Located to the northeast of Qinhuangdao in Hebei province, Shanhaiguan Pass, which gained fame as the “First Pass of the Great Wall”, leans against mountains and is skirted by the Bohai Gulf. It straddles the key path linking Northeast China with the Central Plains. 4 km east of Shanhaiguan Pass is Laolongtou (Old Dragon’s Head) Great Wall where the Great Wall meets the sea. The Jiaoshan Great Wall, soaring to a height of 519 meters is 3 km north of Shanhaiguan Pass. It is known as “Number One Mountain of the Ten Thousand-Li Great Wall.”

Traveling west from Shanhaiguan Pass, one reaches Qianxi County, where Qingshankou Gateway situates. To the northwest of Qingshankou Gateway is Xifengkou Gateway. It is an important stronghold west of Shanhaiguan Pass. Nearby is Panjiakou Gateway, where the Great Wall enters the water of Panjiakou reservoir from a ridge on its east bank.

Having a splendid halt under the water, the wall starts again on the east bank of the reservoir to continue its journey.

A-Ma Temple

The former name of A-Ma Temple (Ma Kok Miu) was Ma Tsou, the oldest temple in Macau, which has a history of over 500 years.

It is so alleged that over 400 years ago when Portuguese reached Macau and landed on the sea promontory opposite the A-Ma Temple, they noticed the temple of goddess and asked the local inhabitants the name of the whole place who misunderstood they were denoting the temple and answered “Ma Kok”. In this way, the Portuguese transliterated into “Macau” which was the origin of the Portuguese name for Macau. The whole Temple includes the main hall, stone hall, great mercy hall and Kun lam (Goddess of Mercy, Avalokitesvara) hall four buildings. At the gate, there are stone lions guarding the temple and the eaves pointing the sky, full of Chinese folk characteristics.

The A-Ma Temple was built by the cliff. There are winding paths around upwards the hill. Along the cliff, there are many poems and verses inscribed on stone in all scripts, regular, cursive, seal character and official. Inside the courtyard, there is a relief stone sculpture of Chinese junk. Here goes the allegation that A-Ma sailed out to sea from her native land by this junk. After coping with strong typhoon and fierce-waves, she reached Macau safely. It is said, the Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven and Protector of Seafarer who was from Pu Tien, Fujian Province, is otherwise known for Niang Ma. She could predict auspicious and inauspicious things and after death made her presence felt on the sea, helping merchants and fishermen to dispel calamity, overcome difficulty and turn danger into safety. Later generations built temple here to pay homage in her memory. On 23 March every lunar year, the birthday of A-Ma, and in the spring festival, the Temple is crowded with worshippers.

Many male and female disciples gather here to pay homage and to pray for good fortune. Even young men and young women in western-style clothes and in long boots and short skirts come to burn incense to pray for good luck, a quite warm scene.

The name Macau was taken from A-Ma-Gao (Bay of A-Ma) where this temple stands. Legend has it that A-Ma was a poor girl travelling to China, but was turned away by wealthy junk owners. Finally, a fisherman took her to Macau, surviving a storm that sunk all the other junks. Later, she reappeared to the fisherman as a goddess and so he built her this temple.

Situated on the southern tip of Macau, the temple has a friendly, welcoming atmosphere, and a steady stream of worshipers pray under the incense coils while fortune-tellers trade outside.

Tickets:Free
Bus Route:6、8、9、28B

sayram lake

Sayram lake, located in the Botala Prefecture near the Tian Shan Mountains, Xinjiang, China.Sayram Lake, also called “Santai Haizi”, is a stunning and peaceful lake. The lake received its name because the Elezhuyitubomu military dais was built on the east bank of the lake during the Qing Dynasty. Sayram in Kazak means “blessing”.
The alp lake is the largest in Xinjiang and lies at the highest altitude. The land around Sayram Lake is vast green grassland which provides abundant grazing land.

