Travel journal: 1995 - 1998  

Over the years we have visited many places in China, many of them far away from the well-worn paths of the foreign tourist. I have not made many travel notes of my earlier travels to this fascinating country. But I did make a better effort of documenting our peregrinations in China in the 1995 - 1998 period. That was when my wife and I spent a total of some three months traveling  all over China and Tibet. Because of the amount of stuff involved, I will be splitting them rather haphazardly in various sections. This will give you the opportunity to skip a lot of my ramblings in good grace, without having to know what else they might cover.  Note that whatever I describe here today took place more than a decade ago. Progress in China is very rapid. The many changes throughout the country caused by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing has been enormous. Many items I mention may have been superseded by something bigger, faster, more hastily put together, probably uglier and definitely more expensive. But there is also stuff, which would take centuries to change, and which may still be interesting to behold and to reminisce on the history behind the silent witnesses of the past. And so, marvel at what happened before and at what can happen in just a few years.

    For instance, if you want to use this article as a guide to your travels in China, you better take a hard copy along. My website has the world “travel” in it, so in China it is blocked. That is what modern technology can do to you.

    China is a country rich in history and historical achievement. When visiting places of interest or just to show of, the guides will almost always refer to an emperor or a dynasty in the past. If you want to be able to follow the thread of the story, do what seasoned China travelers do and follow this travel advice; take along a chronology of Chinese Historical Periods. You are allowed to peek. Who knows, you may even be able to catch the guide in an error when he or she is happily pontificating away, believing that tourists are gullible anyway. Not this one.

The Chinese Historical Periods.

Dynasty or period

Palaeolithic    ca 600,000-7,000 BC   

Neolithic    ca 7,000-1,600 BC

    Majiabang Culture    ca 5,100-3,900 BC

    Songzhe Culture    ca 3,900-3,100 BC

    Leangzhu Culture    ca 3,100-2,200 BC

    Hongshan Culture    ca 3,000-2,000 BC

    Shijiahe Culture    ca 2,400-2,000 BC

Xia    ca 2,100-1,600 BC

Shang    ca 1,600-1,100 BC

Zhou    ca 1,100-221 BC

    Western Zhou    ca 1,100-770 BC

    Eastern Zhou    770-256 BC

        Spring and Autumn Period    770-476 BC

        Warring States Period    475-221 BC

Qin    221-206 BC

Han    206 BC-220 AD

    Western Han    206 BC-8 AD

    Xin    8-23

    Gengshi    23-25

    Eastern Han    25-220

Three Kingdoms    220-280

    Wei    220-265

    Shu-Han    221-263

    Wu    222-280

Jin    265-420

    Western Jin    265-316

    Eastern Jin    317-420

Southern and Northern Dynasties    420-589

    Southern Dynasties    420-589

        Song    420-479

        Qi           479-502

        Liang    502-557   

        Chen    557-589

Northern Dynasties    386-581

        Northern Liang    421-439

        Northern Wei    439-453

        Eastern Wei    534-550

        Western Wei    539-557

        Northern Qi    550-577

        Northern Zhou    557-581

Sui    581-618

Tang    618-907

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms    907-960

    Later Liang    907-923

    Later Tang    923-936

    Later Jin    936-946

    Later Han    947-950

    Later Zhou    951-960

Song    960-1279

    Northern Song    960-1126

    Southern Song    1127-1279

Kin           1115-1234

Yuan    1279-1368

Ming    1368-1644

Qing           1644-1911

Republic of China    1912-1949

People’s Republic of China    1949-