historical photos of Guiyang 百年贵阳, from city gov’t site www.gygov.gov.cn

People’s Square (now called Zhucheng Square) in the 1960s, with Mao Zedong statue
Guiyang’s old residential housing

new Guiyang Train Station in 1954 – 54年建成的客车站

widening of Zhonghua Road in 1954 – 1954年拓宽中华路

Zhonghua Road in the 1980s – 80年代的中华路

Penshuichi in the 1960s – 60年代的喷水池

Yan’an Road in the 1950s – 50年代的延安中路

No. 6 Middle School in the 1950s -50年代的贵阳六中

Daximen in the 1980s – 80年代的大西门

1856 photo of Liuguanchong Catholic Seminary, now on grounds of Guizhou Botanical Gardens – 1856年六关冲小修院. For background about the history of Catholics in Guiyang see: from www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2008/aclark_china3_oct08.asp

Jiaxiulou in the early 20th century – 20世纪的甲秀楼

old photo of Guizhou Normal University

百年贵阳 – historical photos of Guiyang, see city gov’t site: www.gygov.gov.cn/col/col11761/index.html

plants of Guizhou, karst desertification, and reforestation


books about Guizhou plants -《黔东南常见森林植物图谱》 Common Forest Plants from Southeast Guizhou Province, 2013 ;贵州植被 Vegetation of Guizhou, 1988;石阡县森林植物种质资源 forest plants of Shiqian County, Guizhou

 Also see:  Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests – Encyclopedia of Earth, www.eoearth.org/view/article/152980
Vegetation in karst areas
The regional vegetation types in Guizhou karst plateau belong to subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest. Fagaceae, Theaceae and Lauraceae are the predominant vegetation. Besides, mountainous warm coniferous forest characterized by fir, Pinus massoniane, Pinus yunnanensis,conifer- broadleaf mixed forest predominated by pine, fir, polar and birch, deciduous broadleaf forest characterized by Liquidambar formosana, pollar, Batula lumilifera and the artificial and secondary bamboo forest are also widespread…However, except for Maolan Karst Forest Preserve in southeast Guizhou, the karst forests in Guizhou are mainly secondary forests, and the flora (fascicular) are simple.


Guizhou’s Ferns and Mosses 《贵州蕨类植物志》《贵州苔藓植物图志》


online photos of China’s plants  普蘭塔 www.planta.cn from http://www.planta.cn/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30207&sid=1b2ad8d69d0727896c374e558799f194
Also,  Nature Education Literature  家长环境教育图书推荐目录 [supplied by Katie Scott of NatureWize, a Guiyang nature education organization, www.en.naturewize.org,   katiescott@naturewize.org ]

《森林里最后一个孩子: 拯救自然缺失症儿童》
作者:(美)理查德•洛夫,王西敏 (合著者), 郝冰 (合著者), 自然之友 (译者)
出版社:湖南科学技术出版社; 第1版
出版年: 2010-4
Last Child in the Woods, Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
—Richard Louv

《与孩子共享自然》
作者: (美)约瑟夫・克奈尔
译者: 叶凡
出版社: 天津教育出版社
出版年: 2000-6
Sharing Nature with Children:
——Joseph Bharat Cornell

《中国鸟类野外手册》
作者: [英]约翰•马敬能 / 卡伦•菲利普斯
出版社: 湖南教育出版社
译者: 卢和芬/ 何芬奇/解焱
出版年: 2000年6月第一版
A Field Guide to the Birds of China
—-John Ramsay MacKinnon

《树:全世界500多种树木的彩色图鉴》
作者: (英)库姆斯
出版社: 中国友谊出版公司
译者: 猫头鹰出版社
出版年: 2005
Tree identification through colorful pictures of more than 500 species in the world
—Kums

《中国昆虫记Ⅱ》
作者: 李元胜
出版社: 上海社会科学院出版
出版年: 2004-5
The insects in China, II
—Yuansheng Li

《常见植物野外识别手册》
作者: 刘全儒/ 王辰
出版社: 重庆大学
出版年: 2007-3
The handbook of common plants identification
—Quanru Liu/Chen Wang

《常见昆虫野外识别手册》
作者: 张巍巍
出版社: 重庆大学
出版年: 2007-3.

list from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_areas_of_China, uploaded at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10701866374/in/photostream

Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve is a treasure-house of plants and wildlife. The reserve is rich in plant resources and 80% of the conservation area is covered with virgin forest and other plants. There are about 795 families of plants and 1,955 species, including 14 families and 19 species of gymnosperms, 460 families and 1,155 species of spermatophytes and 123 families of fungi. Some plants are rare, such as the dove flowers which grow only in this region. Due to the influence of the sub-tropical alpine monsoon climate, the distribution of vegetation is vertically zonal. The plants vary from the evergreen broadleaf forest to deciduous trees.

