Visit to Zunyi (part 3)

Zunyi is the site of the very famous 

Chinese Communist Party Conference of 1935.

Bigger-than-life-sized statues of Mao Zedong and his buddies

The refurbished house where the conference took place

Hats, food bags, and shoes from "The Long March" across China...more than 6,000 miles! .....in 1934-1935

History of the march and the revolution

Catholic church built by French Missionaries in 1866, and then abandoned when the communists took over.

Jesus Christ on-the-cross had been replaced by statues of Chairman Mao.....

We had lunch at a "very famous" street-side Zunyi Noodle Bar.

It was cold (and slick, with a sheet of ice) on this pedestrian street.

Chinese "Traditional Medicine" shops have all sorts of remedies, like these petrified snakes!

Typical Chinese toilet: a hole in the floor...... This one actually has a "flushing system" and plumbing, and is MUCH cleaner than most.

Photo of Jin with her "Saturday" English Class, held at a second school site.  It was incredibly COLD here.

The students are wonderful, but the schools are un-heated!  It was 3 degrees below zero (C).

We had hot tea (and hats) to try to stay warm.  All of these students want to learn English so that they can "visit America."  Great kids!

"Propaganda" posters abound.  The focus on low-carbon life-styles is wonderful!! 

We were invited to the wedding of Jin's friend (an English teacher) to a doctor (surgeon.)  The ceremony mostly involved a master-of-ceremonies shouting into a microphone, so that the 400 guests (sitting at big tables in a huge banquet hall)  could feel excited about the occasion.  (We never heard the bride or groom make a sound.)  There were no attendants, and no live music.  Later in the ceremony, the parents of the couple came up on stage (wearing winter parkas), and sat in chairs to observe more of the short ceremony. 

The bride and groom lit some fireworks-style candles.

The groom and bride made it a point to come to our dining table and let us toast their marriage (more Maotai.)   Sweet couple!