Pagodas and Temples Made of Wood

You know you've been in China a while when you know the word "pagoda" in Chinese, "ta (second tone)"  After a while...they lose there wow factor, but this one, here in Yingxian is the oldest wooden pagoda in China!

It's octagonal with nine storeys inside (can't climb...bummer) but it only looks like six on the outside.

Big buddha, big buddha, big buddha!!

And the Chinese word for temple is "si (fourth tone)"!  We, myself included were thinking, "another temple, yawn" until we turned the corner and saw what is obviously called "the Hanging temple"

It's held up on wooden stilts that are strategically places into the rock ledge.

The entrance

A typical staircase.  The temple has many niches that have buddhas and statues of other religions. This is a house of worship for many faiths.

The temple was built on the cliff to prevent it from being flooded by this box canyon upstream. Each time it was washed away, it was subsequently built higher on the wall.  These days, it's a non issue.  The river has been dammed.

Wutai Shan

Here in this northeast corner of Shanxi province is one of the earliest sites where Buddhism flourished and took hold in China. It has been a religious center ever since.  There were, at one point, hundreds of monasteries in this area, which is surrounded by five (wu) flat-topped mountains.

One of the many monastery/temples in the Wutai Shan region.

Looking down into the Taihuai Valley, surrounded by the five mountains of Wutai Shan.

Up there, at the top of the 1,000 plus stairs is Nanshan Si (temple).  We climbed it.

We were rewarded with a beautiful temple set against the mountains.  The flowers were about to bloom.  I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in a few weeks.  The other thing is that people want to make it to the temples on all the towers. It is said that by making it to one, such as Nanshan, you've got all five covered.  A five for one special!

On the way down, I saw a new monastery/temple being built.

Zhenhai Si

From the yellow hat sect!

I had the opportunity to chat with these young monks who were from Inner Mongolia.

The bus drove us out of Wutai Shan over the northern ridge.  Here's the scenery on the far side away from the temples.

Pingyao -- Romantic China

Arriving in Pingyao, the first thing you see are the impressive, intact and whole city wall.

Pingyao has a history of some 2,700 years and the walls were first constructed in the 1300's.

Here we are climbing up the wall at the South gate.

Myself and Alex M. (one of my favorite students!) enjoying a quick walk on the walls.  You'll note that the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom here in mid-April.  In full bloom, they are stunning!

So far the city walls don't really reveal the specialness of Pingyao.  It's ONLY when you look into the town itself and it reveals that ALL of the buildings in their original design are still intact and in place do you realize that Pingyao has been left behind by modern China.  None of the boxy modern buildings to be seen!

The view DOWN from the wall into town.

I am enchanted by Chinese style roofs.

So it turns out that Pingyao was THE center of finance during the Qing Dynasty.  As many as 20 financial institutions were based here, the oldest being the "Rishengcheng" bank.

Shi, Li, Chen and Li Laoshi sitting on a symbol of wealth.  We had one of these sitting in our house when I was a kid.

So as the Qing Dynasty went the way of history, so did the prosperity of Pingyao and it became unimportant.  This helped it preserve its architectural integrity.

As night descends on Pingyao, the lights come on!

Qiao Family Courtyard

I'm behind on my posts because after the trip to Shanxi province with the school, my friend Jeff O arrived in town and I've been hanging out with him. In addition, due to the change in the schedule at school, I teach at 730AM which means no real late nights for me.  But, I'm back on the blogging trail and here goes.  The first stop on the trip to Shanxi province, which I call the West Virginia of China, because it is known for having 1/3 of all the coal reserves in China, was to the Qiao Family Courtyard/Home.

It was made really famous as the location for the filming of the movie, Raise the Red Lantern in 1990.  The Qiao family made its fortune by running one of the first private banks in China.  This family courtyard estate (built in the 18th century) covers some 4,000 square meters of living space. There are five main courtyards (one for each wife?) which in itself is its own home. It is one of the finest remaining examples of a wealthy private residence in all of Northern China.

Qiao Family Courtyard

In the movie "Raise the Red Lantern", a red lantern was raised in the courtyard of the wife the master of house had chosen to spend his evening with.

One enters the complex along this main axis.  There are three courtyards on the left side and two on the right.  At the end on the right, is the entrance to the gardens.

Looking into one of the five courtyards.

Each of the five courtyards was its own entity with the living quarters at the far end with other servants quarters or rooms with different functions along the sides.

The roof line has these towers, which played a key role in the movie. In Raise the Red Lantern, the main character, wife #4, walks along the roof of the courtyards and discovers the dead body of another wife in one of these towers.