In the summer the sapphire water of the lake seems to meet the sky in the distance and the yurts of the Kazak or Mongolian herdsmen can be seen on the mountain slopes. The pasture is a charming scene of flourishing trees, waving grass and wildflowers which reflect off the clear water of the lake. The grassland, which stretches to the horizon, is dotted with the tents of the herdsmen. Smoke from kitchen chimneys curls upward, as groups of cattle and sheep move like clouds in the sky. In August, the Mongolian people celebrate the ‘Nadam Fair’ for six days beside the lake. Nadam means recreation or games in Mongolian. Mongolians, Kazaks, Han Chinese and the people of other ethnic groups in Xinjiang participate in the festival. During this time, Sayram Lake is blessed with a double portion of good fortune in water and grassland. During the Nadam Fair, competitions are held in horse-racing, wrestling and archery, which are considered the three basic skills of men.

Mongolian herders from nearby regions attend the fair and dress in traditional ethnic costumes. In addition to the competitions, there is singing, dancing and the age-old competition of ‘girl-chasing’. The fair is great fun for tourists and is very entertaining.

In the winter, snow falls and the water of the lake turns to ice. Only a small portion of the lake can be seen in the vast whiteness of the ice and snow.

Throughout the ages, poets and writers have used vivid and glowing words to describe Sayram Lake. During the middle period of the Qing Dynasty, Ye Honggao called Sayram Lake a ‘clear sea’. Later, Song Bolu used verse to describe the natural scenery of the wide and clear Sayram Lake, ‘The surrounding mounts engulf; the emerald lake wipes the sky clear.’

In the 1970′s, a program was begun to cultivate fish in a large part of the lake. This has been very successful and the region has become a popular tourist destination. Today, Sayram Lake is one of the largest live marine bases in the Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture.

Winter Solstice Festival

Ancient china did pay great attention to this holiday, regarding it as a big event. There was the saying that “Winter solstice holiday is greater than the spring festival”. Nowadays, many regions still celebrate it as a big holiday. Northerners may have dumplings and raviolis that day while southerners may have dumplings made by rice and long noodles. Some places even have the tradition to offer sacrifices to the heaven and earth.

The Winter Solstice became a festival during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and thrived in the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279). The Han people regarded Winter Solstice as a “Winter Festival”, so officials would organize celebrating activities. On this day, both officials and common people would have a rest. The army was stationed in, frontier fortresses closed and business and traveling stopped. Relatives and friends presented to each other delicious food. In the Tang and Song dynasties, the Winter Solstice was a day to offer scarifies to Heaven and ancestors. Emperors would go to suburbs to worship the Heaven; while common people offered sacrifices to their deceased parents or other relatives. The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) even had the record that “Winter Solstice is as formal as the Spring Festival,” showing the great importance attached to this day.

In some parts of Northern China, people eat dumpling soup on this day; while residents of some other places eat dumplings, saying doing so will keep them from frost in the upcoming winter. But in parts of South China, the whole family will get together to have a meal made of red-bean and glutinous rice to drive away ghosts and other evil things. In other places, people also eat tangyuan, a kind of stuffed small dumpling ball made of glutinous rice flour. The Winter Solstice rice dumplings could be used as sacrifices to ancestors, or gifts for friends and relatives. The Taiwan people even keep the custom of offering nine-layer cakes to their ancestors. They make cakes in the shape of chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow or sheep with glutinous rice flour and steam them on different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition. People of the same surname or family clan gather at their ancestral temples to worship their ancestors in age order. After the sacrificial ceremony, there is always a grand banquet.

There are four main palaces at the center of the park where you can feel something of the religious culture. To the east of the four palaces there is the Guxiang Garden as well as the Stone Inscription Garden, Fish Pond and Water Lily Pool. Guxiang Garden is the original site of the Hot Springs Temple. It is here that the tombs of monks from the Song (960-1279), Ming (1368-1644), and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties are preserved. The Stone Inscription Garden contains steles dating from these three dynastic periods, while a notable feature is the Ming Dynasty Panlong Tower, the treasure of stone inscriptions. To the north of the palaces the park has caves and five ornamental ponds. All of the buildings and pavilions have been sited so as to compliment their surroundings so that with the green bamboos, clear water and elegant hills the park is very picturesque.