The favorable climate and lush vegetation make the reserve an ideal habitat for wild fauna. The number of wild animal species identified and documented has reached over 800. The diversified fauna include 68 species of mammals, 191 species of birds, 41 species of reptiles and 34 species of amphibians, respectively accounting for 13.6%, 6.2%, 10.9% and 12.2% of the national total animal population. Among these species, some are rare and endangered. The Guizhou golden monkeys can be seen only in this region and are on the edge of extinction, hence a national treasure and protected species. Other species like clouded leopard, South China Tiger, pangolin and antelope are also important national protected animals.  (from http://www.chinesetimeschool.com/en-us/articles/fanjingshan-national-nature-reserve )

Karst rocky desertification around Guizhou Province

Expanding karst rocky desertification is shrinking living space and becomes the root of disaster and poverty in southwest China; it is especially true for Guizhou Province, which lies in the center of karst areas in the southwest. Karst rocky desertification, drought and water deficiency are the main environmental problems in karst areas in southwestern China.  (from http://www.karstdata.cn/messinfo.aspx?id=246 )
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In karst areas of Guizhou, the soils are discontinued, shallow and thin. The land surface and soils have poor capacity of storing water and usually are dry because of the quick and serious leakage of rain water. And the landforms are deep cut and steep. As a result, development of the regional forest is influenced, and a special karst forest vegetation is formed….Main causes of rock desertification:
Firstly, the pure limestone,well-developed joints and strong karstification result in little and thin soil and bare rocks:The Triassic limestone is very pure, with less than 1% unsoluble matters by acid, so the rock can not form abundant soils. Meanwhile, well-developed karst fissures and sinkholes are easy for serious loss and leakage of water and soil. These are the natural conditions of the rock desertification.
Secondly,a big population density of 135/km2 and lack of cultivated land result in the local farmers to cultivate mountain slopes and rock fissures in large area: The group has only 146 mu cultivated land, but 40% of them are in the rock fissures. Even a small patch of soil between rock or the rock fissure where can only plant one corn or potato is also fully used . The situation for long periods is inevitably leading to deterioration of ecology and rock desertification .
Thirdly, the vegetation grows slowly and has low ecological efficiency under cold plateau climate and fragile karst environments: Though the farmers have coals for fuels and do not cut the trees for firewood, as well as plant some trees on the hills, the trees grows slowly, and the forestation effects are bad under bare karst environments and cold climate in high elevation area. The annual mean temperature is 12℃.And there are 125 days in frost periods each year.
The development of agriculture and improvement of ecological environments in Mishuga have been paid attention by local governments. An important way will possibly be that, to change the way of the agriculture production, and transfer a lot of land which are used for provision crops now into a base to develop liana herbs, valuable grasses and good fruits in the future. ( from  http://www.karst.edu.cn/guidebook/guizhou.htm )


Reforestation Project in Guiyang, Guizhou – Increase in the amount of vegetation cover in the degraded mountains of Guiyang. Helped in the promotion of biological diversity of the area.  See: http://www.oisca-international.org/programs/environmental-conservation-program/china/oisca-reforestation-project-in-guiyang-guizhou/

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Reforesting rural lands in western China pays big dividends, Stanford researchers say

Planting trees instead of crops on sloping land helps prevent erosion from heavy rains, Stanford researchers find. And China’s attempt to find new jobs for displaced farmers is having some success.   (Stanford Report, May 11, 2011}

…”We can think of these life-support services as flowing from natural capital, like forests and wetlands, which provide very tangible, financially valuable services,” said Daily. “Forests soak up tremendous amounts of water, filter it and release it gradually into rivers and streams that we use for drinking water, hydroelectric power and growing crops.” In many ways, the environment can help mitigate damage from floods and even human disasters, like oil spills, she added.

