Drums, Dumplings and other Delights

Drums

One of the oldest musical instruments known to man is the drum and they have featured prominently in Chinese history for centuries. From Stone Age pottery drums and Song Dynasty porcelain, through an era of wood and skins to today’s modern metal and synthetic fibres, drums have played an important role in Chinese history and culture, especially in the Imperial Court and warfare. It is recorded that Emperor Huang Di used 80 ‘Kuiniu’ drums to deafen his enemy whilst boosting the morale of his soldiers during battle. Today there are more than fifty varieties of drums played using a wide range of drumming styles. A small but interesting sample of these can be seen in the museum housed in Xian’s Drum Tower, which was originally built in 1380.

China’s old walled cities usually had a Drum and a Bell tower or a combination tower used to house drums and bells to signal the time of day. The drum also announced any impending threat to the city. Situated near the old city centre they are one of Xian’s most popular attractions and once served as the daily time keeping instruments for the residents of the city. These days they are a stark reminder of those ancient and often turbulent years.

On this, my second visit to Xian I was looking forward to staying in the old city centre near the Bell Tower. Much to the relief of my friend and travelling companion for the summer I landed at Xian airport just a few minutes before she touched down after a long flight from Australia. I was happy that she had arrived safely and she was glad to have someone to meet her with tickets for the airport shuttle. This meant she could relax and enjoy her first evening in China. On our arrival at centrally located Melody Hotel, the staff at the shuttle bus office helped us purchase plane tickets, discounted hotel rooms and would have organised tours for us had we wished. That first evening we found ourself in a pleasant room at the Wu Yi Hotel just a short distance from the Bell Tower. While it wasn’t one of the older style converted courtyard homes oozing with character it’s none the less popular with tourist and locals for the fast food ‘pick and point’ style cafeteria on the ground floor.

Next morning we headed out to explore around the Drum Tower and the Muslim quarter, which dates back more than a thousand years. 13 old city blocks are now home to more than 30,000 Muslims, descendants of merchants and later soldiers, who so many generations ago followed the Silk Road east. The focal point of their community is the beautiful Grand Mosque, one of the oldest in China, built in the style of traditional Chinese temples with courtyards, flying eaves and archways set in a cool quiet garden. The narrow colourful alleys surrounding the Mosque are brimming with life as the locals go about their daily routines. One can easily spend hours browsing the boutiques and bazaars in the vacinity. Although many items are ridiculously cheap, be sure to bargain hard for the more expensive bric-a-brac as you try to ignore the cacophony of noisy touts and hard-selling vendors.

A tour of the Drum Tower includes the small display of historic drums and if your timing is good you can also catch instrumental show, which includes drums, bronze bells and other ancient instruments played with skill and vitality despite the oppressive summer heat during our visit. While the show lasts just fifteen minutes, the sound of the drums is impressive as are the rich tones of the other instruments. Outside, the tower is flanked by huge drums, replicas of the originals, all deep in pitch. The beautifully decorated top floor houses another small museum and shop. One Y30 ticket will give you entry to both the Drum and Bell Towers which both offer instrumental shows morning and afternoon.

Dumplings

Xian abounds in culinary delights, many of them of Muslim origin including rou jiao mo (pita with meat filling), he lei tiao (noodles) and yang rou pao mo all of which can be found around the Muslim quarter. While you wait for the yang rou pao mo, a kind of lamb stew to arrive, you have plenty of time to tear one or two small round flat breads into small chucks – the smaller the better – which soak up the liquid in your stew. It’s just another delicious social dish, which gives you plenty of time to chat while breaking bread with friends and waiting for your meal to be served.

The culinary delight on this trip was the dumplings and you really haven’t eaten dumplings until you’ve eaten them here in Xian. It’s a great meal to share and I have two very special friends to thank for this experience. I’ve eaten dumplings on many occasions during my few short years in China but nothing compares with a dumpling banquet served in almost royal splendour at one on Xian’s oldest and perhaps the most famous dumpling restaurant in town. Dafachang, perfectly placed between the famous landmarks of the Drum and the Bell Towers has been serving dumplings to residents and visitors to Xian for more than one hundred years and could be considered one of the Xian’s signature dishes.

Hors d’Oeuvres arrived shortly after were seated at a table on the second floor overlooking the Bell Tower. These satisfied our hunger while we waited for each of the fifteen courses of exquisite hand made dumplings to be prepared for our table. I would have been satisfied with half as much but there was such an interesting array of colour, shape, size or flavour that it was not easy to stop at just a few dumplings. Some resembled walnuts, birds and boats. Our banquet ended on a very regal note with the final dish of delicate dumplings dedicated to the Emperor Dowager Ciqi, cooked in an ornate burner at our table. If you were served one dumpling it meant that you would have a prosperous year, if served two then you could expect a double portion of prosperity and so on.

Other Delights

It’s rare to find entertainment in China that costs nothing – unless you count everyday life here entertaining as it so often is. But another delightful surprise for us came from a tip off from friends. They suggested we visit the Large Wild Goose Pagoda and be sure to arrive there at eight o’clock in the evening – there would be a fountain show. It sounded just like any other ‘Sound and Light’ show that can be seen all around the world these days and I’ve been fortunate to have seen a few. So I was sceptical but we thought we’d take a look at the Pagoda anyway. The area had only just been completed at the time of our first visit two years ago. It was brand new then and popular even then with nothing but open space we had wandered around the park and took photos supporting the Pagoda like the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy – there are some similarities but the lean on the Pagoda is less.

This was our last evening and I had planned to meet with one of my mother’s friends who we had stayed with on our previous visit. We met for dinner and she brought along her very delightful and energetic granddaughter Qing Er, now six year old. After our meal we hurried off to the Pagoda, Qing Er singing songs for us in English. We arrived just on eight as the sun disappeared taking only it’s light - the heat of the day still hug in the air, humid and close. A large crowd had already gathered and spread out across the fountain, reputed to be the largest of its kind in Asia. It stretches several hundred meters in low tiers or ponds like a waterfall from the wall surrounding the Wild Goose Pagoda all the way down to the street where you are likely to trip over a massive sculpture of a book symbolizing the importance of Literature - the largest ever cast in bronze.

Qing Er adopting cute poses for photographs amused us all while we waited. Suddenly the fountains began to squirt intermittently skyward, but certainly nothing to get excited about. We moved a little closer, taking up a position on one of the low walkways between the ponds. After a little more teasing, classical music began and with it the fountains began to dance. A light spray wafted across the spectators bringing a little relief from the days oppressive heat and it wasn’t long before some of the youngsters began to push their friends or run through the fountain quickly getting drenched. From where we stood we were surrounded by water and Qing Er dashed in and out of the fountain squealing with delight. Her grandmother continued to photograph her playful antics as we stood by enjoying the light shower, the symphony of music and the simple pleasure of the crowd.