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Thông tin chi tiết về Travel In China: The Guidebook For Travelers To China
SKU | 8926137296043 |
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The series in China is a guide book, specially designed for foreign friends who come to China to travel, study, work and live, presenting various information in a practical and readable way. This series is currently involved in tourism, investment, study and film culture, convenient to know Chinese profiles, engaged in business activities and abroad, and introduce the Chinese film culture, guide the foreigners to better integrate into the local Chinese life, have very strong practicability.
Main Content
Written mostly by native English speakers who are long-term China residents, and edited by people who live and work in China, this book lends a fresh perspective on all things Chinese. It melds foreign and local perspectives into a seamless narrative that allows new light to be cast on China’s cities.
Author
Written mostly by native English speakers who are long-term China residents, and edited by people who live and work in China, this book lends a fresh perspective on all things Chinese. It melds foreign and local perspectives into a seamless narrative that allows new light to be cast on China’s cities.
Catalog
CONTENTS
HISTORY & CULTURE
THE GUIDE
NORTHEAST CHINA
NORTH CHINA
NORTHWEST CHINA
EAST CHINA
CENTRAL CHINA
SOUTHWEST CHINA
SOUTH CHINA
HONG KONG, MACAU & TAIWAN
BOXED TEXT
LEARN TO SPEAK CHINESE
Digest
Wutai Shan, the Five Peaks of Serenity
Once a remote outpost reached only by the most pious of pilgrims who traveled for months with wills steeled by devotion, Wutai Shan remains a hidden treasure for those seeking true contemplation.
Wutai Shan’s name means “five terraces,” which accurately describes the five flat peaks of this sacred spot – north, east, south, west and central peak. In the quiet valleys between the peaks lie a smattering of ancient temples, twisting trails and aweinspiring views.
The major sights at Wutai Shan are rather spread out, forcing one to indulge in the gorgeous scenery that surrounds the five terraces. This also means that no one sight is overwhelmed with tour groups. Wutai Shan’s temples are an eclectic mix of Han Buddhist and Tibetan and Mongolian Lamaist traditions, making the mountain one of the best places in China to view Buddhist architecture.
The shrines on Wutai Shan date back to the Eastern Han dynasty, and the second Buddhist temple in China was built here at a time when Taoism dominated the area. A legend goes that a Buddhist monk beseeched the emperor to construct the Xiantong Temple on the mountain and suggested that a Taoist and Buddhist scroll each be put into a fire to test which religion was true. When the Taoist scroll was burned to ashes, but miraculously the Buddhist scroll remained undamaged, the temple was built. Later, Wutai Shan became a popular pilgrimage destination as more monasteries and temples were built in succeeding dynasties.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, when Buddhism held imperial favor, over 360 temples were built. The mountain also became an international destination point for Buddhists from other countries as they were drawn to the many temples as centers of learning. Lama Buddhists began to settle on the mountain during the Qing dynasty. Today there are 47 temples and monasteries and they continue to draw devotees and curious sightseers.
Most of the temples are located around Taihuai, a small town nestling in valley 5,576 feet (1,700 m) above sea level. The temples on Wutai Shan are dedicated to Wenshu Pusa (Manjusri), the Bodhisattva of Wisdom and Virtue. A visiting Indian monk had a vision of Wenshu in the 1st century AD and concluded Wutai Shan to be the mystical abode of Buddha’s most important assistant. Numerous legends speak of how apparitions of Wenshu riding on the back of a blue lion have been sighted high above the monasteries.
ours normally begin at Taihuai; one daylong trip south of town allows you to visit several stylistically different temples. All temples share a transcendental aura, so if you’re looking to get away from the drab, mundane concerns of urban life, any temple will do.
108 carved granite steps (the same as the number of beads on a Buddhist rosary) lead to Dailuo Ding, the temple that houses statues of five different forms of Wenshu Pusa, each of whom supposedly lives on a different peak. Legend has it that a young monk suggested statues representing the five incarnations of Wenshu be built here to save visiting emperors from a grueling trek. For those who want to visit the bodhisattvas but don’t have the time to make a house call, this is the place to ask Wutai Shan’s guardians for a blessing. To make things even easier, there’s now a cable car from the foot of Wutai Shan to the temple. Piety with convenience – if only the early pilgrims had it this easy.
Xiantong Temple is the largest and oldest temple on the mountain and is also conveniently located in the heart of town. It houses the amazing Beamless Pavilion, which contains no beams and is supported through a complex set of interlocking pins. The impressive Bronze Pavilion is made from 110,000 pounds (50,000 kg) of bronze; it’s a perfect replica of a wooden pavilion, and the interior houses thousands of tiny Buddhas. Continuing on the bronze theme, the Youming Bell cast in 1620, is the largest bronze bell in the region: it’s 8.2 feet (2.5 m) high, 5.25 feet (1.6 m) across, and weighs 9999.5 jin, or 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg). A Buddhist sutra of over 10,000 Chinese characters decorates the body of the bell.
Behind the Xiantong Temple is the largest Lama temple on the mountain, the Pusa Ding. Climb the 108 stairs to this temple and gaze out on the expansive views of Taihuai and the surrounding countryside. Tibetan and Mongolian Lamas stayed here during the Ming and Qing dynasties, believing that Wenshu Pusa once lived in the same place. The Wenshu Pavilion has an interesting feature: water is stored on the roof when it rains and on sunny days it drips down the roof.
