Shandong, Henan & Shanghai

Time flies, and a year passed by from my last trip to China. This year, I decided to return to China (yet again). I have chosen Shandong & Henan for this year trip and would transit in Shanghai and stayed 3 days there.

On 12 April 2006, I took a night flight to Shanghai and was over-joyed by the upgrade to business class by SIA. As the seat was very spacious, I had quite a good rest on the flight and arrived in Shanghai fresh at 6 am on 13 April. After arrival in Shanghai, I took an internal flight to Qingdao, the most eastern city in Shandong, famous for its "green sea and blue sky".

Qingdao

Qingdao left me with wonderful memories, with its beautiful cherry blossoms and seaview, and its sumptous seafood delights. The weather here is also extremely cooling, with temperature averaging around 13 degrees C.

Upon arrival at Qingdao around 2 pm, we went to Mt Laoshan, located at the east of Qingdao, one of China's famous Taoism centers known as "The Home of Fairies". Here, I visisted the Taiqinggong Temple, where the Quanzhen sect resides. After reading so much on the Quanzhen sect from the martial arts novel written by Louise Chiu, I finally get to see what the real Quanzhen sect really is.

The next day, I indulged in the colourful cherry blossom and tullips at Zhongshan Park – a spectacular sight of a lifetime. The sakura is said to be "imported" from Japan during Japanese occupation many years ago. The sight of the "sakura walkway" really makes me feel like I am in Japan!

Afterwhich, I visted the huashilou (flower stone villa), one of the villa at Badaguan (translated into English as the Eight-passes because it is where 8 foreign embassies used to be located), a villa district with impressive architecture and the German Governor Residence. I also visted the Xiaoyushan (Little-Fish Hill) and the Little Qingdao (an island off Qingdao which offers 360 degrees view of Qingdao) and also enjoy refreshing beer at Qingdao beer brewery.

Weifang

On my way from Qingdao to Jinan, I made a short stop at a little town called Weifang. This town is well-known as the hometown of kites. Here, I learnt more about the art of kite flying at Yangjiafu Folklore Grand View Garden and how kites were made.

Linzi

After around 2 hours journey from Weifang, I stopped again at Linzi (also known as Zi Bou), a small city in Shandong. Linzi is the capital of the ancient Qi, a country during the sping-autumn dynasty in China. Here is most worthwhile stop in my whole trip and I learnt a great deal of the history of Qi in the Qi historical museum. I also visted a burial site of the King of Qi, which is similar to the Terra Cotta Warrior and Horse Figurine in Xian, except that the horses buried here are REAL horses. I can still see the remains of the horses (see picture).

Jinan

After 2 hours ride, I arrived at Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, well-known for its Daming (Gleaming Brightness) Lake, a natural Lake originating from the Spring of Pearl, Spring of Furong and Pool of Wangfu located in the city area. I enjoyed a scenic cruise on the lake and stopped at an island in the middle of the lake, where the Qing emperor, Qianlong, is said to reside there for sometime (where the novel "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" started).

I was also fascinated by the spectacular Baotu (Leaping) Spring and Heihu (Black Tiger) Spring in Jinan, which had been commended by Emperor Qianlong as the the number one spring in China. Many Chinese were gathering at the springs to collect water for their consumption (said to be good for one's health and able to cure diseases), which my tour guide said was a common sight. But he warned us from consuming the spring water as we might not be used to the minerals in there.

Taian

My trip also entails the climbling of Mt. Taishan, which ranks first among China’s five sacred mountains. Legend has it that this mountain is the head of Pangu, an ancient god which created heaven and earth and this is the place where ancient emperors made prayers to heaven in the hope of a prosperous year ahead. At the summit of Daiding, one can enjoy the four magnificent sights: the sunrise, sunset, the golden river and the sea of cloud. As it was Sunday, the peak was filled with many people, mostly the Chinese. The climb was tiring, especially the coming down part as the wind is very strong and keeps pushing me sideways. I saw the Nantianmen and climbed all the way to the peak of Taishan (at 1545m), where Yuwangdian (the emperor of heaven) is located.

Qufu

Departing Taian, i moved on the Qufu, the hometown of Confucius. The Confucian temple, one of the 3 maginifant structures in China (which includes the Taihe Dian in the Forbidden City, the the Dai Temple) is dedicated to worship the great Teacher, Confucius. The Confucian Mansion is the place where the descendants of Confucius used to live. And the Confucian Woods is the burial place of Confucius and his descendants. Here, I get to appreciate confucianism, the teachings of Confucius, which is aimed to cultivate oneself so that one can managed one's household and serve one's country.

Peony in Heze & Luoyang

My last stop in Shandong is Heze, home of peony, known previously as Caozhou in the olden days. Here, I marveled the beautiful peony in a vast peony nursery. An ancient Chinese saying goes like this: The best peony is in Louyang and Louyang’s best peony is in Caozhou. Heze has a long history of cultivating the more than 600 varieties of peony.

However, it might be due to the temperature, but the peony at Luoyang in Henan province seems to blossoms more beautifully.

Kaifeng

Departing the Shandong province, I moved to Kaifeng, a city in Henan province, which had been served as the capital for seven dynasties. Believe most people would know Kaifeng, where the impartial judge with a black face, Bao Gong, resides. I visted the Longting (Dragon) Pavilion, which was built in the Qing Dynasty, and the infamous Tieta (Iron) Pagoda bearing fine sculpture on its wall.

