Towards the end of the trip, our facilitator Lily took us to her home, a city two hours to the south-east, near Hong Kong. Unlike Guangzhou, Shenzhen wasn't a city until half a century ago. It is very open and modern, with the tallest building in China. It is also in a special economic zone that is used as a buffer between the capitalism of Hong Kong and the rest of China.

After having lunch in a shopping center, we drove to the Shenzhen Cultural Park. The place definitely had a Disney flair, right down to the monorail that travelled around the park. Inside the park, you find a number of pavilions showing the lifestyles of different minority cultures of China. The park is filled with acrobats and dance troops, as well as (yet another) wonderful restaurant. The second picture is of two very different bridges that cross the lake at the center of the park.

One of the first things we encountered when we entered the park was this wandering troop of stilt dancers. Their performance was a combination of dance and acrobatics using the stilts, with some clowning around....