Glazed Tile Village

I am way behind on postings all of a sudden. About a month or so ago we took a tour to to a glazed tile factory in the Mentougou district of Beijing.

This first set of pictures is from a small village where the factory is located and a small resort development in the area.

This is a picture of Chairman Mao painted on a village wall during the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was a very dark period in Chinese history that lasted from 1966 to 1976. One element was the "cult of Mao" which resulted in pictures like this all over.

You can learn more here ---> Cultural Revolution

This is a sort of cottage industry in the town. We saw several couples preparing fuel for winter. These 'bricks' are a mixture of coal dust and dirt which are burned for heat and cooking in the winter.

Here is a close up of some drying in the sun.

Here are the essential tools of the trade.

These are persimmons. They are very popular in the fall.

The construction of this railway was started by the Japanese during WW2. It was completed by the Chinese after the war. It replaces a camel track for bringing supplies into Beijing from the provinces to the west.

Click this picture to get a feeling of the strategy used to get citizens to take danger warnings about trains seriously.

This is a look toward northeast from the top of a small hill. The path in the foreground is the road/path replaced by the rail line. The curved bridge just right of center is the rail line a few miles away.

This view is looking northwest from the same general area.

This is part of the small resort area that hasn't really taken off. I don't know why - it is a quiet peaceful place. Maybe it is the difficulty of access.

Another look at the mountains.

Another look at the road/path from another spot on on our walk.