Eight Bowls and a Story of Hospitality
Huanren’s account of an eight-bowl banquet turns a visiting guest and an unnamed meal into a local story about hosting well.
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Benxi
7 articles
From the Cauldron to the Soup Bowl
Xiaoshi’s yangtang is a goat soup whose identity emerges through long cooking and the way broth and meat are shared.
Making a Stone Ready for Ink
The coloured stone of Benxi becomes a writing tool through selection, carving and the careful preservation of a working surface.
The Reservoir behind the Walls
A rock-cut water store and the fittings of a gate bring Wunushan’s mountain city down to the scale of everyday needs.
A Capital Built with the Mountain
Wunushan’s cliffs were part of its architecture. Archaeology shows how a Koguryo city fitted defenses and buildings to a difficult site.
A Forest Changes Colour
Guanmenshan’s autumn is made leaf by leaf, with valley, weather and woodland structure all contributing to the view.
The River beneath the Mountain
At Benxi Water Cave, water has two apparently opposite jobs: making space in limestone and building stone within it.