First stop today, the National Ping-pong Training Base. Actually, thus is a school where children from the age of 5 come from all over China to learn the sport of table tennis. There are currently 160 children, 2/3 of them boys, who live in the dormitories here and receive their education while trying to make it on the National team. The National team also trains here each year, preparing for the Asian games as well as the Olympics. All told, the athletes who trained here have won 52 world championships, 18 Olympic gold medals and many more. There are 3 full-sized gyms, each equipped with lots of tables. I got a chance to play against one of the boys (I am sure he took it easy on me), and afterward, we checked out the museum and other facilities.
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| Taking on the competition |
Next stop - Longxing Temple. Located in Zhengding, it boasts some of the top relics of Buddhism in China. Of course, everything we have heard has been the Best, Oldest, Grandest, etc. But nevertheless, the statues of the different Buddhas housed in the temple buildings were beautiful, and the gardens were beginning to show their beautiful blooms of peonies and flowering trees.
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| Longxing Temple |
In the afternoon we visited the Hebei Province Folk Museum and the Geological Museum. At both places we were treated kindly and greeted warmly (we may have even been the only guests there, I think they may have opened the places just for the Americans).
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