China’s land conversion program has its roots in the late 1960s, when farmers in the mountainous western provinces began clearing vast stretches of land to make way for more crops. The increased agricultural production helped feed a growing nation but also set the scene for disaster. When record monsoon rains pelted the region in 1998, soil from the agricultural fields washed down the mountain slopes, killing thousands of people in the villages below.

The unprecedented damage caused by the floods prompted China to reconsider the wisdom of replacing forests with farms – especially in steeply sloping terrain. In 2000, the government launched a campaign to reforest the countryside and established several large-scale programs to help farmers in the western provinces find new work in surrounding cities…   (from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/may/reforesting-rural-china-051111.html )

from (from en.gygov.gov.cn/art/2010/10/15/art_15204_258101.html and en.gygov.gov.cn/art/2009/10/15/art_15204_258103.html)

Senior citizens in Guiyang’s Qianling Park singing/dancing to “Red songs” popular when they were young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Qianling Park,Guiyang,dancing & singing old songs, 大家乐乐团 (歌舞合唱团), Nov 2013 -l, uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10640109063/ 

Senior citizens singing/dancing to “Red songs” popular when they were young. Every Saturday & Sunday 9:00-11:00 am at Guiyang’s Qianling Park, just to the left and up a few stairs near the park entrance. Info (in Chinese): 151 8514 8156, Mr Liu Dezhen 刘德珍

student performance at Guiyang American-Canadian International School 贵阳美加国际学校, English corner at Hualin Middle School 贵阳华麟中学

Guiyang American-Canadian International School 贵阳美加国际学校 (“Meijia”) performance, Oct 24, 2013. See more photos of Meijia at: www.flickr.com/photos/101438178@N05/?saved=1

Foreign English teachers in photos include Anna Pashkevych (from Ukraine, teaching at Meijia), Daniel Montes (from Mexico, a teacher at the Siweite/Sweet and Fulian kindergartens in Jinyang), and Katherine Cecil (from London, formerly teaching at Hualin Middle School 华麟中学).

Guiyang American-Canadian International School 贵阳美加国际学校, with foreign teacher Anna Pashkevych, Sep 2013

visit in June 2013 to Guiyang American-Canadian International School by students from a New England association of secondary schools , uploaded at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10608296134/in/photostream/

Startedu 起步教育 teachers, from left: Daniel Montes, damori88@hotmail.com, todosestanocupados@hotmail.com; Anna Pashkevych, anna_2017@ukr.net; Katherine Cecil, katherine.cecil@kcl.ac.uk; Ray Mahoney,马汉年, rmahoney58@yahoo.com; Benny Fan Xingqi 范兴旗,  Startedu 起步教育– Guiyang” , fanxq@startedu.cn; at Guiyang,Hualin Middle School,贵阳华麟中学. Photo taken after a Friday English corner at Hualin Middle School, Oct 2013.

For those interested in working in Guiyang for one of the Startedu (Qibu Jiaoyu 起步教育) schools—currently two middle schools and two kindergartens—please contact Benny Fan Xingqi 范兴旗 at: fanxq@startedu.cn; tel: 133 3961 3120. Inquiries in English can also be directed to Joe Zhao in the Shanghai headquarters: Joe Zhao Pengzhou 赵鹏洲 , pengzhou@startedu.cn ; tel: 138 1727 0315

Our Place 幸福学堂, Tucker English School 英语学校, Guiyang International Businesses Meetup Club

 
Our Place, Tucker English School 英语学校,
 
 student trip to US, Feb 2014 by Guiyang Xingfuxuetang 幸福学堂

In February 2014 we plan to take up to 20 students to Denver for about 2 weeks exchange, then some winter sports in Winter Park area in Colorado, finally touring DC and New York. The whole trip will be 3 weeks. Students will stay with their host families for two weeks and attend school activities. We have three private schools to work with: Colorado School of English (focusing on teaching
international students), Colorado International School, and Regis Jesuit School. see www.xingfuxuetang.com/   Also see photos of a student, Diego, from last year’s trip: photo.163.com/bonijiang@gmail.com/train/9000007   Contact: Boni Jiang,135 9519 2840, xuehaiwuya.guiyang@gmail.com ; Katie Scott, katiescott@naturewize.org ;

