Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page B2

January 13, 2016

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Feature » Travel

Xuedou Mountain steeped in history

By Li Qian | January 13, 2016, Wednesday | Print Edition

The 800-meter-high Xuedou is a mountain of stories.

Legend has it that the Emperor Song Renzong (AD 1010-1063) once dreamed visiting a picturesque mountain. After he woke up, he browsed paintings of mountains across the country and affirmed that it was Xuedou Mountain in Zhejiang Province he had seen.

This story was carved on a stele in the Yushu Pavilion, near the gate of the Xuedou Mountain Scenic Spot, while another side was inscribed with four words, “famous mountain in dream.”

Some 300 meters away from the pavilion stands the 1,700-year-old Xuedou Temple. This temple houses a 56.74-meter statue of a sitting Maitreya Bodhisattva, the biggest in the world.

In Chinese Buddhism, Maitreya was incarnated as the monk Budai, who was born and lived in what is now present day Fenghua City, where the mountain stands.

With a round face, long ears, squinting eyes and a perpetual smile, Maitreya is a favorite Chinese icon, nicknamed the “laughing Buddha.” He is believed to bring harmony and prosperity and chase away sickness and evil.

On the west side of the temple, there’s a small villa which was used to confine Kuomintang General Zhang Xueliang.

In December 1936, Zhang took Chiang Kai-shek hostage for 13 days, forcing him to end the civil war and instead focus on fighting Japanese invaders in alliance with the Communist Party.

After Chiang was released, he punished Zhang with house arrest for life, and kept him in the villa on Xuedou, northwest of Xikou Town, Chiang’s birthplace. In November 1937, Zhang was transferred.

Just about 400 meters west to the Yushu Pavilion, there’s the spectacular Qianzhang Crag Waterfall. Raging torrents crash and tumble over rocks, which create thunder-like sound and a cloud of fine spray.

It’s better to walk down a hundred steps from the pavilion to appreciate the grand waterfall and 186 meter drop, and then walk from the opposite side up to the western top of the crag. There stands the Feixue Pavilion, the best location to view the magnificent scene.

Around 500 meters west of the pavilion is the Miaogao Terrace, a place of ancient pines and steep cliffs. In the late 1920s, Chiang built a villa there for summer resorts.

In January 1949 when he was about to lose the civil war, it served as his field headquarter.

Another highlight of the mountain is Sanyin Pool, a 1,600-meter-long series of waterfalls divided into the upper, middle and the lower falls by rocks and cliffs.

FeatureTravel


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend