[Leica] Birds & The Great Wall of China

[tmanley at gmail.com (Tina Manley)]

This is where the pigeons went:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/05/world/asia/china-bird-flu/

Tina

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 1:54 PM, Wilbur Norman <coupdefoudrellc at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Jaya,
>
> Alas, the mass slaughter of bird species in northern China has ? and is,
> taking a major toll.
>
> Hundreds, probably thousands, of hunters annually kill millions of
> migratory birds for the marketplace. Additionally, with an increase in the
> number of people with money, sport hunters slaughter birds by the
> thousands/millions simply for sport. (Perhaps some of the same folks who
> are fueling the demand for elephant ivory and rhino horn.)
>
> I remember last year reading that one group of sport hunters had killed
> one ton of birds on a single trip.
>
> Ah, and don't even get me started on the horrible practice springing from
> an old belief that blood from a live bird will keep myriad sicknesses at
> bay. It's a terrible ritual you are better off not hearing the details
> about.
>
> I could go on but? you get the idea.
>
>
>
> ********************
>
> On Nov 24, 2014, at 12:18 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:
>
> > So I come to the last day of our trip, with a visit to the Mu Tian Yu
> > section of Great Wall of China which is 70 km from Beijing. It is a
> > beautifully restored section of the wall running along a mountain ridge,
> > and is accessed via a cable car. Why an Emperor, however paranoid, would
> > build a huge defensive wall on top of a very steep mountain ridge is
> beyond
> > me, but there it is! A last observation is that it makes sense to do the
> > typical tourist circuit starting in Shanghai, and ending at Beijing,
> > because the quality of  the experience of the places visited increases,
> and
> > climaxes well in Xi'an followed by Beijing. The journey in the reverse
> > direction would be an anticlimax, I feel.
> >
> > On our way, we visited a cloisonne factory on the outskirts of Beijing,
> and
> > had a tour of the place:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2828.jpg.html
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2821.jpg.html
> >
> > The Great Wall of China, Mu Tian Yu Section. Even here, surprisingly, in
> > the countryside, with all the greenery, there were no birds to be seen or
> > heard:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2415.jpg.html
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2424.jpg.html
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2869.jpg.html
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2890.jpg.html
> >
> > People on the wall:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2431.jpg.html
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2447.jpg.html
> >
> > Two studies of a section of the wall - one a wider view than the other,
> and
> > with human content as well:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2884.jpg.html
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2456.jpg.html
> >
> > Please see LARGE
> >
> > Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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Tina Manley
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