Here there be dragons....

In Shiboa Zhai Temple, China. Photo by Tom Tarpey; edited by Wendy Stefansson.

On a few ancient maps, there is a notation in the region of Eastern Asia that translates roughly as: "Here there be dragons."

Yes. There be.

This is a collection of photos of dragon imagery from our recent trip to China.

Golden dragons at Shiboa Zhai. Photos by Tom Tarpey.

Clockwise from top: Fengdu Ghost City
along the Yantze River downstream from
Chongqing, Fengdu again,
the Summer Palace in Beijing,
the Yu Garden in Shanghai, and the Great Wall
at Mutianyu. Photos by Wendy Stefansson.

Dragons wrapped around ancient ceramics at the Shanghai Museum.
Photos by Wendy Stefansson.

Dragons encircling beads on a bracelet from Tibet. Photo by Wendy Stefansson.

For more posts about Chinese dragons, click here or here.

an architect's playground….

The Shanghai skyline, punctuated by the Pearl Tower.

"Shanghai is an architect's playground," exclaimed our local tour guide, Nancy.

Constructed in different periods and by different nationalities, the buildings of Shanghai range from golden-roofed Buddhist temples, to French- and English-style buildings from the turn of the last century, to state-of-the-art contemporary glass skyscrapers. The old buildings don't seem to have suffered during the Cultural Revolution, and the new buildings aren't limited by the government in terms of how high they can go or  -- for the most part -- what shape and style they can be. The result is one unimaginable skyline, and one beautifully complex, international city.

This may be the most beautiful skyline in the world.

The glass spheres on either side of this old style building
are said to represent the eastern world and the western world.

An elaborate light show takes place on the faces of buildings
along The Bund (waterfront) each night.

On the older side of the river, European buildings mix with new ones.
The clock tower at the centre is English, and is nicknamed "Little Chen"
(in contrast to Big Ben). The tall building at the left is known as
"the Princess."

Jing Ai Temple amidst sparkling new skyscrapers.

Foreground: old European building.
Midground: new buildings using the same rooflines
and half-moon windows as the old building.
Background: modern skyscrapers, reflecting both old and new.