China Guide 2008

As the minibus ascends the winding road to Hua Shan, the jagged scenery unfolds like a captivating piece of Chinese calligraphic art.

Overhanging rock and distant precipices wink from above, and clumps of vegetation peek out from mysterious crevices. Hua Shan’s awe-inspiring peaks will take your breath away. Located some 120km from the ancient capital Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, Hua Shan is the result of dramatic tectonic movements millions of years ago, and is one of China’s most perilous mountains. Although covering an area of just 150km – Hua Shan is inundated with over 70 peaks and ridges.

The most outstanding peaks are the North, South, East, West and Central ones – they stand like petals of a lotus flower reaching for the heavens. These five imperious peaks gaze over the Wei and Yellow Rivers in the north and embrace the Qinling Mountains in the south. (more…)

Heritage: Mogao Caves

Set on the edge of the Gobi desert, Dunhuang may seem like an unlikely place to find an oasis of Buddhist art. With towering sand dunes in the background, the caves here reflect the power of divine inspiration.

One summer day in 1900, Wang Yuanlu, an unassuming Taoist priest who lived nearby stumbled into a cave that had been covered by a rockslide. His accidental discovery would lead to one of the most significant collection of Buddhist artifacts ever uncovered.

Inside the cave were artifacts dating from the 4th to 14th century, a complete collection spanning approximately a thousand years tracing the development of Buddhism from its initial arrival in China. A cornucopia of documents on subjects ranging from history, treatises on politics, the military and science, to Buddhist sutras and even personal documents such as tax receipts were discovered preserved within a dry dark cave. In fact, so much material has been found that the discovery has led to a new branch of academic study called Dunhuang Studies. (more…)

Awash in monuments of its former glory, Yangzhou is a great place to escape the urban grind and lose yourself in the relics of its cosmopolitan past.

For a small Chinese city, the abundance of historic sites substantiates Yangzhou’s former reputation as one of southern China’s economic and culture centers. Located at the junctions of the Grand Canal (dà yùnhé 大运河) and the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers, its long history dates back to 500 BC.

It was these waterways, linking Yangzhou to China’s interior and major city centers that helped Yangzhou develop into a prosperous city. During the Tang dynasty, Yangzhou was home to many foreign communities, including a large group of Persian traders. But it was the revitalization of the Grand Canal and the massive influx of funds brought by the salt merchants and their monopolies during the Qing dynasty that allowed the Yangzhou to truly flourish. (more…)

Flowers bloom all year round on this subtropical climate, walk 20 minutes in any direction and you’ll find a park with shady banyan trees and intoxicatingly sweet flowers.

Xiamen, known for centuries as Amoy, is an ancient island gateway to China. The city was part of the Maritime Silk Road and the heart of Chinese maritime trade. Xiamen was founded in the 14th century as a Ming dynasty trade center and outpost to defend against Japanese pirates. Following the defeat of the Ming by Qing forces in 1644, Xiamen became a stronghold of resistance under the famous general Zheng Chenggong, better known in the West as Koxinga (guóxìngyé 国姓爷), his Ming title.

Geographically close to Taiwan, Xiamen shares similar cuisine, dialect and customs as many Taiwanese originally came from Minnan, an area of southern Fujian Province. In 1841, the British forced Xiamen to open its port and it became one of the first treaty ports in China. People in Xiamen still cling onto traditions that have long been discontinued in other parts of China – in almost every home can be found a shrine, where people light incense and give offerings of food and prayers. When meandering among the zigzagging old lanes in the evenings, you can often hear the gong and high-pitch singing of Minnan opera. (more…)

Heritage: Wuyi Shan

Located in northern Fujian Province close to the border with Jiangxi Province, the picturesque Wuyi Shan (wǔyí shān 武夷山) sits a low 650m above sea level. Once an ancient lake, Wuyi Shan came into being during the geological spasms of the dinosaur age. After many thousands of years with nature shaping the landscape, Wuyi Shan now takes it present form.

Wuyi Shan was inhabited thousands of years ago by a group anthropologists call the Yue. During the Han dynasty, emperors would visit the mountain to perform sacred ceremonies, offering sacrifices to Heaven and Earth. During the Tang dynasty, Wuyi Shan became elevated and was given honorific titles by the emperor. Later the mountain became an important center for Confucian learning, but Taoism and Buddhism also made the mountain their home, Taoists believe the mountain to be the abode of numerous immortals. An important Song dynasty Confucian scholar, Zhu Xi, founded an academy on the mountain in 1183, during the Song dynasty. He taught there for 10 years and his teachings would influence Confucian thought in China up to the 20th century. (more…)

Heritage: Tai Shan

Tai Shan’s importance to Chinese mythology cannot be overstated. Visiting the mountain is more than a mountain climbing excursion; it’s a pilgrimage to China’s most sacred mountain.

Centuries ago Confucius stood at the summit of Tai Shan and declared: “The world is small.” Though you may feel a little small riding the cable car as it dangles between heaven and earth, it quickly transports visitors to the summit. Tai Shan has long been known as the sacred haven that links Heaven and Earth, and it’s the most significant of the five Taoist mountains in China. According to Chinese mythology, the five sacred mountains were formed by the body of Pangu, the creator of the universe and that Tai Shan sprouted from his head when his body broke apart.

