China Trip, San Men Xia Luoyang 13th Nov

From Xian, we took a 2.5hr coach ride to San Men Xia, passing 1 of the 5 famous peaks in China, Hua Shan （华山）. In Jin Yong's pugilistic world, the top 5 exponents went to Hua Shan and fought for days to decide who was the best.

For those who did not know, there are 5 famous mountains in China which were bestowed titles by the emperors of various dynasties. The chief of them all was the Eastern Peak（东岳） Tai Shan （泰山）, Southern Peak（南岳）Heng Shan (衡山）,Western Peak（西岳）Hua Shan（华山）, Northern Peak（北岳）Heng Shan（恒山）and Central Peak（中岳）Song Shan（嵩山）. In Chinese mythology, the ancient Chinese revered mountains, believing in the existence of mountain gods. Hence some emperors will choose their coronation to be held on mountain peaks, so as to receive the mandate of Heaven to be the Son of Heaven （天子）and rule the country. During times of disasters like drought or famine, emperors will also ascend mountain peaks to pray for good harvest or rain for the good of all his people.

As we arrived in San Men Xia, the tour guide explained that the gorges were formed when the mythological figure Da Yu （大禹）was trying to prevent the annual flooding of the Yellow River. It was claimed that he paved 3 gateways to spread the waters, namely the Human Gate（人门）, Ghost Gate（鬼门） and God Gate（神门）, hence the name “三门峽”. The next day, we visited the famous Bao Lun Si Pagoda（宝轮寺塔）. The pagoda is 1 of the few buildings in China which has an echo effect when people try to produce a sound. Hence whenever someone uses the rock to hit on the rock base, the sound will travel to the pagoda and the resulting echo will sound like a frog croaking. The other more famous echo structure would be the echo wall （回音壁）of Tian Tan （天坛）in Beijing. Though I am not well versed in Physics, I believe the unqiue structure of the pagoda is the cause of the echo effect. The pagoda that we visited was an enclosed stone pagoda （密岩室塔）with no other openings, therefore the sound waves will enter the pagoda through a very small doorway at the base of the pagoda, bounce inside the walls of the pagoda before coming out as an echo.

In China, most pagodas were built in the past to store the shahira （舍利／舍利子）, or the relics of a monk after he has been cremated. It was said to contain the essence of the person, and that venerable monks would have a huge amount of it in their ashes.

We then proceeded on to Luoyang, another ancient capital of ancient China. The famous White Horse Temple （白马寺）is situated in Luoyang, and the temple was built to comemorate the 2 white horses that carried the 1st Buddhist scriptures into China during Eastern Han dynasty (东汉）. It was said that emperor Ming dreamt of a golden man from the west flew into the great hall in the palace and ordered his personal study to be renovated into a Buddhist temple. Hence, the White Horse Temple is the 1st government-built Chinese Buddhist Temple in China. Buddhism is mainly divided into 2 broad categories, the Tibetan Buddhism （藏传佛教）and Chinese Buddism（汉传佛教）. The biggest contrast is that Tibetan Buddhism is mainly in Tibet（西藏）with lamas （喇嘛）blowing huge trumpets and wearing unqiue hats while Chinese Buddhism is known throughout most parts of China with the all-familiar shaven head monks with 6-9 burnt marks on the head.

The next day, we travelled to the world famous Longmen Grottoes （龙门石窟）which houses tens of thousands of Buddha statues carved into the cliff face from Northern Wei to Sui & Tang dynasties （北魏、隋、唐）. As it houses so many carved Buddhist statues from different eras, the Longmen Grottoes has long been recognised as a cultural, historical, artistic and religious site. As such, it is listed under United Nations' World Heritage. Sadly, many selfish collectors will gladly pay huge sums for robbers to deface many of the Buddha statues, leaving a decaptitated body behind.

The bigger statues were mainly carved under imperial orders to pray for prosperity for good health. The smaller statues found near the big statues were mainly ordered by other officials.

In 1 particular cave, it was said to house at least 15000 Buddha statues. This cave is aptly named "Ten Thousand Buddha Cave" （万佛洞）.The little grooves on the side walls are all filled with small Buddha statues. This is a testimony of how the artisans painstakingly made such pieces of religious masterpieces. It is truly our fortune to be able to inherit such rich heritage from our forefathers. I do hope that as China continues to prosper, the Chinese will be able to devise new technology to preserve such art and cultural relics for future generations to keep.

The grottoes are actually on both sides of the river, but due to time constraints, I chose to retrace my steps back to the coach rather than visit the rebuilt Xiang Shan Temple （香山寺）across the river.



It was truly a humbling experience viewing the work of ancient artisans at this site. I only wish that those private collectors will one day realise the damage they have done to all humanity and restore the stolen heads back where they belong.

After lunch, we went on to Guan Lin（关林）, where the famous 3 Kingdoms gereral Guan Yu（关羽） was buried. The Chinese differentiated the names given to the tombs of ancient figures. Emperor tombs were known as "Huang Ling"（皇陵）,the tombs of the 2 sages Guan Yu as "Guan Lin"（关林）and Confucious as "Kong Lin"（孔林）, with the tombs of other officials and common people as "Mu"（墓）. This is to differentiate between the different social classes and the honour accorded to them when they passed from this world.

Probably due to the respect for Guan Yu,

I have somehow decided to take very few pictures of the entire Guan Lin. In fact, in my zest to explain some of the stories of the 3 Kingdoms era, I have forgotten to take the tablet in front of Guan Yu's tomb! I will have to pinch myself for that. It was a known fact that when Guan Yu was serving Cao Cao during a short period of time, Cao Cao hosted a small banquet every 3 days and a grand banquet every 5 days. It was also said that Guan Yu was rewarded a tray of gold ingots whenever he rode his horse and a tray of silver ingots whenever he alighted from his horse. Cao Cao also gave Guan Yu an official duke title and a dozen of beauties to serve him. Guan Yu remained unmoved until Cao Cao also gave Guan Yu the famous "Red Hare" horse （赤兔马）,which was reputed to be able to travel a thousand miles in a day. Guan Yu knelt when he recognised the horse, explaining that with the horse, he could return immediately to his sworn brother, Liu Bei's （刘备）side. Such was Guan Yu's loyalty towards his sworn brother.

Upon hearing news of Liu Bei, Guan Yu carved a painting of bamboo for Cao Cao, and researchers claimed that the leaves of the bamboo resemble Chinese characters. Thus, they carbon-copied the painting, and copied the words to form a poem:

不谢东君意，单青独立名。

莫嫌孤叶淡，终久不凋零。

which translates loosely to "Many thanks to your kindness. I would prefer to carve out a name for myself in history by my own efforts. Do not think of the bamboo leaves as plain, for they are evergreen and do not wilt." It is also important to note that ancient Chinese adore bamboo as it represents integrity and the upright character that a man should possess. A poem within bamboo leaves, how creative...