"Love is all around" or wedding photo shoots

Having lived in China for some time and seeing all the fun things people do different here I often imagine making business out of Chinese obsessions. One of such obsessions is a photo shoot for wedding! This business seems to be rock&rolling here as every time I go to beach there are armadas of "white couples" posing & waiting to pose, stylists, photographers and huge pink teddy bears :)


I have realised that these photo shoots are taken as a serious part of tying the knot process. Seems the photos are made well in advance before the Big day to have the photos ready for the grand celebration (for the huge entrance poster and things like that)! Not much romance in the whole photo shoot process...


Conveyor :) Interesting to observe, and a bit sad when you think about it...



The guy with a style..


Love love love..


All the good rocks taken!


And then there is a boyfriend&girlfriend T-shirt fashion trend in China!
So many specialized shops offering identical T-shirts in male and female size to satisfy the demand of the growing Chinese market of "romantics".


Some dresses & some brides are actually real beautiful!



And then others are "just so so" (as Chinese like to say :)



Teddy bears :)



Just a shot that I liked


Tide is coming in... and the rocks are taken back by the sea to rest a bit from being abused by romance seekers...till the next tide ;)


Seems someone didn`t make it...


Having seen countless photo shoots and all that jazz I`d be real interested to go to traditional Chinese wedding! Maybe just have to go to beach and get invited ;)

Idyllic ports of Rizhao

On Sunday the discovery of our new home town of Rizhao continued walking North away from the city and the beach area by the sea coast :)

Discoveries were great!

Discovered 2 cool cosy ports full of fishermen, wooden boats, seafood and sea breeze and 1 island :)

Discovering unfamiliar forms of life :)



Rizhao coastline


Port


Peanuts also named groundnuts...and now I know why :) --> growing underground, these legumes or beans mature within five months after planting!


Port life



Port and the sea

Walk the line :)


The coolest temple ever!


Dried fish bunking :)


Boat in progress :)


Newly discovered island with ever present wedding shoot


Fresh!


noooooot.... :)


Next port around the sunset time


The best place to get your seafood fresh :)




a strong candidate for the new screen saver :)


And now it`s beach time :) Who knows how long this wonderful weather will last and I still want to catch some waves ... maybe :)

It`s a mooncake festival time!!! :)

Yesterday night celebrated the Moon cake festival (officially known as Mid-autumn festival)! My first ever company party in China was great fun!

Round tables full of food, champagne fountain, wine, strong stuff, games, amazing prizes (body wash, toothpaste, shampoo ;)), presents to all guests, lucky draw and lots & lots of karaoke fun :)

Microphone was just travelling from one table to another and by the end of the night foreigner table took over and started the English entertainment program performing anything that was available in English - quite fun :)




Little info from Mr. Wiki :)
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese, dating back over 3,000 years. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together.

Happy Mooncake festival :)

Visiting Confucius :)

Do you know who Confucius is? I`m sure you do :) or I assume you would at least know the name :)

When studying history of philosophy and learning the wisdom of the past (including the wisdom of Confucius) I could have never imagined I would one day visit the cradle of this wisdom - QUFU - the home town of this Chinese thinker, educator and social philosopher where he was born, lived, studied and was buried. So last weekend was the time to give into philosophical past and walk the footsteps of the man whose teaching has almost religious significance in China.

Qufu is a relatively small town (~ 60 000 ppl) and the Old town of Qufu is a real cosy maze of streets surrounded by a city wall.


Cool gate



"Chill" -ing by the wall :)


Peaceful life within the walls


The wall


The major cultural sites in Qufu are all associated with Confucius. A must-see is so called 3 KONGs: the Temple of Confucius, the Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Family (Confucius family) Mansion.

We decided to start our path where Confucius finished his - in Cemetery of Confucius (Kong Lin).




Path leading to the tomb of Confucius



Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)


Salary to Confucius...he is truly being worshipped here


The Cemetery of Confucius is told to be the largest and oldest family cemetery in the world. The tombs of more than 100,000 descendants of Confucius, who have been buried there over a period of about 2000 years, can be found.



Wall of Qufu - entrance gate


School is over


Tough life of Qufu


And of course as usual the most interesting things are discovered when one wonders off the busy tourist attraction track and takes a random street.. This time "red lantern" street only without actual lanterns... Afternoon "offer" was not so fresh ;)



The wall of Qufu



Ancient vs Modern


Street food market..."dogga dogaa"...(read: cooked dog heads).... no thanks!


Second day was the time to discover the 2nd of the 3 KONGs: Mansion of the family of Confucius (Kong Family Mansion (Kong Fu).

The family mansion was inhabited by descendants of Confucius until 1937, when Confucius' descendant in the 76th and 77th generations fled to Chongqing during the Second Sino-Japanese War and later during the Chinese Civil War to Taiwan, where the head of the family still resides.

Confucius' family tree is regarded as the world's longest, recording more than 80 generations of the Confucius family. Confucius' descendants were repeatedly identified and honored by successive imperial governments. The family records have been kept in the philosopher's hometown of Qufu. The estimate is that there were more than three million descendants of Confucius around the world, including 2.5 million in China and several thousand living in Taiwan. I read that one fifth of the Qufu`s inhabitants have the family name KONG and are descendants of Confucius... who knows :)


It`s all in the picture ;)


Mansion








Favourite Chinese sports :))