The reclining Buddha was carved out of the face of a rock mountain near Dazu.  Grotto art in that county is rated alongside China's other great Buddhist cave sculpture at Dunhuang, Luoyang and Datong.  The cliff carvings and statues amount to thousands of pieces, large and small, scattered over the county in approximately 40 places.  They date from the Tang Dynasty (9th century) to the Song (13th century).

(Excerpts from an email sent by a friend in Shanghai)

          It is a nice day today here in Shanghai.  The sun is shining but the weather isn’t hot.  It’s the kind of weather that’s suitable for traveling. 

          Mum is going to Chengdu tomorrow to attend the founding anniversary of her college.  She plans to stay there until the seventh of October.  At first I thought I’d go with her, as we could visit some interesting places around Chengdu after the anniversary.  I was thinking of the Hailuo Valley (famous for its glaciers), Dao Cheng (famous for its jokul and the national customs of Tibet), and the Yangtze River gorges.  There are so many places that attract me.  I’m itching to start right now, but unfortunately, I can’t apply for vacation  until the end of next month.  There are just too many things that I have to do at work.  It’s a pity that I can’t go.   

          As her anniversary party is very close to the one-week-long holiday for National Day, mum has decided not to return until then.  That will give her time to visit her friends and do some traveling.  I suggested that she go to the bamboo forest in the South of Sichuan province.  It was awarded the honor of being one of the ten most beautiful forests in China by National Geography.  Mum knows already that she will go to Qingcheng Mountain, as it’s very beautiful and quiet.  I hope she has a very happy vacation. 

          I want her to bring back some of the traditional food of Chengdu including beef jerky and Zhangcha duck.  They’re really delicious.  Chengdu's sausages are also very appetizing, but it is not a suitable time for them.  What a pity!  People there usually make sausages at the end of November and then air-dry them.  That usually takes about a month.  It may not be a bad idea to have her ask someone to mail some of them to us when the sausages are ready. 

          Dad is preparing lunch and mum has gone out to buy moon cakes for the friends she’ll visit.  Shanghai's moon cakes are very famous in China though some say they’re not as good as those made in Hong Kong.  I like the ones made right here.  Those from Hong Kong are too sweet for me. 

          The design of CCTV headquarters defies the popular conception of a skyscraper and broke Beijing's building codes so it required approval of a special review panel.  The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn't apply to the CCTV building that is formed by two leaning towers, each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop.

          The engineer's solution was to create a structural "tube" of diagonal supports.  The irregular pattern of thie "diagrid" system reflects the distribution of forces across the tube's surface.  Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren and engineered by Ove Arup, the new CCTV tower rethinks what a skyscraper can be.  It's scheduled for completion in 2008.