Naturally, the hot springs are the main feature of the park. There are ten springs altogether in the park and the temperature of the water is a constant 35C-37C (95.0F-98.6F). The water contains alkali minerals that are considered as having beneficial medicinal properties. The warm water offers an excellent way to relax from the stresses of day to day existence and it also benefits those who suffer from skin problems, arthritis and many other common ailments. Apart from a standard swimming pool there are 75 indoor bathrooms, a newly built triangular indoor swimming pool and a play pool for children.

In addition, the park has an abundance of natural flora and fauna. The plants that naturally occur here are mainly tropical and semitropical evergreens, horsetail pines and a large area covered by bamboo groves. Bedding plants, mainly flowers, well maintained lawns and fruit trees add to the overall colorful ambiance. The park is also home to many species of small animals and birds such as squirrels, hares, owls, crows, doves, cuckoos, parrots, magpies, thrushes and sparrows that you are sure to encounter when you are strolling here.

With its many historic sites and fair sceneries, Northern Hot Springs Park offers you a welcome and an escape from the pressures of city life.

Tickets: CNY 10
Bus Route: 252,253,254,255

The ones that are round in shape are the most famous. They are divided into three classes of sizes namely, small, medium and big. The small ones are usually 2 to 3 stories tall with a single ring and have 21 to 28 rooms. The medium dwellings are usually 3 to 4 stories tall with a large inner open space, which come in single ring or double rings and could contain 30 to 40 rooms. The larger round buildings are usually 4 to 5 stories tall consisting of as many as three rings and could house about 42 to 58 rooms. Finally, the very small round buildings have about 12 to 18 rooms.

Most of the round buildings are three stories high with a diameter of 70-80 meters. It is a ‘group-oriented’ residence, usually with one main entrance. Its wall is usually around 1 meter thick. The main entrance door is padded with iron sheet and is locked by 2 horizontal wood bars. The wooden bars retract into the walls in order to open the door.

Inside the entrance is a huge central courtyard where all the doors of the rooms and inner windows open facing it. Normally, the rooms at the ground level, except the hall and the staircases, are used as kitchens and dining rooms.

The rooms on the second floor are used for storage and those on the third level are used as bedrooms. The rooms at each level are identical. In front of each room, there is an open round hallway and usually there are 4 staircases to move from one level to another.

While the round building is fairly large, it has an inner ring, which is like a round building within a round building. The round buildings that were built earlier than the 15th century also had another function, that of counter siege. It is said that during the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates who intruded the coastal areas, always leave the Hakka’s Earth Buildings area alone.

The formation of the Earth buildings amplify the wisdom and creativeness of the ancestors of the Hakkas settlers in Yongding County. It closes the gaps between Chinese architecture history and the world architecture history and is regarded as a miraculous wonder by thousands of experts, scholars and tourists who have been enchanted by it beauty.

Tickets: CNY 50
Opening Hours: 09:10 to 17:00

Lingyin temple, like many Chinese temples, is constructed according to a basic pattern. Built on a north-south axis with the main entrance to the south, it is surrounded by a protective perimeter wall. The main entrance, secured by heavy gates, is guarded by sculptures of the Four Guardian Warriors-protectors of the temple.

Standing behind these is a short spirit wall – this prevents direct entry to evil spirits, which are said to travel in straight lines. Circumambulating it, Travel China Guide you will find yourself in a courtyard on the far side of which stand several enormous bronze vessels. These continue to be used to burn either incense or paper offerings to the gods.

