China Rocks

There are a lot of big weird rocks on display in classical gardens in China; rocks, along with plants and water and interesting architecture, are elements essential to a proper Chinese garden.  And even natural formations of mountains are given fanciful names with mythology attached.  Lions and dragons and empresses and phallic things are all over the place.  These are rocks in a garden in Shanghai, I think, or possibly Suzhou, it hardly matters.

I think this was an Eagle Rock

The Middle Way

Our tour guide challenged us to decide which of these three rocks, above, was the most beautiful.  (The one in the middle, of course.)  I don't know who the guy was, not with our group, but he was pretty too, so I am reluctant to crop him out of the photo.

I didn't get the actual name or reference to this thing, below, newly positioned at the entrance to the Wudangshan area, which has become quite commercialized with shops and kitch.  So I gave it a name of my own.

The Emperor's Wad of Gum