The 164-foot-high (50 m) high Tibetan styled White Pagoda, designed by a Nepali in 1301, has become a symbol of Wutai Shan. It stands on the grounds of Tayuan Temple, also in Taihuai. A marketplace forms around it with vendors selling incense, prayer beads, Buddhist booklets and bronze Buddhas.
Just 10 minutes away from Tayuan Temple is Shuxiang Temple, which features a 20-foot-tall (6 m) statue of Wenshu riding a lion. The temple itself was last rebuilt in 1487. Take a short 10 minute walk southwest and the Puhua Temple will come into view. The buildings here feature intricate carvings. About 2 miles (3 km) southwest is the South Mountain Temple where 18 Ming dynasty statues of arhats (beings who have reached Nirvana) reside. Follow a packed earth trail down the hill for about 3 miles (5 km) and you’ll arrive at the Dragon Fountain Temple, where 108 steps lead to an elaborate marble entrance with carvings of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, dragons and flowers. In the main hall is an exquisitely carved Puji Dagoba with a laughing Buddha looking out from each cardinal direction. In the courtyard hundreds of small chimes tinkle in the wind.
Not far from the Tayuan Temple is the Luohou Temple; the present structures date from 1492. The temple features a unique circle altar where a lotus opens up to reveal a Buddha carved inside. The statue was made from a tree where an emperor saw a divine light. When the tree died during the Qing dynasty, it was carved into this lotus – a mechanism underground allows the lotus petals to be raised and lowered.
Preface
FOREWORD
I’ll never forget my mother’s visit to Beijing two years ago. At age 72, she was coming to China for the first time in her life. Soon after entering my downtown apartment, this meticulous woman began to unpack her carefully organized suitcase. Wedged in with her clothes and shoes she had a few items that surprised me: a dozen rolls of toilet paper and a box of laundry detergent.
I couldn’t figure out why she would have deemed such items necessary for a trip that would only last two weeks. Then it struck me: except for letters I had sent and conversations we had had about my life in China, her principal source of information about the country was outdated and overly cautious guidebooks written for the most part by short-term visitors.
These books comprised the first generation of China guides. Their authors were pioneering travelers who made their trips in the late 70s, 80s and early 90s when China had just opened to the world after several decades of isolation. Tourists who ventured to China during those years truly did need to worry about finding basic necessities.
At the time, few tourists had seen China – and for that matter, China had seen very few tourists. Because of this, the task of writing guidebooks in those days – guides to lands uncharted in the modern era – fell only to those authors who looked upon hardship as a badge of honor, who sought the glory of being labeled ‘pioneers’, no matter how many 24-hour hard-seat train rides they’d have to endure in the process. It was all part of the price one paid to go down in modern history as one of the first to set foot in the new China, a country that, to the outside world, had been shrouded in mystery for more than a generation.
A funny thing happened after these books were published: travelers following the routes these popular titles recommended soon created sub-cultures and worlds of their own within China; worlds of foreign travelers and backpacker hotspots in which the primary cultural experiences were foreign: Europeans and Americans running into Australians and Israelis while dining on banana pancakes in restaurants showing Hollywood films on big-screen TVs and playing Eminem on the stereo.
Though these first-generation books are updated every couple of years, it’s hard for them to overcome what they are at their core – guides for those seeking a rough-hewn, but frankly clichéd, adventure.
From these pioneering guidebooks my mother came away with out-of-date perceptions of China that were rooted in this earlier generation of China travel. The world she read about was one where a roll of toilet paper would be hard to find, and where even using the tap water to rinse your toothbrush was an invitation to intestinal distress.
Imagine her surprise after arriving in Beijing, when instead of worrying about toilet paper, she was faced with difficult choices like where to dine in this food-lover’s paradise. Would it be Peking Duck or Indian, Italian or Japanese cuisine? Or something more familiar from the Outback Steakhouse or TGIFriday’s? Consider her shock when rather than encountering the dreaded dearth of washing powder, she was instead confronted by my local market’s bulging aisle of cleansing products, their familiar names and screaming colors competing for the attention of discerning shoppers.
Perhaps her biggest misconception was the expectation that Beijing’s streets would be clogged with cyclists in Mao suits, rather than the fleets of late model Audis and Buicks that she dodged with care.
As my mother’s revelations demonstrate, China is undergoing such rapid change that a guidebook written even a couple of years ago is almost useless. China is no longer the destination for those looking to accumulate hardship tales of scarcity, penury and adversity overcome.
That’s the reason a book like the one you’re holding in your hands is so crucial. The guidebooks of old – and even some published very recently – have an overly cautious tone and an outsiders’ perspective that depicts China as a world not to delve into but to skirt around and approach wearily. This one is different.
Written mostly by native English speakers who are not short-term tourists but long-term China residents, and edited by people who live and work in China, not in New York or London, this book lends a fresh perspective on all things Chinese. It melds foreign and local perspectives into a seamless narrative that allows new light to be cast on China’s cities and places of interest.
This guidebook is not meant to be read as a novel. It does not assume the reader needs to be coddled and protected from China. Rather, it contains snapshots of rewarding things to do in and around China’s most famous cities. Its compelling mix of cultural insights and practical information is designed to appeal to all readers, foreigners and Chinese, and to whet their appetite for travel in China.
Welcome to the second generation of China guidebooks. Sit back and enjoy.
Michael Wester
Manager of that’s Beijing Magazine
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