Mount Diablo Group: "Snapshot of China"

Wednesday, May 14, 7 pm, Winslow Center, 2590 Pleasant Hill Road (at Taylor Boulevard), Pleasant Hill.

Join us at the next general meeting of the Mount Diablo Group of the Sierra Club, as Yulan Tong takes us on an armchair tour of China. Yulan's slide presentation and talk will survey both the human and the natural history of this fascinating country.

China's history dates back 4,500 years. Yulan will introduce us to two ancient civilizations, one that evolved into the China of today, and one that disappeared without a trace. With a population of 1.2 billion, China has many large cities, each with its own character. Yulan will show us Xian, Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, Luda.

All the world's major religions are practiced in China. Yulan will show two Taoist temples as well as Buddhist temples and the birthplace of Confucius.

Yulan will also describe two water projects: the recently completed and controversial Three Gorge Dam; and Dujiangyan, built 2,300 years ago and still functioning.

People often wonder about Chinese landscape paintings; are they real or are they imaginations of the artist? They are real. Guilin and Zhangjiajie have rocks beyond imagination! Jiuzhaigou has water so colorful and clear one can count the fish. Its 168 species of bamboo make it a nice home for pandas!

Yulan Chang Tong earned a doctorate in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois - Urbana and worked as a chemist for the Dow Chemical Company for 30 years. She retired 15 years ago and took up nature photography with a special interest in wildflowers. She has published Lilies of the Field, a book of California wildflowers; and contributed photos for the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association botanical guide Mount Diablo Wildflowers.

For more information, contact Ken Lavin at (925)686-9393 or email ken_lavin -at- hotmail.com