Guiyang student “Diego” (in light blue hat, 4th from left) with classmates on a trip to the United States in the summer of 2013, organized by Xingfuxuetang 幸福学堂. A similar trip is planned this coming winter break in February 2014.
Diego at a baseball park, Denver
Diego and fellow Guiyang classmate at Disneyland
with Iron Man, in Disneyland, Los Angeles
Diego with other students of English in Denver.
观看丹佛当地马拉松比赛
at a marathon in Colorado
All the meat! —Diego wanted more vegetables.
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Tucker English School

The Tucker English School is set up in Guiyang China to offer a new way of learning. The Tucker family believes the long term purpose of learning English is to be able to speak and use it, rather than purely to pass exams. The aim is to use original English story books, games, songs, musical plays, different media rather than textbooks to make learning fun, realistic and productive. We aim to raise awareness of English culture by following the major seasonal events that happen in the UK. To inspire the children to learn English with enjoyment and confidence are our utmost goals. The Tucker English School is creating an environment that helps children to build up characters of a more rounded person as well as achieving their academic English excellence.

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Guiyang International Businesses Meetup Club

see: www.meetup.com/Guiyang-International-Businesses-Meetup-Club/

Doing business in China is not easy. Doing business in Guiyang is probably twice harder, considering the local dialect, spicy food, cold and long winter, and lacking of international community. However, it could be fun and full of adventures in Guizhou too. This meetup group is set to put adventurous international entrepreneurs together in Guiyang. So, they share their experiences and expertise and help each other to pursue their goals in this land. Look forward to meeting all of you!

Boni Jiang

Location:Guiyang China

Organizer since:February 10, 2013 

Introduction

My name is Boni Jiang. I am a local from Guizhou Province and now live in Guiyang. In the past five years I was providing international consulting services in clean energy and carbon credit businesses.

What do you expect from this meetup group?

I hope to meet people and form a community in international business in Guiyang. So, business people and entrepreneurs can share their expertise and experiences.

What would you like to contribute to the community?

I’d like to initiate this community and share my experiences in the past five years.

Are you doing international business in Guiyang or Guizhou?

Yes, mostly consulting for international companies and some Chinese companies.

How did you find us?

Reference from a business subscription.

Can you tell us what your business is?

Energy related consulting. Recently I am extending to education consulting.

The Guizhou Library has a very nice collection of English books on the 4th floor Foreign Language 外文 section. Open every day.  This Saturday English corner there has been organized by 85 year old “Camel” for many years (his first English corner was at the Qianling Park).   Library cards that allow borrowing of books for one month are available with a 200 yuan deposit.

children’s collection at Guizhou Library, 1st fl, Beijing Rd, with Jack Porter (Guizhou Normal U. English teacher) , Oct 2013, posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10137882495/in/photostream/

Occasional story reading at the children’s section of the Guizhou Library (Beijing Road, next to the Guizhou Museum) by volunteer teachers on Saturday afternoons.

 

videos of Guiyang 贵阳的视频,useful for newcomers or those considering coming

 http://v.ifeng.com/news/society/201306/3392ab33-bfa0-4f4c-b889-843d5f1dc24b.shtml (If flash video doesn’t display, paste link into browser)

爽爽的贵阳 中国避暑之都, uploaded at: http://v.ifeng.com/news/society/201306/3392ab33-bfa0-4f4c-b889-843d5f1dc24b.shtml

Tied together by shots of a girl from a Guizhou minority rural background who has achieved success and come back to Guiyang (yeah, kinda corny), with a secondary story of some high living businessmen. But many video segments are well filmed. Narration is in Chinese with well done English subtitles.

贵阳市城市图片, uploaded at: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjIwMTk1MjA=.html

Still photos of Guiyang, perhaps 5 years old.

 

going native

Anna in Miao minority dress, Huangguoshu Waterfalls, Anshun, Guizhou, Oct 2013,

Anna teaches at the Guiyang American-Canadian International School, see: www.flickr.com/photos/101438178@N05/with/10051855993/

at a store in Guiyang with things to burn to the dead – money, paper clothes, paper gold ingots, paper cigarettes, dominoes, mahjong table, etc 冥币等等,  uploaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/98531730@N02/10063978115/

American $1 dollar bills with the Chinese god of the underworld in the place of Washington’s face, and the denomination changed to US$1,000,000, was the surprise.

The store was close to a hospital.  There was no Buddhist or Daoist temple in the area.