TV series on Taishan

[laohuaqiao]

CCTV-4 program “Travel Around China” has a 5 part series on Taishan “Travel Around Taishan” Narratives are in Chinese (Mandarin) with Chinese and English subtitles.

Part 1 “Land of Uncle from Gold Mountains”
news.cntv.cn/program/zoubianzhongguo/20110325/109030.shtml

Part 2- “Lost Blue and White Porcelain”
news.cntv.cn/program/zoubianzhongguo/20110326/105319.shtml
Along the beaches of Taishan’s Shangchuan (Upper Chuan) Island, it’s common to see fragments of broken porcelain. On one beach, there are so many of these procelain that the islanders call it “Flowery Bowl” beach. A few years ago, a young archeologist examined these broken fragments and identified them as being made from the kilns of Jingdezhen, the capital of Chinese porcelain, during the mid-Ming Dynasty. Why are they found on these beaches and who brought them over there ... ?

Part 3- “Land of Longevity”
news.cntv.cn/program/zoubianzhongguo/20110327/102689.shtml
According to recent census, Taishan has 96 centenarians. In a region with 1 million residents, that’s 3 times China’s national average.

Part 4 - “ In Search of White Dolphin”
news.cntv.cn/program/zoubianzhongguo/20110328/110084.shtml
Near the southern coast of Taishan, Daijing Island is a sanctuary for the endangered white dolphins.

Part 5 - “Mei Family Courtyard”
Mei Family Courtyard is a rectangular courtyard surrounding by western style buildings in Duanfen’s Dingjiang Market Place.
The announced broadcast date is 3/29/2011. I will provide the link whenever it becomes available online.

[helen]

Thanks - I just watched them all. The old lady who plays mahjong was a character - in Part 3. I have shared the links with some Kiwis here.

[lachinatown]

Seems like I am having problems viewing the tapes.

[laohuaqiao]

Part 5 - “Mei Family Courtyard”
news.cntv.cn/program/zoubianzhongguo/20110330/100042.shtml
Last and certainly not the least, in my opinion, this is the best of the 5 part series.

[laohuaqiao]

Every location has its own history and sometimes that history is embedded in the name of the location. The names of few places mentioned in this series are good examples of that.

Back in the days when Sanba 三八 "3-8", Sijiu 四九 "4-9" and Wushi 五十 "5-10" were market places, each was given designated days of the month for market day, when farmers and other vendors would bring their produces and goods to sell. So, for Sanba it was the 3rd and 8th day of the lunar month, Sijiu the 4th and 9th day, etc.

A village on Shangchuan Island is called Shisun Cun 石笋村 Stone Shoot Village (shoot as in bamboo shoot), for the "stone shoot", 2 meters high and not native to the island, found on the land upon which the village was built. It turns out it's a discovery stone erected by the Portuguese explorers when they first landed on Shangchuan Island 500 years ago.