Chaoshan Travel Notes

Travel log:

9/24: Station -> Chaoshan Station -> (K2 line) -> Central Hospital -> (walk) -> Xu Consort's Mansion (passed by) -> Kapok Mansion, check-in (video call / "live" sharing)

9/25: Wake up at 6:00 AM, leave at 7:00 AM -> Rent an e-scooter -> Stroll Archway Street -> Breakfast (inside Archway Street) -> Kaiyuan Temple -> Guangji Bridge -> Guangji Gate -> Chaozhou Ancient City -> Library -> Wet market (lunch: beef kway teow) -> Return the scooter -> Cross Guangji Bridge -> Hanwengong Ancestral Hall -> Thai Buddha Hall -> Huiru Park -> Take bus (after changing ticket) to Shantou -> Check in to apartment -> MixC Mall -> Watch movie (Creation of the Gods)

9/26: Eye swelling -> Register at Shantou hospital -> Breakfast (rice rolls) -> Shantou Museum -> Zhongshan Park -> Lunch (guozhi) -> Pick up medicine at hospital -> Shantou Small Park area -> Movie Museum -> Shantou Port Opening Culture Exhibition Hall -> Post Office -> Overseas Chinese Letters Relics Museum -> Shantou Hotel -> Xidi Park -> People's Square, square ferry -> MixC Mall -> Dinner (beef hotpot) -> Chengchuan Tea

2023.9.22 Chaozhou

A train station gives different feelings to different people. To me, train stations are romantic. They mean the future, freedom, hometown, and possibilities.

On Friday night, I boarded a train to Chaoshan. On the BRT, I noticed the clouds looked better than usual and the sunlight felt brighter. Maybe travel makes your eyes scan the world more carefully and discover better things.

I arrived in Chaozhou at night. I waited a long time for K2, then spent another hour on the bus. It took real effort to reach my destination. During that time I made a video call to my family, basically "livestreaming" while walking to my guesthouse. Without that call, I would have felt much more tired. But the call made me feel emotionally closer to home, and I walked with more energy.

The guesthouse was unexpectedly beautiful, like a mansion from an early Southeast Asian TV drama.

9.23 "Diligence perfects skills, play wastes them; action succeeds through thought, and fails through conformity." — Han Yu

I got up early and rode the e-scooter. Honestly, it saved me a lot of energy. The rental was a bit expensive, but worth it. With it, I zipped through Chaozhou Ancient City (Archway Street) and also visited the market area. It gave me a much deeper understanding of Chaozhou.

The archways on Archway Street commemorate all kinds of outstanding successful exam candidates. It reminded me of what I had recently read in Those Things in the Ming Dynasty. I felt I understood history a bit more deeply (at least that no matter what official position, once you passed the imperial exam, it was enough to erect an archway and be remembered by later generations).

Guangji Gate, Guangji Bridge. Only after walking the entire bridge did I understand the origin of "Guangji": it was built through donations from wealthy people and institutions at home and abroad. Because I got up early, I became the first person to step onto Guangji Bridge that day, and the first to reach the broken-bridge section. Watching how the floating bridge connects was truly interesting. No wonder it's known as one of China's four great ancient bridges.

I visited many places that day. The biggest disappointment was Thai Buddha Temple and Huiru Park. They face each other across a road, both in poor maintenance condition. Around them were many aggressive touts trying to squeeze out the last bit of value, which made it hard on many tourists who followed online guides.

If I had to choose one unforgettable memory today, aside from the sights, it would be a photo I didn't take (I was tasting herbal tea then, and it was really hard to drink ☹️). The photo should have been a quote on the steps at the entrance of Hanwengong Ancestral Hall:

Diligence perfects skills, play wastes them; action succeeds through thought, and fails through conformity.

The five words "perfect," "waste," "play," "fail," and "conform" kept me thinking. I couldn't help admiring Han Yu's precise wording. No wonder he is considered the foremost of the Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song.

Even though I didn't take that photo, I pretended to read the line once before leaving, then kept thinking about it all the way. Isn't that line describing me?

Diligence — something I haven't reached yet, but have always wanted.

Wasted by play — exactly what I can see myself doing. Especially the word "play": it's not simply the opposite of diligence, like laziness or indecision, but indulgence. When someone is busy indulging, it's hard to realize one's own faults. "Half the soldiers die before the battle, while beauties still sing and dance in the tents." "Warm winds intoxicate travelers, and they mistake Hangzhou for Bianzhou."

Ruined by conformity — "Those who think by following public opinion are people who block their own ears and eyes." This immediately reminded me of Nietzsche. I keep reminding myself to seek perspectives from different angles. But following public opinion is just too easy, and it spreads responsibility so thin that no one seems accountable. Even if you're wrong, you may not be mocked, and you often bear no real consequence. The hardest part is that you may not even notice you've been trapped by it.

9.24 If you don't use time well, how can you know how precious it is?

When I got to Shantou, I was honestly overwhelmed by what I had seen the night before. I stayed in Shantou's commercial center, and there were crowds everywhere. I wandered MixC again and saw all kinds of people and many shops I'd never seen before.

What struck me most was seeing some elementary-school-aged kids walking around the mall without parents (when I was their age, I was only riding a bike around my neighborhood). They casually took out their phones, shot photos, posted content, spoke in internet memes, and little girls copied influencer makeup and photo poses in front of escalators. It made me feel just how different this era is. I became really curious about what their childhood will feel like when they look back in the future.

All these scenes made me think the city was very developed. In the morning I went to the hospital (my eye got inexplicably inflamed the day before and swelled badly). Seeing a familiar hospital environment calmed me down. Last night had been too dark to see clearly, and the lights had dazzled me. This city is, in some ways, like many cities: very livable, but still just a city.

The day passed in a blur. Worried about getting back too late, I changed my ticket early and returned to school.

This trip made me use time fully. If I had stayed in my dorm that weekend, I probably would have just browsed the web, complained a little, and studied inefficiently. But this time, during waiting-for-registration time alone (two and a half hours), I visited an entire museum, walked through an entire park, and tried guozhi for the first time.

It had been a long time since time felt this slow (or maybe this full). In the past, this amount of time would have been just waking up, eating, and staring at a computer. Only when you truly use each slice of time well do you realize how rich and precious time is.

Traveling Alone

In the past, traveling alone was something I didn't dare do. Online, people also try to explain how lonely they are with examples: watching a movie alone, eating hotpot alone, going to the hospital alone, traveling alone. After this trip, I had done all of those.

Loneliness is still hard to avoid. Whether at scenic spots or restaurants, seeing couples, groups of friends, and happy families naturally stirs envy.

Luckily, WeChat sharing helped. I shared my travel photos and videos with my parents. When someone is there to share with, even a boring trip still carries meaning.

Freedom is the biggest feature of traveling alone. If my eye hurts, I go to the hospital (without worrying about delaying anyone, and I get to see what local hospitals are like). I don't need to consider other people's appetite or thoughts. Once I decide, I just do it. That saves a lot of energy, since the only person I need to convince is myself.

So my pace became much faster. I went wherever I wanted. If I got bored, I moved on; if not, I stayed and daydreamed. And without someone beside me to constantly joke and complain with, my mind became more focused. It was no longer noisy group playfulness that makes you miss details. I had more time to observe my surroundings and try to understand them. It felt like a more mature state of mind.