STEPPING BACK INTO TIME Despite the city’s eagerness to embrace modernity, Wuhan is also a portal into the country’s past. The Hubei Provincial Museum is a wonderful example of this and houses one of the most celebrated treasures in China: The Chime Bells from the Tomb of Marquis Yi. The bronze set of 65 bianzhong bells is considered one of China’s priceless artifacts. At the hall near the museum’s main building, musicians in period costume played a replica of the bells in a brief performance. The music they played demonstrated the two tones of each bell, allowing the instrument to span five octaves. The show ended with the Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, a universally recognisable finale. I wondered if the mainly foreign audience also observed the difference from the usual orchestral arrangement. Perhaps a genius and an instrument ahead of its time don’t always make sweet music together. Of the 15,000 artefacts unearthed from the 2,400-year-old tomb, 400 are on display at the museum. Bronze craftsmanship was at its peak during the period, evidenced by intricately cast wine vessels that even today are almost impossible to reproduce. Another important treasure here is the largest wine vessel ever discovered in China.
LIVING OUT LOUD The people of Hubei certainly knew how to live large in the past and they still do today. In Wuhan’s opulent dining halls, the rooms sport velvet couches, crystal chandeliers and plenty of gold finishing, which reminded me of a European costume drama set. The food, however, is anything but Western. Instead, it is a mix of specialties spanning provinces north and south, including Hunan, Guangdong and notably Szechuan, aside from the expected Hubei cuisine.
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