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| wedding party in Dali Ancient Town |
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| mooners at the "moon gate" |
One day in the early days of our trip
to China we saw a wedding party strolling along the main street of
Dali Ancient Town. The bride was dressed in red.. Later, as we were
visiting one of the temples in Dali we stumbled on what looked like a
scene from ancient Imperial China. Framed in one of those round gates
that I call a “moon gate” was a young couple dressed in ancient
robes that looked like a scene in the Forbidden City in the Ming
Dynasty (or fill-in-the-blank _______ Dynasty). The pair were accompanied by a retinue of photographers and make up and costume
people fussing over them as if they were stars on a movie set. At the
time I thought they were probably making a movie or filming a TV
commercial or something of the sort.
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| the Peacock Lady |
On another day, visiting another
temple in Dali, we saw a similar scene. This time there was a young
woman dressed in ancient costume, again fussed over by cameramen and
makeup people, posed with two peacocks. This obviously wasn't for a
movie but I was convinced that it must be for some kind of
promotional advertising—magazine glossies, or TV commercials.
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| Naxi couple |
A few weeks later, in an ancient town
named Shuhe where we were staying, as we were leaving a restaurant on
our first day in town we chanced on a young couple in native dress (I
think it was the local Naxi ethnic group costume). Again they were
attended by cameramen and taking various poses. When they caught me
taking a photo with my camera they were very friendly smiled and
waved at us. I thought to myself that it looked like these very
photogenic “ancient towns” were popular for doing commercial photo
shoots. My opinion seemed verified in the next few days as we saw
many people, both in Shuhe and the neighboring tourist center of Li
Jiang (some call Li Jiang a “theme park”--a semi-pejorative
meaning too touristy).
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| fussing -- getting the folds just right |
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| The Pirates of Li Jiang |
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| our wedding - rocky road ahead? |
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| our wedding - "I've got your back, baby!" |
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| round and round we go |
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| may you stay forever young |
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| the Empress wore red |
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| don't fall in |
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guy needs a feathered hat
to complete the outfit |
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| lady of the evening |
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| pretty in pink . . . and blue |
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| " . . . and all my dreams have turned to rust." |
But then, one day we booked a native
tour guide to take us to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, a popular
destination for eco-tourism outside Shuhe in the eastern Himalaya
Mountains. We got to know him and like him both as a guide and as a
person and booked him for more visits. But that's another story. One
day, I mentioned to him all the people we saw posing in native
costumes for commercial advertising purposes. He sort of smiled and
said that they weren't making commercials. They were just ordinary
people who wanted to dress up and have photos of themselves taken when they
were young and beautiful to look back on. Looked like a thriving
business for professional photography studios. It obviously made the
people who were all dressed up feel really special.
I don't know about you, but I thought
that was a beautiful story.
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