Friday, December 13 -- Last Day in Guangzhou

Our last day in the city was a cultural tour and finishing up some official documents. Becky and Mr. Li were taking us to the Chen Clan Academy, an ancient Academic temple that was now the Guangdong Folk Art Museum. We have to say, we loved having Mr. Li drive us places. As was mentioned before, driving in China is not for the faint of heart. No rules -- for anyone -- meant that drivers had to be both defensive as well as offensive on the road in order to get anywhere. Mr. Li was not an angry driver -- no one seemed to be here -- but he was definitely aggressive. As Todd put it ‘Mr. Li won’t cede an inch to another vehicle, but if they offer a half inch - he’ll take it...and sometimes more. It was always an automobilic adventure with Mr. Li.

We arrived there safely and swiftly and Becky purchased our tickets while Mr. Li went to have his cigarette with the other drivers parked on the road. 

As we walked around to the temple entrance Becky pointed out a number of facades carved on the temple’s exterior walls. Some had been carved from plaster, others from wood or stone. All were intricately done with a number of detailed figures that, we learned later were pictorials or characters from Cantonese dramas. 

The academy had been built by the clans of the Chen family ( or romanized Chan). 

From the wonderful world of Wikipedia: “In the late Qing Dynasty, Chen Ruinan and Chen Zhaonan, Chinese-Americans who returned to Guangzhou, proposed the idea to raise money from all the Chen clans to build a temple for the worship of their ancestors and a place for their clansman to study for the examination.[1] Therefore, the Chen Clan Academy was finished in 1894 with the money donated by Chen families in 72 counties of Guangdong Province as well as some overseas family members. When the imperial examination system was abolished in 1905, the Chen Clan Academy was changed into the practical school of the Chens. Later in 1957, the Guangzhou City People's Committee approved the Chen Clan's Academy as a Guangzhou City preserve. Then in 1959 the government introduced a folk arts and crafts gallery into the temple. 

The site was really quite extraordinary, with beautiful courtyards and rooms of various artistic themes: ivory carving, embroidery and pottery to name a few. Todd and I had to take turns looking at the rooms as Maylia always seemed quite upset every time we went into a room or building. We had noticed that earlier in the week, both at the shops as well as the orphanage. She loved being out and walking around but once we were inside she became agitated and upset. It even happened a couple of times at the hotel where Todd would take her out for walk down the hall just to settle her down. But she would always get upset when he’d come back. We knew there was something that bothered her , but we weren’t sure what so in the meantime we tried to keep her happy and distracted. 

After the tour, some photos and some gift shop purchases we were all ready to head home but we had one more stop at the Notary’s office -- signing and sealing a few more official documents that we would need to take her from Guangzhou and eventually from China. 

It was fairly uneventful at the office , signing, sealing and more signing, until Becky noticed a discrepancy in Maylia’s identification number between the Chinese figure and its English translation. She sent us back to our hotel and promised to take care of everything. She had proven herself more than capable over the week so we weren’t too concerned. We finished the day with some packing and purchasing a new suitcase for Maylia. We now had diapers and formula to haul along with a toddler and all her accoutrements. Perhaps we could purchase a sherpa somewhere too.