Behind them is the first temple pavilion, usually elevated from the courtyard by a short set of steps. In front of the main Buddha stands an altar piece hosting such objects as candle holders, incense burners and an offering plate containing fruit, money and even candy. At Lingyin Temple, the central statue is an eighteen foot high statue of Sakyamuni, or the Historical Buddha, made in the Tang dynasty (607-960). Carved out of twenty-four pieces of camphor wood, it is said to be one of the largest wooden Buddhas in the world.

Typically this representation of the Buddha includes a glass ball on his forehead representing the eye of wisdom, long earlobes which portend longevity, the thumb-middle finger gesture signifying strength and wisdom, a lotus pedestal associated with purity (since the flower emerges unstained from the mud), and the nimbus behind his head which signals brightness. On this nimbus are carved the “seven ancient Buddhas” who symbolize the seven gems (gold, silver, glaze, glass, coral, agate and the conch shell) as well as the seven human emotions (joy, anger, melancholy, fear, love, hate and desire).

To proceed to the next courtyard you should walk to the back of the pavilion where an exit door, guarded by another deity, awaits you. Depending on the size of the temple complex, the number of successive courtyards will vary, with the most important buildings set deep into the complex so as to ensure ample protection from evil spirits.

Tickets: CNY 45 (including 25 for the Fei Lai Feng)
Opening Hours: 5:00 – 18:00
Bus Routes: 7, 807, Tourist buses No. 1, 2, 4

According to the record of Taoism, in the middle of the East Han Dynasty (25-220), Zhang Daoling, the first Tian Shi (a Taoist priest), started to distill elixirs at this historic mountain, originally named ‘Mount of Splendid Clouds’. As the elixirs were made, a dragon and a tiger would appear. Then the mountain’s name changed and became a birthplace of Taoism.

Shangqing Palace in Shangqing Old Town Scenic Area, first built in East Han Dynasty, is the place for Tian Shi to pray and the place where all gods received their official ranks. It was as large as the royal palace, but one Chi (about 1.094 feet) lower to show the respect for the royal prerogative.

Apart from the sacred place for Taoism, Dragon and Tiger Mountain is also full of beautiful and special landscapes. As a typical Danxia landform characterized by its cliffy scarp, the red terrestrial clastic rock can be seen everywhere in Celestial Water Rock Scenic Area. There are a total of ninety-nine peaks, twenty-four boulders, one hundred and eight natural and artificial sights and over twenty wells, ponds, streams and waterfalls. ‘Ten cannot’ rocks in this area are famous for the vivid guise and attractive stories. They are: the nun carrying monk cannot pass by; the jade comb that cannot comb the hair; the water lily that cannot be wore; the test-sword stone that cannot be put to the test; the celestial peach that cannot be eaten; the stone drum that cannot be beat; the splendid silk that cannot be wrapped; the fairy cannot be married; the scoop that cannot be used and the Taoism Hall that people cannot sit in. Sitting in a raft and drifting in the winding Lu Xi River which meanders westwards through the whole mountain area and links sights scattered along the banks, visitors can take in all the beautiful scenes, blue skies, white clouds, green water and red mountains.

Another marvelous sight in Dragon and Tiger Mountain is the Cliff Tombs. Most of the tombs are about 50 meters (160 feet) above the water, and some are more than 300 meters (984 feet) high. Floating in the Lu Xi River, Cliff Tombs of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (476-221BC) can be seen along the river banks. Because of its expansive area, large quantity, dangerous location and unique shape, the tombs got the title ‘the best natural archaeological museum of China’. No one is quite sure why or how the ancient site was built, so it’s still a mystery waiting for you to discover.

Tickets:
CNY 30 Shangqing Palace
CNY 145 Celestial Water Drifting
CNY 33 Tian Shi Fu

Takla Makan Desert is China’s largest desert, situated in the middle of the largest Basin, Tarim in Xinjiang Province. This is reputed to be the world’s second largest shifting-sand desert covering an area of over 33, 700 square kilometers (over 13 square miles).

