Sichuan. In Sichuan it is often foggy, hazy, occasionally the sky is smoggy. The moon, at least, could not be seen on the night of the Moonlight Festival.
Away from the daily delegation tours through the cityscape under blue lighs, past eyes unfamiliar with Western tourists, the local population of Deyang enjoys the holiday with their children, with other families, friends and with each other. In China, three week-long celebrations take place each year; the New Year, Labor Day during the first week of May and, of course, Independence Week in October. Not that much of a difference in terms of holidays to much of Europe. And so the delegation of politicians, journalists, GDFC, and artists from the Siegerland Artists' Workgroup spent almost a week racing from one celebration to the next. No rush, in peace with themselves and with nature, the parks, the temples, within the landscape and also outside in nature, children and adults enjoy their free time in the peace of the last holiday. Children sit by the Confucius Temple and feeding the koi, inside the temple the silence invites you to relax and read. In the Stone Sculpture Park, as elsewhere, one goes for a stroll, or to feed the pigeons on the last day off. Outside, the city, children play on a mountain. The school year seems to be over, or at least the English language textbook seems to be. With quick and easy precision swans, hearts, frogs, or simple paper airplanes are made to fly towards dusk. "On our children you can see how well our society functions," states the deputy party secretary of the city committee, Zhang Faxiang, about the happy children of his city.