Journey to the West

It was summer, 1997. After long discussion, we had decided to take a trip to the north-west of china in our Cherokee. We crossed six provinces and one autonomous region (almost 8200km) in 30 days. It was an extremely beautiful and unforgettable journey, a great opportunity to encounter nature and see a large swathe of China. We really want to share the experience and our impressions with you. - Nada

We left hot and humid Beijing early one morning in late July. Driving west we passed beautiful Jietai Temple and Tanzhe Temple, then turned south-west towards Wutai Shan - Wutai Mountain in Shanxi province.

The road runs 300 kilometers through picturesque Hebei province: green fields of corn; green hills dappled with flocks of sheep like an unseasonable dusting of snow; the grey ribbon of the Great Wall. Entering Shanxi province we passed the Taihang range which forms its eastern border, then began a long climb from the small town of Shahe.

From a vantage point 2000 meters above sea level, a magificent landscape opened out before us - beautiful green valleys, mountain peaks and wonderful, vibrant mountain flowers. This was Wutai Shan - one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains, whose highest peak towers 3058 meters and is known as the "roof of northern China."

Many of the mountain's 58 temples are located in Taihuai, where we decided to make our first stop. Our arrival had coincided with International Tourism Day and crowds of visitors thronged the town.

Taihuai's most prominent feature is the Tayuan Temple, built during the Ming Dynasty. Its bottle-shaped White Pagoda is about 50 metres high, and for many people represents the main symbol of Wutai Shan. We arrived just in time for lunch, and a great smell of fried vegetables mingled with the scent of incense. A monk-cook told us he prepared food for hundreds of monks and guests every day. As we were leaving he gave us two apples to say good-bye.

On Taihuai's east hill stands Dailuoding Temple, which offers marvellous views of the surrounding area. In ancient times emperors were obliged to visit Wutai Shan at least once a year and pray at every one of its peaks. This was hard work for the Son of Heaven, so the temple at Dailuoding was constructed to make his life easier, from it he could see all five peaks of Wutai Shan and every temple in Taihuai, and this was enough to permit him to do all his praying at once.

The oldest and biggest temple on the Wutai Shan is Xian Tong Temple built during the Eastern Han Dynasty (58-75AD). The temple has an area of 80,000 square meters, seven rows of halls, totalling over 400 rooms. The most interesting buildings are pagodas and halls wholly made of bronze, which are wonderful masterpieces of casting.

Our last port of call was Bishan Temple, two kilometers north-west from Taihuai. We arrived in the afternoon to find monks, nuns and many ordinary people reading scripture. We were told by one old monk that the common folk were there to pass a test: "They want to become monks. Today they must pass an examination, and after that they can wear our clothes and cut their hair. Often we have whole families who want to stay here and become monks!" We could understand why after we saw a small bird walking around in the middle of the crowd - the monks had found the bird injured and had cared for it until it recovered, and it had stayed with them rather than fly away.

From Wutai Shan we continued south to Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi. For the first 20 kilometers we were accompanied by two Buddhist nuns. Two nuns hitchhiking back to their temple! They were very young and pretty, and had both been brought to the temple by their parents. They had been there many years. "We pray and chant scripture a lot every day," they said. "We also clean, cook, make clothes. But we never sell the things we have made. Our life is not so complicated as yours. We never think about the outside world."

But perhaps they dream about it? "No, we never have dreams! Every night before sleeping we have to pray for a long time to cleanse our minds of any thoughts, to make them empty, just thinking about Buddha. So, we never dream!" They wished us peace and luck as they left.

The road we had chosen was so bad it took us six hours to cover the 220 kilometers to Taiyuan. We arrived at midnight extremely dirty and tired, only to discover the truth of the old Chinese saying we had heard before our trip: "It is easier for the rich man to enter heaven, than for the backpacker to enter a hotel in Taiyuan." We spent about an hour looking for a room, but many hotels were full, others were too expensive or too dirty, or allowed no foreigners. Finally we happened upon the small Mei Xiang Hotel and gratefully relaxed in a clean room with its own bathroom.

Taiyuan has a history of 2500 years, and although it has developed into a modern city much like others in China, you can still find some of the country's finest examples of Chinese Buddhist temples and art there.

The most important is Jinci Temple, 25 kilometers south-west of the city. The temple complex dates back more than 1500 years, although it also contains important structures from the Ming Dynasty. The Goddess Mother Hall, or Sacred Lady Hall, is the most interesting of the temple's buildings, and also the oldest wooden building in the city. In front of it stand wooden pillars around which wind great carved wooden dragons. Inside sits a large statue of the Sacred Lady, attended by 42 Song Dynasty clay figures of maid-servants. The Goddess Mother is said to be the mother of Prince Shuyu of the Zhou Dynasty. To the south of the temple is the seven-storey Sacred Relics Pagoda, constructed at the end of the 7th century.

We departed on the south-west road, pausing only to check out the Tianlong Buddhist Caves 15 kilometers out of town. The caves were carved into Tianlong Mountain from the Eastern Wei to the Tang Dynasty, and gave a beautiful insight into the spiritual world of the ancient Buddhist artists.

Next stop - Yinchuan in Ningxia.