Bats and SARS in China

In 2002-2003 an outbreak of SARS killed almost 800 people around the world. The virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a pneumonia-like illness and was first noticed in Guangdong province, southeastern China.

Scientists found genetically similar viruses in masked palm civets (Paguma larvata) sold in Guangdong’s animal markets. It was later found that similar viruses were in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus) in China. It was thought the deadly strain probably originated in the bats, and later passed through civets before reaching humans.

This led to sampling horseshoe bats around China. In a cave in Yunnan, scientists found a strain of the virus similar to the human version. They then spent five years monitoring the bats that lived there, collecting fresh guano and taking anal swabs.

After a lot of research virologists have shown that this single population of horseshoe bats harbours virus strains with all the genetic building blocks of the one that jumped to humans in 2002. They published the news in Nov 2017.

This leads to questions. How can a virus from bats in Yunnan travel to animals and humans around 1,000 kilometres away in Guangdong, without causing any suspected cases in Yunnan itself. Also can
the human SARS strain jump from bats to another animal, such as a civet.

The scientists have to continue their search for other bat populations that carry the same strain of virus.

In the meantime there is the worry that the deadly outbreak could reappear. The cave with the affected bats is only 1 km from a village.

The Chinese authorities have closed many markets selling animals in China since the outbreaks of SARS and other infectious diseases. I really wonder if this is effective, or enforced.

See my blogs on bushmeat in Laos :
Laos markets
Laos bushmeat,
Luang Prabang market 

These photos were all taken in northern Laos in 2007 and 2008, relatively close to the Chinese border and Yunnan!

See the main article on bats and SARS in Nature 1 Dec 2017, "Bat cave solves mystery of deadly SARS virus — and suggests new outbreak could occur".

Dunhuang Caves exhibition in London

Dunhuang is located at the western end of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu province in China. It is like a small oasis surrounded by mountains and the Gobi desert. The area was established by Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty in 111 BC and was a base for imperial China to manage the Western regions. It became an important trading town on the Silk Road.

The Dunhuang Caves is a cluster of sites that include the Mogao Caves, the West Thousand-Buddha Caves, the Yulin Caves, the East Thousand-Buddha Caves, and the Five-temple Caves. These caves are close to each other and follow the same artistic style, among which the Mogao Caves are the most representative. The caves are all man made.

The Mogao Caves at Dunhuang are a UNESCO World Heritage site. "Situated at a strategic point along the Silk Route, at the crossroads of trade as well as religious, cultural and intellectual influences, the 492 cells and cave sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art."

"Carved into the cliffs above the Dachuan River, the Mogao Caves south-east of the Dunhuang oasis, Gansu Province, comprise the largest, most richly endowed, and longest used treasure house of Buddhist art in the world. It was first constructed in 366 AD and represents the great achievement of Buddhist art from the 4th to the 14th century. 492 caves are presently preserved, housing about 45,000 square meters of murals and more than 2,000 painted sculptures."

On 16 May 2017, a month long exhibition on the Sacred Art of the Silk Road: Dunhuang's Buddhist Cave Temples opened in London, at the Prince's School of Traditional Arts. I went to have a look on the first day.

There were a lot of digital posters of the cave paintings, with lots of information as well as a couple of replicas of caves. It was quite a lot to take in!

734 rock cut caves were constructed at Mogao Caves from the 4th to 14th c.  Murals and painted stucco statues still exist in 492 of these caves. Replica statues of the Heavenly King of the North and the South -

There was an explanation of the different types of cave halls - one example

Cave 275 is one of the oldest, 397-439 AD and the main wall shows a large cross-legged Bodhisattva Maitreya seated on a lion throne and holding a preaching mudra.

A calsson is the square roof of the cave, shaped like an upside down 'bucket', with painted patterns such a lotuses, Baoxiang flowers, flying celestials, triple rabbits, rounded dolphins, paired phoenixes or dragon and phoenix in the central square, circled by multi-layer stripes of decorative patterns. It is usually surrounded by a splendid and intricate painting of tents, chaplets and golden bells forming a coherent image of a square canopy. Caisson with triple rabbits inside an 8 petal multi-layered lotus which is surrounded by 8 flying celestials and swirling heavenly flowers, from cave 407 -

'Buddha of the Blazing Light' surrounded by celestial and astronomical deities -

Another mural

There was a walk in replica of Cave 3, which is devoted entirely to Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara

One interesting section was about the pigments used for the murals. These pigments were extracted from natural minerals and were treated by crushing, de-ironing, grinding, rinsing and grading to produce a range of hues and shades. These pigments are pure and rich in colour and are durable as well as being light-fast and resistant to acid and corrosion. Gelantine was used as a binder. Bristle brushes were used to apply the paint.

To make the murals, first sandy mud was mixed with straw to form a paste which was plastered onto the cave wall. Then silty mud was tempered with hemp fibre to form a paste, this was applied onto the previous layer. The mud came from the Dangquan River in front of the Mogao Caves. The silty mud layer was then whitewashed with kaolin, lime or gypsum. The surface was then ready for painting.

