This is going to be another one of those very hectic days where we first visit the Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng. We took the TGV the day before to Luoyang. From Luoyang to Dengfend is about a one-hour drive. After visiting the Shaolin Temple, we travel by bus to the airport in Zhengzhou and then fly to Shanghai. From there we travel by bus to the ancient canals in nearby Suzhou. But first the Shaolin Temple.
The Shaolin Monastery
Founded in the fifth century, most Westerners know the Shaolin Monastery from martial arts movies. It was here that Shaolin Kung Fu was born. It is more famous in Asia as the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and is the best known Mahayana Buddhist monastery to the Western world. Shrouded by the Song Shan mountain range, the temple looks as if it’s floating as you approach it. Visitors come to Shaolin to study Kung Fu, meditate in the ancient surroundings or to enjoy an ancient historical place. The Shaolin Temple is a Chan Buddhist temple and is located on Mount Song -a short distance from the town of Dengfeng and about a a two-hour drive from Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province.
The monastery has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. During the Red Turban Rebellion in the 14th century, bandits sacked the monastery for its real or supposed valuables, destroying much of the temple and driving the monks away. The monastery was likely abandoned from 1351-56 to at least 1359, when government troops retook Henan. The events of this period would later figure heavily in 16th century legends of the temple's patron saint, Vajrapani, with the story being changed to claim a victory for the monks rather than a defeat.
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| The Shaolin Temple |
In 1641, rebel forces led by Li Zicheng sacked the monastery due to the monks' support of the Ming Dynasty and the possible threat they posed to the rebels. The temple fell into ruin and was home to only a few monks until the early 18th century, when the government of the Qing Dynasty patronized and restored the temple.
Another (and best-known) story of the Temple's destruction during that 16th-century period is that it was destroyed by the Qing government for supposed anti-Qing activities. Variously said to have taken place in 1647 under the Shunzhi Emperor, in 1674 under the Kangxi Emperor, or in 1732 under the Yongzheng Emperor, the destruction is supposed to have helped spread Shaolin martial arts throughout China by the fugitive monks. Some accounts also claim that, in addition to the Henan temple being destroyed, a southern Shaolin Temple in Fujian province was also destroyed. While these latter accounts are common among martial artists and often serve as stories about the origins of various martial arts styles, they are viewed by scholars as fictional. Modern scholarly attention to the tales is mainly concerned with their role as folklore.
The monastery is divided into three major areas:
Area One – In the Kung Fu performance hall, we'll see students of all ages practicing outside in the grassy fields next to the walkway. With flashing lights and an announcer on a microphone, the performance is very geared for tourists. However, the performance of these young boys is incredible as we may see a teen pierce glass with a needle and another break a metal bar with his arm. The skill and concentration is palpable; the performance is not to be missed.
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| Shaolin Monastery - The Pagoda Forest With Mt Song In The Background |
Area Two – Shaolin Temple: After the performance, a 15-30 minute walk brings us to the temple itself. The Shaolin Temple is set upon the mountainside. We enter at the bottom of the mountain and make our way up through the multiple halls to the top. The buildings are all in very good condition as funding coming from the popularity of the temple with tourists and Kung Fu tuition fees have supported renovations.
The temple complex follows a south-north axis and we'll pass through a multitude of halls and buildings. Two of the highlights are the Hall of a Thousand Buddhas, also called the Training Hall, where we can see depressions in the cobbled floor left from monks training over hundreds of years. The second highlight is the Shadow Stone where you can see Bodhidharma's shadow burned into the rock from his years of meditation. Bodhidharma was the founding monk who came from India to spread Buddhism in China over 1,500 years ago.
Area Three – The Pagoda Forest. Another half-kilometer walk through a wooded path will bring us to the Pagoda Forest where there are nearly 250 stone and brick pagodas ranging from the Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (618-1911). There are also lots of vendors selling trinkets and beads.
From the Shaolin Monastery, we then go back to Zhengzhou airport to fly to Shanghai.
