I am back in China for what I believe to be my twelfth trip. I continue my work as Chutian Scholar at the College of Fine Arts at Wuhan Textile University. It is good to be back and see my colleagues here. I met the new director and he has an exciting vision for our future collaborations.

This week I spent time preparing for next week when I will lecture twice and also give a tile decorating workshop. Stay tuned for those events in my next post.

My host and friend Yi took me on a trip to Jingzhou this weekend. It is a very old city in the same province as Wuhan, Hubei, on the Yangtze River. We took a smooth and comfortable two hour train ride to get there. It is famous for its ancient culture and artifacts as the seat of the Chu culture from pre- Qin to Sui Dynasties.

The museum is amazing and I was visually treated to Neolithic pottery, some wheel thrown. The bronzes were exceptional and this is considered the original place for those famous bronze chimes. The lacquer and silk objects showed such great skill; it was hard to believe how ancient they were. There was even a well preserved 2000 year old mummy on display. The city has a number of walls and gates and we visited one of those as well as a period home.

I am always amazed at the richness of culture of China and its people. When asked if I ever get tired of going to China, I describe the variety of places, cultures and histories. Despite my extensive travel in this vast country, I have not yet scratched the surface.