Tai Shan itself has become more than mountain, it has been given noble titles, elevated to god status and given honors equal to emperor. Tai Shan has a long history of receiving awards: the first emperor of China made a tree an officer after he sought refuge under it during a storm. The mountain has been revered for eons and is central to Chinese mythological beliefs. Because Tai Shan is the highest point in eastern China, and the east was once thought to be where heaven and earth were linked, Tai Shan become a dominant symbol. Throughout China, symbols of Tai Shan abound, whether used as a good luck charm to invoke the powers of the earth or in the numerous temples dedicated to the mountain. (more…)

Heritage: Classical Garden of Suzhou

There has always been a level of elegance, grace and romance in Suzhou that few cities can rival, the gardens and canals lend an air of sophistication.

Over 2,500-year-old, much of old Suzhou’s architecture and scenery continues to impress visitors with echoes of moonlit walks along the canals through the perfume of osmanthus flowers that time and progress haven’t been able to erase. During the Tang dynasty, the Grand Canal (dà yùnhé 大运河) linked Suzhou to the rest of the empire. The canal continues to feed an enormous network of smaller canals that penetrate every part of the city.

Water physically and culturally defines Suzhou. The seemingly infinite maze of canals gave rise to an efficient transportation network, a wealth of picturesque scenery and architecture and lifestyle typical of the eastern Chinese Jiangnan style. Nearby rivers and lakes connected yielded a bounty of fish and shellfish that still dominates the local cuisine. Aquatic images abound in the city’s art, and if you travel the canals by boat, your guide may treat you to a rowing song that has remained unchanged for centuries. (more…)

From social reformers like Lu Xun to wistful poets sipping Shaoxing’s famed wine on the banks of a lazy stream as they compose lyrical dances; Shaoxing’s history is that of China’s cultural heritage.

Just 70km away from Hangzhou, Shaoxing is sheltered by Kuaiji Shan and nestled in Zhejiang Province’s rich Yangtze fed waterways. The architectural style and atmosphere is typical Jiangnan, which means south of the Yangtze. White walls punctuated with black tiles line narrow cobbled streets and when harried city dwellers dream of an idyllic paradise and plan their retirement, they often picture Shaoxing. But more than a quiet city, Shaoxing is also home to many of China’s most renowned scholars, writers and poets. The city draws learned tourists seeking to get a glimpse of China’s rich cultural past.

No city in China can claim to be the hometown of as many nationally known personalities as Shaoxing. Yu the Great (Dà Yǔ 大禹) was one of China’s mythical early chiefs, whose reputation and reverence is on par with England’s King Arthur. He’s credited with teaching the Chinese people how to tame the rivers and control floods. His son followed his father’s footsteps by founding the first Chinese dynasty in 22nd century BC. Yu the Great’s tomb lies in Shaoxing where visitors still come to pay their respects and the former Ming governor of Shaoxing wrote the memorial tablet at his tomb. During the Ming dynasty, a representative of the empire would come and perform ceremonial rituals in his honor. (more…)

When Shanghai first began from its humble beginnings, it was far from obvious that the world would one day hear its roar. Since then, Shanghai has seen dramatic changes, spinning between the far extremes of Fortune’s wheel.

The financial go-go capital of China, Shanghai, which means “go to the sea” in Chinese, is a city of 16 million that remembers its hallucinating history. Divided in half by the Huangpu River into Puxi (west of the Huangpu) and Pudong (east of the Huangpu), Shanghai’s story is one of millions made and mirages lost. Pried open by British guns in the First Opium War, this once sleepy fishing and weaving village gained notoriety as the “Paris of the East” as a colonial city of commerce, vice, money and political intrigue. More recently, Shanghai has benefited the most from China’s economic reforms, rapidly rising as the shining “Pearl of the Orient.”

Dynamic is the best word to describe today’s Shanghai. Since the 1990 opening of the Pudong Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the city has found itself with more building cranes than all of North America, towers of glass and steel sprout up amidst ivy covered colonial villas and old Chinese homes. Displaying all the contrasts of modern China, teeming neighborhoods and birch trees are woven together by elevated highways and modern skyscrapers. Worldly travelers brush elbows with migrant workers; students and artists mingle as they pursue their dreams of wealth. (more…)

Heritage: Confucius Temple, Confucius Mansions, Confucius Cemetery

Qufu is legendary for the Chinese as the birthplace of Confucius, that ancient sage and teacher whose impact continues to influence Chinese education, politics, and thought.

Pleasant street markets and an air of historic importance mark Qufu as a great introduction to Chinese culture and one of China’s most endearing legacies. It’s easy to spend a few days in Qufu exploring the three major sights related to Confucius (Kǒngzǐ孔子): the Confucius Mansions (kǒng fǔ孔府), where the Sage and some 70 generations of his descendents once lived; the Confucius Temple (kǒng miào孔庙) and the Confucius Cemetery (kǒng lín孔林), a forest cemetery where Confucius and many of his deceased clan members rest.

Qufu’s history is directly linked to Confucius. Legend states that he was born in a cave 60km to the east of Qufu in 551 BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period. Confucius settled in modern day Qufu, a pauper, after years of unsuccessfully wandering through various kingdoms in hopes of influencing rulers to adopt his teachings. It was only after his death in 479 BC that his ideas gained prominence. (more…)