I talked with a boy there, We talked about Diaoyu Islands 釣魚台, the reunification etc.. I knew that in Yanan U, some students learned English and other languages. I was asked about an issue in western history (probably Russian history), and I said he better ask Frennie as I knew very little about western history. We talked happily with them. We were served with slices of water melon, and Fat Boy seemed to be very interested in them and ate a lot, and we teased him of this event afterwards.

10:15 p.m. Yanan Sheng Di Hotel 延安聖地賓館

We were back to the hotel. Since the hotel was not near to the centre of Yanan, and no shops was found nearby, we stayed in the hotel. Joe and I had a bath, just a while later, some girls yelled there was no water supply. With the help of Mr. Cheung, we knew that the water supply was cut, maybe because of the dry weather. We helped the girls by giving them our hot water pots and hoped there was enough water for them.

I played cards with others until 1 a.m.. Then, I slept in the comfortable big bed with a golden blanket.

Continue to Day 9 !

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