The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE — Dr. Susan Rollinson presented a talk on her and her husband Lon’s 19-day trip to China, in April and May of last year, to an audience of approximately 15 at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College’s Moomaw Center and via Zoom to the Rockbridge Regional Center, last Tuesday.
“This is a series of travel programs that Dr. Rollinson has done for us, and it’s exciting to see all of the wonderful places she and her husband have been,” said Cynthia Boteler, DSLCC’s student activities coordinator, as she welcomed the guests and introduced Rollinson’s latest program in this series.
“This talk is on a trip my husband and I took with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, last April, to China,” began Rollinson. “We got to see six central areas of China; we started in Beijing…,” said Rollinson.
She opened the slideshow with a map denoting the places she visited in China. “For a size comparison, you can see that China is roughly the size of the lower 48 states and so going from Beijing to Lhasa (Tibet), we are talking about close to 2,000 miles of distance,” said Rollinson.
From her time in Beijing, Rollinson showed pictures of Tiananmen Square, focusing on the many cameras in plain sight.
“China is a world leader in facial recognition. They keep track of their population pretty carefully,” said Rollinson.
She explained that China is trying to come up with a social score much like the credit score is used in the states.
“Security was pretty tight all around town,” added Rollinson.
She showed photos of Emperor’s Square, the Forbidden City and the many statues of lions at various entrances throughout the city.
“They like their lions,” commented Rollinson.
She shared that yellow and gold roofs on buildings are the roofs of nobility. Grey roofs are used for commoners.
She also shared that birds are big pets in China. People are often seen taking their birds for walks.
She ended this portion of her talk by sharing photos of the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, a typical Beijing house and modern Beijing architecture.
Rollinson described her next stop, Xi’an, as her “favorite place in China.”
She shared photos and provided a description of the Emperor’s Tomb. This particular Emperor was credited with uniting China.
Also, Xi’an houses a “fairly substantial Muslim population.” Their roofs are blue.
She showed pictures of the Great Mosque, “laid out on an east-west axis.”
From Lhasa (Tibet), Rollinson showed pictures of a monument to the people of Tibet. She explained that the people of Tibet are not allowed to travel outside of Tibet and Chinese citizens wanting to enter Tibet must have a passport to get in.
In Lhasa, Rollinson showed pictures of the Dalai Lama’s summer palace and a Buddhist monastery.
Rollinson described Chongqing as “an industrial city in central China” where she visited the zoo. She showed pictures of pandas, red pandas and a set of Buddhist caves.
From her trip down the Yangtze River, she shared photos of the various markers that showed the various water levels and the many gorges along the waterways.
She ended her trip experience with a visit to Shanghai, showing photos of the various elevated expressways along with the pedestrian roundabouts. Pedestrians can avoid crossing the roadways by taking the elevated pedestrian roundabouts.
She showed pictures and described an active temple, a waterfront in a “very colonial area” and a monument to the people’s revolution.
Lon noted the unclear photos and Rollinson described that the air quality in China is poor and the smog showed up in the pictures.
“It was a great time and a great tour,” said Rollinson in conclusion. She then opened the floor for questions.———————————————————————————————————————Dr. Susan Rollinson and her husband, Lon, took a 19-day trip to China last spring. Dr. Rollinson outlined the junket last Tuesday during a presentation at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College. The trip was coordinated through the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This was the latest exotic destination for the Rollinsons, who have also traveled to such spots as the Galapagos Islands, Russia and India. (P.E. Marshall Photo)
