China - June 2002
Shanxi Provence - Wutai Mountain
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After visiting the fabulous Hanging Temple, we stopped off at the oldest wooden structure in China today, the Yingzian Wooden Pagoda. It was built in 1056 and is 67.3 meters high. Though it appears as a five-storey structure, the pagoda in fact has nine stories with four hidden inside It was constructed with over 50 kinds of brackets, depending entirely on the joining of tendons and mortises without a single nail or rivet. Despite the long exposure to the elements, violent earthquakes and intense shelling during wars, the pagoda remains intact. |
 Inside Pagoda |
 Drum tower |
 View of local houses from atop the Pagoda. |
 Street Outside pagoda |
 We continued on the bus... |
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| After, washed out roads, a 2 hour traffic jam for a local circus performance, and lots of winding mountainous roads, we arrived at Mt. Wutai, which is one of the four most famous Buddhist shrine mountains. It is the only Chinese mountain mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. Mt. Wutai is considered the holy shrine of Bodhisattva Manjushri. There are dozens of monasteries, temples and lamaseries, mostly centered in beautiful Taihuai Town. The mountain is also renown as a summer resort for its cool climate in summer. |
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 The mountains were quite beautiful |
 This large structure is a tomb. |
 Elaborate incense burner. In the background you can see the large flower wreaths in memorial for one of the monks who had recently died. |
 This temple was covered in gold leaf. |
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 Even though the temples were quite colorful ... |
 I was pretty templed out by this point. |
 The local town was quaint and rural.  |
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