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For most Chinese, I am sure you have heard of the famous scholar
Tang Bohu or in cantonese,
Tong Pak Foo. A lot of movies and serials including one that starred Stephen Chow, have been made on his love story in winning the love of a beautiful maiden,
Qiu Xiang. He disguised as a worker for a rich family where this maiden served as a maid, in order to get near to her.
Well, after learning some facts during the tour, this scholar does existed but the story is faked. Qiu Xiang did exist too but she and Tang Bohu have a big age gap where in other words, both never actually met. This was told by a native Suzhou tour guide while we are visiting this famous ancient scholar's mansion there. And, again, it was one of the coldest day around!!
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| A wall depicting the famous four scholars of Jiangnam - Tang Bohu, Zhu Zhishan, Wen Zhengming and Zhou Wenbing. |
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| Just behind the entrance to the mansion. The chinese word at the left is believed to be created by Tang Bohu. |
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| Walking to the mansion along a beautiful garden |
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| errr.. since I am not Chinese educated.... read it for yourselves. But I like the way they decorate these poems. |
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| A portrait of Tang Bohu - The famous Scholar who was good in calligraphy literature, paintings as well as I heard that he's romantic , probably for his paintings on beautiful women. |
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| One of a replica of his original paintings of a beautiful maiden |
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| A random shot of a section of the mansion |
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| Above and below ... Some descriptions of his life and work , I guess. |
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| More paintings here |
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| The mid-section of the mansion. The word hanging in the middle was believe to be created by Tang Bohu. |
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| A beautiful stone carving featuring poems and literature. This is really a place about Chinese literature |
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| Statues showing his scholars' friends. |
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Statue of Tang Bohu, nearby the four statues.
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| Yours Truly taking pix with a beautiful lady statue |
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Again, it was a pleasant visit to this mansion and learn a thing or two about this famous scholar, which I thought he doesn't exist or just some folklore tale. He did exist but the story told in the movies , especially the one starring Stephen Chow is totally fake.
After visiting the mansion, we were told Suzhou is famous for their hairy crab and there's a season, where it is only available during the months of October to November. Since it's early December, we still managed to get some and it cost RMB160 for the below pair. The crabs were not big as we presumed and it's even smaller than those typical crabs we had in Malaysia and Singapore. What I understand is these crabs are not meaty but rather we should try to enjoy the taste. There were a lot of roe when opened, and that was the best!
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| The crabs when served, it was steamed |
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| The meat and roe after it was opened. We really don't know how to eat it till the tour guide taught us ...lol |
I love crabs but this is really my first time trying out this freshwater hairy crabs!
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Looks like the statue lady was going to rub your head with a blue ball or something. :D
ReplyDeleteHahaha.. Is it ?
DeleteHi 5, i also loves crabs...
ReplyDeleteA lot of folks love crabs !
DeleteInteresting, I always thought the story is true, hmm...but wonder why they want to put them together ya?!
ReplyDeletehahaha...I am also not sure.
DeleteI remember this mansion but someone told we had to pay entrance fees into a over commercialized site so we headed to another mansion. It was bigger, free entrance and we could snap photos plus roll on their furnitures!!! Wakakaka
ReplyDeleteAfter eating hairy crabs, you got real horny and flirted with the statue!! Naughty boy!
Suzhou is one place I could return to visit again. I spent one whole day relaxing there on our own plus drank Starbucks by the canals. The heavenly memories still lingers. Your photos are very nice.
Happy weekend Chris.
Yes, we gotta pay entrance fees but all is covered by the tour.
Deletehahaha...hairy crabs can be get horny meh ? I took the pix before eating la...but they really carved a beautiful maiden!
yes, I love Suzhou too and they are famous for pretty girls...! :P
I watched a drama of Tang Bo Hu and Qiu Xiang. So they were not what the drama depicted??
ReplyDeleteNice photos.
That's what I heard from the native tour guide. Maybe can google to find out more.
DeleteThat's what I heard from the native tour guide. Maybe can google to find out more.
DeleteWah, your travelogue is keeping us very entertained! I heard about the hairy crabs and how expensive they are. But I am not a fan of crabs mainly because I am very lazy to peel the shells. So these crabs will be wasted on me hah..hah...
ReplyDeleteThanks Phong Hong. I'm afraid the long travelogue may bored you folks down .. Hahha. I also don't know how to eat these crabs!
Deleteoh, the story of Tong Pak Foo and Chau Heong is actually fictional?? i really didn't know what, thanks for enlightening us here.. i thought their story really exists in the history, hahaha!! but i wonder why the modern people always put these two person who had not even met before into stories together huh?? did the tour guide explain this to you??
ReplyDeleteNope and I thought of googling it but no luck so far. All the results mentioned about true story. Perhaps it's just like Wong fei hoong or ip man, the persons are real but those stories depicted in the movies may not be real.
DeleteI mean the results of the search mentioned about the story as in the dramas & movies. But I believe the tour guide.
Deletevery nice inside Tang Bohu's mansion.. the authorities have preserved the place very well and also added in lots of new stuffs to make the tourists more impressed.. but too bad, you cannot read Chinese else you will be more enjoying reading the words and poems and stories.. and the word that he created, hehehe, i also dunno how to read and what the meaning is :p
ReplyDeleteYeah , they preserved it well like a museum and you are right. Too bad I can't read mandarin but then I may not have he luxury of time to read all!
Deletehuh?? you have not heard about these hairy crabs before?? you are lucky you were still able to savour them even in December, guess due to global warming the seasons are all delayed huh?? these crabs are autumn's great produce and they are served for their roe instead of flesh, hence they are not as huge as those meaty crabs we use to eat over here.. anyway, i'm not a fan of crabs and i certainly do not like the roe, i like their flesh more :p
ReplyDeleteThey probably kept the stocks for tourists like us knowing we would come in nov and dec. That's what my shanghanese colleague told me. The season is Oct to Nov.
DeleteI've heard of the name but I never knew what it's all about until I read your post.
ReplyDeleteRM 110 (the equivalent?) for the two crabs? I know hairy crab is very famous in China, even Dragon I sells it over here. They must be fake if it's already so expensive in China since those are supposedly imported from China.
Lovely pictures mate! :)
Thanks HB. I guess I dragon could have cost you a fortune on the crabs. Lol
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