In Uigur language, Takla Makan means ‘you can get into it but can never get out’ and the desert has another name ‘the Sea of Death’. The desert is regarded as being very powerful among the people; no wonder the name connotes fear. But there was an interesting legend about the origin of the desert. It was said that there was a Supernatural Being, who saw the hardship being faced by the people in this area and thought that he could help them by using the two magic objects in his possession namely the golden axe and the golden key. He gave his golden axe to the Kazakh, so they split the mountain Altai and diverted water from the mountains to the fields. The Supernatural Being planned to give the golden key to the Uigur so that they could open the door of the treasure-house of the Tarim Basin, but unfortunately his youngest daughter lost the key. This angered him so much that he held her a captive in the Tarim Basin and thus the Takla Makan Desert was formed.

Continuous sand dunes in this large Takla Makan Desert are usually over 100 meters high (over 109 yards) and some are even higher than 300 meters (about 328 yards). Because of the wind, the sand dunes are always moving forward and statistics suggests that each year they move about 150 meters (about 164 yards), which seriously threatens the existence of oasis and the survival of the local populace. For the past 50 years, the Chinese Government has made great effort to plant trees to reduce the encroachments of the sandstorms. With the help of experts, local people planted diversiform-leaved poplars, rose-willows, pomegranate trees, mulberries and built windbreak belts as corrective measures and in some places, people even cultivate corn. There is an improvement in the living condition of the local people, thanks to the increase in vegetation. Now there are over 80 species of birds’ resident in the interior desert and the precipitation is increasing as well.

The Takla Makan Desert is also rich in natural resources, buried under it vast expanse are resources such as groundwater, oil and oil gas. During the oilfields’ opening up, people encountered the problems of transportation. Thus the idea of building a highway came to people’s mind. In the year 1995, a desert-road of 522 kilometers (more than 324 miles) was completed and opened to traffic. Construction work has commenced on the second desert-road in June, 2005 and it is to be completed by the end of 2007.

In ancient times, Luoyang Bridge was called Wan’an Bridge. Wan’an means being perfectly safe in Chinese. Near the bridge was a ferry terminal. When there was bad weather, local people could not be ferried safely to their destination. The locals prayed to cross the river safely so they called the terminal the Wan’an Ferry Terminal, hence the bridge’s name Wan’an.

Construction of the Luoyang Bridge started in 1053 and was completed in 1059. The project of building the bridge was led by Cai Xiang, the governor of Quanzhou who was also one of the four famous calligraphers in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Built with granite, the bridge features ship-like piers and a unique method of reinforcing the foundation. The ship-like piers could easily cut the rapid current in the river. To reinforce the foundation of the bridge, oysters were bred under the bridge because the liquid they secreted would help to bind the piers and the footstones together. This is the first time an organism was used to assist in reinforcing the structure of a bridge anywhere in the world.

Since it was built, the Luoyang Bridge has been restored many times. At present, it is about 731 meters (2,398 feet) long, 5 meters (16 feet) wide and 7 meters (22 feet) high. It has 645 railings, 104 stone lions, 44 ship-like piers, 7 pagodas and 1 pavilion. With a height of 12 meters (39 feet), the statue of Cai Xiang stands at one end of the bridge.

To the north of the bridge lies the Zhaohui Memorial Hall where people worship the Dragon King who protects the bridge in the sea. A temple used to commemorate the monk Yi Bo who sacrificed for the building of the bridge is also located there. In the middle of the bridge are some ancient steles. Among them, the most renowned is a stele from the Song Dynasty inscribed with four Chinese characters ‘wan’ ‘gu’ ‘an’ and ‘lan’. Additionally, there are some other stone sculptures of warriors and pagodas.

To the south of the bridge stands the Cai Xiang Memorial Temple which displays a famous tablet engraved with the notes related to the building of the Wan’an Bridge written by Cai Xiang. These record the time, cost and staff involved in building the bridge as well as its length and width. The notes consisting of 153 words were written with beautiful calligraphy and demonstrate excellent carving skills.