Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 10:11AM Shopping for delicacies for a picnic lunch at the morning market in Xijiang. This was the day we did transects 3 and 4 (see Transect 3); we ended up walking about 12 kilometers. The steamed buns and rice cakes were delicious and provided a much-needed energy boost.
Monday, October 17, 2011 at 4:09PM 
Back in Beijing. Looked up and saw this chorus line of window washers sliding down the face of the building in front of my hotel. The four guys on the left are cleaning the face of the building. I assume this is needed given the high level of particulates in the Beijing air.
Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 4:26AM The collective forests were supposed to be about 30 minutes from the village, but after about 5 minutes of driving, our little Toyota van was bottoming out on the rutted road and we had to get out and walk. And walk. And walk. Uphill for about 2 hours. We finally arrived to the site and did our transects, but it was starting to get dark so Mr. Yu called the Leigongshan Nature Reserve office and they sent a truck for us. We were all pretty thrilled about that. All nine of us crammed into the truck and bounced happily back to Xijiang. [NOTE: The truck was designed to comfortably accomodate five people].
Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 3:42AM 
From left to right, Mr. Yu from the Guizhou Academy of Forestry, Dr. Mark Ashton, professor of Silviculture at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and our local Miao field assistant, size up the (extremely steep) location selected for transect 3. Dr. Ashton appears unfazed. [NOTE: The Miao gentleman's t-shirt says Tennessee Titans; Dr. Ashton's t-shirt says dbh and has a white dotted line printed at breast height].
Mark Ashton, Miao, Xijiang, forest inventory in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 6:54PM 
This is what the landscape looks like after hiking six kilometers up the mountain behind Xijiang. Collective forest of shamu (Cunninghamia lanceolata) with a mix of various broadleaf species. Took awhile, but we finally found a place flat enough to run a transect. Sllpping and sliding and everything that you grabbed when you started to fall had a thorn on it (Smilax). [NOTE: Flat is used in a relative sense here. The site where we put the transect was anything but flat].
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 7:12PM 
My colleague Dr. Miguel Pinedo-Vasquez has a local informant check his notes during a household interview in the Miao village of Xijiang. Everything seemed to be in order. The little guy had a twin sibling next to him on the couch in an identical red jumpsuit. [NOTE: Ethnic minorities like the Miao are exempt from China's one-child policy].
Miao, Xijiang, household interview in Science | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 9:56PM 
The sun comes up behind the Miao community of Xijiang. The morning mist starts to burn off. The first cooking fires are lit. Scattered barks from the village dogs. A lone worker quietly sweeps the street with a broom of twigs. Another day begins. [NOTE: Posted from a painfully slow internet connection in Xijiang].
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 9:37PM 
Young fellow sitting in a chair outside of his mother's food stall on Zhang Guancun Avenue in the Haidian District of Beijing. Horns are honking and traffic is whizzing by, but this little guy is completely focused on lacing up the sneaker. I wonder if he put it on after I left? [NOTE: Zhang Guancun Avenue runs in front of Minzu University of China, my collaborators on the Guizhou project (see Miao Landscape)].
Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 7:06AM 
Spent the afternoon wandering through the Yonghegong, or Lama Temple, the largest lamasery in Beijing and one of the most important monastic centers of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Truly an amazing place (thx, Yao). Of all the exquisite Buddhist art found here, my favorite is the 26 m tall statue of Maitreya Buddha carved from a single piece of white sandalwood. And, of course, the two fierce lions that guard the entrance to the temple complex. The male lion (first below) is on the right, while the female (second below) guards the left side. Under the long claws of the female's left paw is a young cub that she appears to be tickling.
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Off to Guizhou tomorrow to continue fieldwork on the Miao land-use project. [NOTE: As was explained by a prominent sign, the large sandalwood statue of Maitreya Buddha is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records].
Beijing, Geluk Buddhism, Lama Temple, Yonghe Temple in Dharma | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 9:04AM Sigh. Steven P. Jobs (1955-2011). Several deep bows of gratitude to this skilled human being. What a visionary. He will be sorely missed. Sigh.
