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| The Linden Centre |
BY CARLY
I walk out of my room at the Linden Center and the door creaks closed behind me. I inspect my surroundings. There are two courtyards that I can see as well as an exercise room, and a bar. Where to go first? I will start at the entrance and give you a tour.
Hhhemm. Hello folks! My name is Carly, and I will be your tour guide today. First of all, this is The Linden Centre, a beautiful, old courtyard house located in Xizhou, Yunnan province, China. This house was built in 1948, just before the Chinese revolution. It was built by the Yang family, one of the four wealthy families that lived in the town. Only one year after it was built, the Communist government came and kicked the merchant and his family out and made the house into government offices. This turned out to be a good thing because it would have been destroyed by the Red Guards if the government hadn't been stationed there. (The Red Guards destroyed almost everything that was "old", wealthy or religious during the 1960s and 70s.) Finally, in 2008, the Lindens, an American family that now runs the Linden Centre, signed a contract with the government to lease it for 20 years (everyone leases everything because the government owns it all.)
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| The Buddha Pool |
Let's get back to the present. We are now in the first courtyard that you walk into every time you enter. When you walk in through the main doors, to your immediate left you get to take a look at the Buddha pool with a large white wall behind it that, in the old days, was supposed to reflect the last few hours of sun into the rooms directly across from it. Today the space on the bottom floor is the front desk. Above the front desk is the old family altar room. I can see why they wanted to have extra light in there, otherwise, when they were meeting a guest, it would have been dark and gloomy. The room that is now the front desk used to be the elders' room. They got that room because it had more light and was in the first courtyard that was for some reason considered the best.
To the left of the front desk there is the game room and to the right there is a library and yet further to the right there is the dining room, kitchen and a staircase. As you walk up the stairs, take a minute to look at the swallow's nest that is perched on a light. The best time to see the baby swallows in the next is when their parents fly by and they open their beaks and squeak in their high-pitched voices, pleading for food. At the top of the stairs turn left to go to the playroom, which has many toys and games, such as LIFE or LEGOs. Past the playroom is the Mahjong room. Mahjong is a traditional Chinese game. If you saw town folks playing, you would think it was the hardest game in the world because their hands move like lightning, but once you learn it, it is not difficult at all.
If you were to go straight at the top of the stairs you would find yourself passing the movie room and the conference room and then you could keep going straight, down the second staircase, or left, to the gift shop. Let's go down the stairs.
Welcome to the second courtyard :) !! At the bottom of the stairs take a sharp left and walk a few paces and you will find yourself in front of a bamboo shade. If you lift that up you are standing in the doorway of the bar and across from you there is another door that connects to the first courtyard. Let's not go back there! The bar used to be Mr. Yang's office. Right outside the bar there are some columns holding up the second floor gift shop. One of the columns is partly hollow and is thought to have been used for storing valuables.
Facing away from the bar there is another white wall that reflects the light into the bar. There is a reflecting wall here that reflected light into the old office. There is a doorway five feet to the left of the reflective wall and another five feet to the right. Go through either because they both end up in the third courtyard!
This courtyard has only guestrooms. There is a bamboo shade in the middle of the section on the right side and another on the left side. There are two rooms on both of the first floors and two rooms on the top floor of both sides. There is a large garden in the middle of this courtyard and a small coffee table in front of it. The garden is full of antique, stone Chinese lions that Brian Linden collected along with many other antiques such as a 1,000 year-old Buddhist tombstone that is also in the garden. He bought this for a very low price because the person who sold it to him said it was bad luck, but in America, who wouldn't buy a 1,000 year-old tombstone for such a good price?!
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| Stone lions in the garden |
There is one last garden beyond the doorways at the end of courtyard #3. This garden also has a small porch that overlooks a small portion of the many rice patties that exist outside of the Linden Centre walls. At the right end of the porch there is a metal spiral staircase that connects to the terrace.
The terrace has three tables and one swinging char that looks somewhat like a giant egg that someone cut in half. This chair provides shade and much pleasure. While relaxing in this chair or by sitting at a table you can see the rice fields and you can also get a fabulous view of the mountains in the distance. I expect some of you to be eating dinner up here because it is a lovely place to relax and enjoy food.
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| View from the terrace |
Ok everyone!! That is the end of our tour! If you are stopping by Dali or better, Xizhou itself, the Linden Centre is one fabulous place to stay!!
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