10th February, 2001
Hot Springs Xian, Picturesque Settings Of Mountain Backdrop: Pavement Suppers In Cool Evening Air; Cooks Using Brazier Stove On Pavement.
August, 1987
 The Hot Springs Xian was also on our itinary and it is here that in 1936 Chiang Kaishek was betrayed to the communists but managed to evade capture by escaping to the surrounding mountains. At The Hot Springs Xian about 2500 years earlier there was another incident when the Emperor Xuan Zong killed his lover Lady Yang, and this story has become the subject of a classic poem. These two incidents have their place in Chinese history but the visitors come to enjoy all the picturesque settings of the many pavilions and corridors around the lake and its mountain backdrop, before returning to the city.
 You could have your supper in Xian in the cool evening air, seated at a pavement table, and watch your meal being prepared by cooks using a type of brazier for a stove. Although this looked rather primitive, the stoves generated an intense heat, and the air was filled with appetising aromas, enough to make mouths water. Of the three basic essentials for survival, food, clothing, shelter, the first one, food, is almost a religion with the Chinese people, and with a selection of vegetables, some spices and herbs, the cooks can serve up a mini banquet ! A few years later, Hong's parents took me to a Buddhist Temple in Guilin, where the nuns prepared a vegetarian banquet for us which was delicious, but that is another story.
The water in the lake at Hua Qing was crystal clear, in stark contrast to the silt laden waters of the Yangtze river at Chungking, our next destination.
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