Freehand sketches were drawn onto sections of the wall, using a brush and a light earth-red pigment. Images were then added and scaled up. Next, the stencilling - outlines of the full scale images were drawn with ink on paper and pricked with holes. A fabric pouch holding coloured powder was  pounced over the holes. The powder coming through the pouch would penetrate the holes in the paper and leave fine dotted lines on the wall. The lines were then inked up to form images using brush and ink. The next process was the colouring. The master artist would draw symbols as colour codes to indicate to the juniors which colours to use.

The deep blue colour comes from lapis lazuli, a metamorphic rock that is mined. It has always been highly regarded and in middle ages was valued the same as gold. It was used for the most precious statues and paintings.

Today the conservation of the Dunhuang Caves comes under the Dunhuang Academy

The next room had a display of calssons.

A mural -

The Thousand-Hand-and-Thousand-Eye Avalokitesvara with Fifty-One Faces at Yulin Cave 3, Western Xia period, 1036-1227.

During the month long exhibition there are short courses on many aspects of the paintings, Silk Road patterns, the alchemy of colour etc, as well as various lectures.

See more on The Prince's School of Traditional Arts and also on Artlyst.

© Liz Price

The Painted Veil filmed in China

The Painted Veil is a novel by Somerset Maugham published in 1925. It is set mostly in China. It has been adapted for the screen 3 times. The last film version was 2006.

Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed in karst landscape in Guangxi. Guangxi is an autonomous region bordering Vietnam. The former capital was Guilin, which is surrounded by limestone hills and caves. Yunnan lies to the west. Filming was done in Yizhou, which is an area known for its karst formations.

China's stone forest | The Brunei Times

http://www.bt.com.bn/en/classification/life/travel/2007/03/31/chinas_towering_wonder
Shilin Stone Forest, near Kunming, is in China's Yunnan province

China's towering wonder

Saturday, March 31, 2007

IMAGINE being in a maze of stones towering 30 metres above you. You are following a narrow trail which twists and turns around the giant stone megaliths, and when you come to a junction, you have no idea whether to go left or right.

You feel like a midget in a landscape of giant tower blocks. Your tour guide has told you that you have to be back in the car park at a certain time, and that time is rapidly arrproaching, yet you don't know the way out of this maze.

I was in the Shilin Stone Forest in China's Yunnan province, 126km southeast of Kunming. A typical karst formation, the Stone Forest covers an area of more than 300sq km.

It has been known since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) as the "First Wonder of the World". I first visited the Stone Forest 19 years ago, and although I could remember being impressed by the huge grey limestone towers, I had forgotten how huge the complex is.

There are large and small forests called Major Stone Forest, Minor Stone Forest and Naigu Stone Forest, all of which feature stones in various formations. With some imagination you can see animals, plants and even human figures. Some are elegant, some are rugged, and each is lifelike with its own distinguishing characteristics. The Major and Minor Stone Forests are considered to be outstanding examples of karst topography in the world.

The surrounding terrain has eroded over the millennia, leaving these rock towers rising up from the surrounding area. In true Chinese form, the weird shaped rocks are given interesting names such as "birds feeding their young" and "phoenix preening itself".

The Naigu Stone Forest, so named because of its weathered black surface (Naigu means "black" in the local ethnic language, Sani), feature rocks shaped like mushrooms.

It has a karst lake, with limestone rocks sticking out like strange islands. The area has been nicely landscaped with shrubs and plants, and open grassy areas in front of the main rocks. There were a few information boards displaying the origins of karst and limestone, which said that 270 million years ago, the area which is now the Stone Forest was an immense expanse of water with limestone sediments forming the seabed. When the earth underwent a period of uplifting, the sediments were raised to form limestone hills.

Then over the millions of years, rainwater gradually disolved the rock, eating away the softer rocks and leaving the harder towers exposed. These towers were further eroded into the strange shapes that we see today.

As we entered the narrow paths to explore the rocks, we soon lost our guide, so I made sure I kept in sight of people from my group. The place was so crowded that we had to be rude and push past visitors in our haste to get round.

We climbed some steps up to a pagoda perched on the top of a rcok, and then had to wait to take pictures as there were lots of people aleady there.

At least we had a stunning view over the rocks, they are quite amazing when seen from above. It is certainly a place where Mother Nature's imagination ran wild.

The local villages are inhabited by the Sani tribespeople, who are part of the Yi ehtnic group. They sell handicraft and act as tour guides and for a fee, you can dress up in their local costumes and have photos taken.

Browsing through the market stalls in the car park, we found various fruits we had never seen before. Ever curious to try new things, I bought a small quantity of different ones.

I found a type of melon called "people's life fruit", which looks like a beige ping-pong ball. I also bought some tiny oranges which were surprisingly juicy and rather messy to eat.

Persimmons were also in season, so I bought those. Normally in Kuala Lumpur they are quite expensive, but as they are native to China, they were almost at giveaway prices in Yunnan.

Other features around the Stone Forest are various caves, a lake and a 90m high waterfall, which we didn't have time to visit. Maybe next time.

The Brunei Times