Found to the northwest of the city, the Dragon Pavilion is a palatial hall built on a thirteen-meter-high marble terrace. During the Song and Jin dynasties, this was the site of imperial palaces. In the Ming period, an official's residence complete with garden was constructed. A pavilion was added during the reign of Guangxu (1672). Inside the pavilion are enshrined the emperor's tablets. Two dragons playing with a pearl are carved on a plaque on the pavilion, hence the name, Dragon Pavilion. It became an important place for local and official ceremonies and festivities. Another hall was added during the reign of Qing Yongzheng. From the hall, a five minute walk will bring you to Wuchao Gate, the site of the imperial palace of the Song Dynasty. The road leading to Wuchao Gate, is surrounded by a blue clear lake. The western lake is called "Lake of Family Yang" and the eastern called "Lake of Family Pan". Both families are renowned in the Song period. It was rumoured that the western lake (the Yang lake) was clear whereas the eastern lake (the Pan late) was cloudy in the past, indicating the Yang's loyalty and honesty and the Pan's treachery.

The Iron Pagoda was set up in 1049 AD, Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), given another name " Pagoda of Youguo Temple" and was built to consecrate the Buddhist Remains of the Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism (the former prince in India). The Iron Pagoda experienced many disasters such as wars, floods, and earthquakes in the past. Although the foundation has been ruined, the main body of Iron Pagoda still stands in Kaifeng and ranks the most famous pagoda in China. And 1, 000 years has passed, everything presents a new face including Kaifeng (it is no longer the capital city of Song Dynasty). But, the Iron Pagoda is still the top pagoda in China. So, this is the only structure in Kaifeng that exist since Song Dynasty! The tieta (Iron Pagoda), which resembles the Tower of Pisa with its slanting look, is not really made of iron. In fact, it was once a wooden pagoda, designed by Yuhao, a most famous architect in Song Dynasty, but the original pagoda was ruined by lightning. The pagoda was subsequently rebuilt and brown tiles are used which makes the pagoda looks like iron under sunlight thus gotten the name "Tieta".

Dengfeng

The TV show, Shaolin Temple, flimed many years ago brought fame to this temple located in one of the 5 scared hills of China known as the middle hill, Songshan. Here, I visited the temple and the padagos of the deceased monks (where most martial arts show of Shaolin is filmed). The trip to Shaolin Temple is completed with a display of Shaolin Wushu, which almost made me breathless with the monks capability to break metal plates with their heads, suck a bowl with their stomache (and none of us is able to pull it off), and so on.

Luoyang

After visiting Shaolin Temple, I travelled for 3 hours to reach Luoyang, another ancient city along the Yellow River. Here, I visted the Longmen Grottes, the white horse temple, the Luoyang peony and Guan Forest.

Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang , Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi Datong and Mogaoku Grottoes in Gansu Dunhuang are called three grottoes artistic treasure-house in China and famous in the world. Longmen Grottoes was started to build from the year of Xiaowendi Taihe 18(494 A.D.), lasted about 400years and passed many dynasties. Its building time is the longest and the project is the largest among all cultural relics. There are 100,000 images of Buddha and 3600 pieces of inscription kept undamaged among 2000 caves,about 40 Buddiha Towers. Longmen Grottoes was distributed mainly in the cliff of Longmen hill and Xiang hill in two sides of Yi river, Luoyang suburbs, it is about 1000 metres long. Fengxian temple, with the 17.14meter high grand buddha, is the largest and typical open stone inscription art.

The white horse temple is the "Grandfather of the Temples" as it is the first buddhist temple in China. It is said that King Yongping of Eastern Han Dynasty (25 ~ 220A.D.) sent monks Cai Yin and Cai Jing to India to ask for scriptures of Buddhism. Three years later, they got the scriptures. During the return trip, they met monks She Moteng and Zhu Falan near the north of Afghanistan. The year after they returned, a temple was built to keep those scriptures. As the two monks used a white horse helped them transport the scriptures back to Luoyang, the temple is thus named White Horse Temple. There are a pair of white horses and a pair of lions at the gate of the temple. They symbolize "if you are going to study the deep knowledge of Buddhism, you should have a great deal of perseverance and willpower, and you shouldn't be afraid of difficulties". They have been standing at the gate and accompanying the temple for more than a thousand years.

Located 7 km south of Luoyang is the Lord Guan (alias Guan Yu)'s Forest. The forest consists of hundreds of ancient pine and plum trees; this is a famous view of Luoyang. Guan Yu is one of the heros in the Three Kingdoms period, having brotherhood ties with Liu Bei (the king of Shu) and Zhang Fei. The temple of Guan Yu was originally built in Tang Dynasty. The temple we see today was built in Ming and Ch'ing Dynasty. Behind the Lord Guan's Forest, there is the tomb of Guan Yu. Legend said that people buried his head (which was cut down by the king of Wu, Sun Quan in his attempt to push the blame to Cao Cao, the king of Kui) in the tomb. The tomb is 20 meters high, with characters saying "the Tomb of Guan Yun Chang, the Shou Ting Hou of Han Dynasty" carved on the tomb inscription.

Zhengzhou

There's a Chinese saying, "One's heart would not die unless one reaches the Yellow River." The Yellow River is seen as the mother river of Han-Chinese as it was historically recorded that early civilisation of Han-Chinese originated around the Yellow River. Here, I enjoyed a Yellow River cruise on board of a hovercraft, which includes a stop at a partially dried river bed in the middle of the Yellow River.

Shanghai

After visiting Shandong and Henan provinces, I returned to Shanghai and stayed 3 days there. I visted my auntie and her family there and have fun with my 2 little cousins. There, I also visted the Longhua temple, the oldest temple in Shanghai, which I missed out in my previous 2 trips there. The most memorable part in Shanghai is my cousin's birthday celebration, and he was so touch that we flew all the way there to celebrate his birthday :)

Anyway, this trip to Shandong/Henan/Shanghai left me with wonderful memories and I wish for the chance to be able to visit these places again sometime.