NINE expatriates from GLV, MTU, EPCOS, Royal school and other businesses and more than 10 college students from Sun Yat-sen University Zhuhai Campus and Jinan University Zhuhai visited the Shixi rock carvings, listened to Chinese classical music played with Gu Zheng, an ancient Chinese musical instrument, and watched the Chinese calligraphy performance on Saturday afternoon. There was also a presentation on historical cultural heritage preservation.
　　 Apart from more than 30 historical rock carving sites, Shixi Hill also contains the relics of a pavilion named Yi Lan Ting, or After Orchid Pavilion. It is the most famous replica of the Orchid Pavilion in the Lingnan area, the area comprised of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.

First Lan Ting
　　 Lan Ting, or Orchid Pavilion, is 12km southwest of Shaoxing at the foot of Lanzhu Mountain in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. The original Lan Ting was the site of China's most famous drinking party, which spawned a drinking game that inspired men of letters from all over China. Wang Xizhi, a renowned calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty （317-420）, invited 41 relatives and friends to party at an outing at Orchid Pavilion in the spring of 353.
　　 Since poets tend to be creative souls, they found various ways to entertain themselves in style. For his part, Wang devised a literary game at which the poets would sit on the banks of a small stream, floating small cups of wine downriver on lotus leaves. Whomever the cup stopped in front of had to compose a poem, or drink the wine as a penalty. A mixture of good drinking and tranquil scenery inspired 37 poems that day. Wang Xizhi compiled the poems into an anthology and was challenged to compose a preface to record this event. While in high spirits, Wang Xizhi wrote an article titled, “Prologue to the Orchid Pavilion Collection.“Eminent and praiseworthy in both calligraphy and literary talent, this article became a masterpiece in these two fields. Wang Xizhi was crowned the “sage of calligraphers“ from then on and the pavilion rose to prominence from the event. Now, Orchid Pavilion is regarded as the mecca for calligraphers.

Zhuhai's Lan Ting
　　 Bao Jun, born in Shanchang Village, Xiangzhou, was a renowned Lingnan calligrapher, painter and poet of the Qing Dynasty. An inscription, “Calligraphy Champions the Examination,“ was made by Emperor Dao Guang on his test paper when he finished the national examination of Chin Shih in the third year of the reign of Dao Guang. He had a pavilion built on Shixi Hill and named it Yi Lan Ting, or After Orchid Pavilion. It is an imitation of the one 1,500 years before and heir to the spirit of Lan Ting culture.
　　 Lan Ting was built during the reign of Dao Guang in the Qing Dynasty. In 1850, Bao Jun organized a gathering of poets and calligraphers from Xinhui, Panyu, Nanhai and other areas in Guangdong at After Lan Ting on Shixi Hill. Imitating the Lan Ting party of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the talented men of letters competed to create poems and calligraphic works. The Chinese character “E“ -- geese -- written by Bao Jun is an imitation of the same character written by Wang Xizhi. Poets have met on the third day of the third lunar month each year since then and have left more than 32 rock carving inscriptions ranging from 1m to 3cm in size. The content of the inscriptions covers sensations of the poets to nature and life and the calligraphy styles include regular script, running hand, grass hand and official script, which are considered of great literary value.

Expats impressed
　　 It was a cloudy afternoon after continuous downpour in the previous days. The small stream on the hill became much larger and formed lively waterfalls in a few areas. There is a large rock carved with two Chinese characters -- Shi Xi -- at the mountainside. Among the green trees, the rock carvings of calligraphy inscriptions are strikingly painted red. William Haar, an American teacher with Gateway Language Village (GLV), washed his face in the rushing stream water above the rocks. Another GLV teacher Mary Chikkaca of India noted that the place would inspire poets and calligraphers to create artwork. “It is a refuge from the city,“ Annemarie Poniz, wife of William, claimed. Martin Schwingeuclus, an Austrian engineer working in Zhuhai, was busy taking pictures while exclaiming: "It is romantic here!"
　　 In the central stream, the procession met a middle-aged man surnamed Bao, who claimed he lived in the same village with Bao Jun. Knowing no English, he told the foreigners the story of Bao Jun in Chinese with apparent pride. He had come to the hill to get spring water for cooking, he explained.
　　 People saw the Chinese character "E" -- geese -- on a huge rock, above which was another inscription of "Gu Bi Shi,"meaning ancient rock,"written by Mi Fu, one of the greatest calligraphers and painters of the Song Dynasty. However, the pavilion and the former sheds are gone and only three carved stone poles and some incomplete old walls remain. What relieves people is that the municipal government is considering restoring the pavilions and buildings to make the hill a park, and that construction will commence next month on the Gu Yuan Museum of Art or Gu Yuan Memorial Hall at the entrance of the hill by the road, Zhang revealed. Gu Yuan, a Zhuhai native, was a Chinese printmaking master and a renowned artist.
　　 'Restoruction' threatens
　　 Expatriates showed regret that the century-old walls and buildings along with Shanchang Village, which used to be the venue of the county yamun in the Tang Dynasty and where the former residence of Bao Jun is located, will be torn down soon for housing developments. Fifty years ago in Austria old architecture was to be destroyed for new buildings, but a mayor called for a “stop“ to preserve it, and he succeeded. Martin said.“The same is happening in China,“ he pointed out.
　　 William called it weird to paint the century-old inscriptions in red, as it fails to convey an authentic, ancient feeling. Similarities take place in the Forbidden City in Beijing. The temples and the Great Wall have been restored too much, and they look just like replicas, he stressed. He cited a created word to depict such practices -- restoruction -- restore and destruction. “You restore something and destruct something else, and it's horrible,“ he contended.
　　 Visitors listened to the Guzheng musical piece "High Mountain and Flowing Water"by professional Guzheng teacher Hu Ying at the Zhuhai Painting & Calligraphy Academy and watched the calligraphy performance by Zhang Fating, president of the academy.
　　 'It is great that foreigners can know some history and culture of the city they now reside in through these kinds of activities,' JJ Verdun concluded.
　　 The activity was cosponsored by the Zhuhai Daily English Page and the Zhuhai Painting & Calligraphy Academy.

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