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| Bus From Luoyang to the Shaolin Monastery, Bus to Zhengzhou Airport, Airplane to Shanghai, Bus to Suzhou |
But wait, we're not finished yet!! After arriving in Shanghai, we board a bus and trek on down to Suzhou where we visit the ancient canals. We'll also spend the night in Suzhou.
Suzhou & The Ancient Canals
Suzhou is located in Jiangsu Province in Eastern China almost next door to Shanghai. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu on the Yangtze River Delta. It has an urban population of over 4 million with over 10 million people living in the surrounding area. Suzhou was the capital of the kingdom of Wu from the 12th to 4th centuries BC. Historically it was the center of Wu culture. The Suzhou dialect of the Wu language is still considered the standard dialect even though the language is now often called "Shanghaines"
Originally started in 514 BC, Suzhou's canals, stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens have contributed to its status as one of the top tourist attractions in China. Since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), it has also been an important centre for China's silk industry. Suzhou is often called the "Venice of the East". Within the city there are areas that feature these historic canals.
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| Suzhou Canal Street |
Pingjiang Street is located in the northeastern part of old Suzhou on 116 hectares. It has a history of over 2,500 years and is the best-preserved cultural-protection zone of old Suzhou. Throughout history, many literary scholars, high officials, and members of the nobility lived in the quarter. It is a good example of the waterside towns south of the Yangtze River with their "small bridges over flowing streams, whitewashed walls and black tiles". The cultural heritage and landscape are exemplified in places such as Ouyuan Garden, a world cultural heritage site, and the Kunqu Opera Museum (Quanjin Guild Hall) - a cultural heritage exhibit of Kunqu Opera. There are nine cultural relics protection units, 43 pieces of architecture under protection, and a multitude of early architecture, classical bridges, wells, and memorial archways.
Twelve-hundred-year-old Shantang Street is a canal that is two miles long. Bai Juyi (772–846), a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty and Mayor of Suzhou, got the people to dig ditches and build roads. This later developed into a waterway, the Shantang River and Shantang Street, so as to connect the Tiger Hill area with Suzhou. The street has a number of old temples, ancestral halls, memorial arches, and guild halls, which retain their original style. In 2002 Suzhou began restoring the area back to its historical style, incorporating tourism and entertainment so as to display Shantang's rich heritage and the waterways. Suzhou Steet in Beijing's Summer Palace, was built as an exact copy of Shantang Street for the Dowager Empress, Cixi (1835–1908), of the Qing Dynasty for her amusement. (Recall that Cixi misappropriated fund from the Chinese navy which lost important naval battles 6 years later in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.)
If you want to get a feel for how Suzhou was 75 years ago, wander through the narrow streets of the open-air market. These parallel the canal. I found the open-air market to be the most interesting o f our stop in Suzhou. I wandered the street that paralleled the canal in the early evening watching the food vendors sell their wares, from fowl "on the hoof" to crabs "in the shell" to almost everything else that you would want for dinner. The sights, smells and sounds are something else. On the other hand, if you want something more western, visit some of the restaurants and shops on the other side of the street
However, all is not ancient history as Suzhou has grown into a major centre for joint-venture high-tech manufacturing and currently boasts one of the hottest economies in the world. It is the world's largest single producer of laptop computers. The Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) in the east, and the Suzhou New District (SND) in the west are home to factories from numerous North American, European, East Asian, and Australian companies. Major industrial products include microchips, flash memory systems, electronics, computer equipment, telecommunications components, power tools, specialty chemicals and materials, automotive components, pharmaceuticals, and much more. This makes for a city of stark contrasts. Where there once was farmland just ten years ago, there are now four-lane highways connecting the city to Shanghai with pedestrians, bicyclists and pedicabs using the breakdown lanes.
And finally we end up at our hotel in Suzhou. Tomorrow we visit Shanghai see the Liu Gardens, the Silk Workshop, Shanghai, and take a cruise on the Huangpu River.
Our Hotel - Howard Johnson Wuzhong Business Club Hotel, No.1109 Wuzhong Avenue, Wuzhong District, Suzhou 21510
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| Howard Johnson Wuzhong Business Club Hotel, Suzhou |
Phew!! What a day this is going to be!! Lotsa fun, fer shur, fer shur!!
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