Third stop: Kaifeng

Since now we were in Henan Province, we stopped in Kaifeng on the way to Beijing. Kaifeng is where the famous Shaolin Temple is. However, nowadays Shaoling is a big brand and there are always throngs of tourists. The monks seem to be quite happy making money from the visitors, and yes, they have scheduled martial arts show daily.

(Click on each image to see the high-resolution version)


Shaolin Temple

But it's still a Buddhist temple and there are places for believers to worship.


Buddhist Statue

One of the rooms is famous for the depressions on the brick floor, which were made by the repeated stomping of Shaolin monks practicing martial arts, or Wu Shu, or Kung Fu.


Floor with depressions

The mural on the wall probably dates back a few hundred of years, if not more than one thousand.


Mural on the wall

The Pagoda Forest (塔林) is the burial grounds for the high-ranking monks (each pagoda is a tomb). It offers a little (but not much more) respite from the tourist crowd.


Pagoda Forest (塔林)


Pagoda Forest (塔林)


Pagoda Forest (塔林)


Pagoda Forest (塔林)


Pagoda Forest (塔林)

In the back of Shaolin Temple is the Song Shan or Song Mountain (嵩山), one of the five sacred mountains in China (in fact, it is the central one). We were pressed for time, so we took the cable car to the middle of the mountain and walked along the path chiseled out of the rock surface. It was a cloudy day but the mountain was still impressive.


Song Shan (嵩山)


Song Shan (嵩山)


Song Shan (嵩山)


Song Shan (嵩山)


Song Shan (嵩山)

The other prominent landmark in Kaifeng is the Iron Tower -- the tower is not made of iron; the name comes from the rusty color of the structure.


Iron Tower


Iron Tower

The Daxiangguo Si (Royal Temple, Chinese: 大相国寺) is another famous place in Kaifeng, but I cannot say I am that impressed; the following picture of the "thousand-hand, thousand-eye Bodhisattva" (千手千眼观音) statue was taken there. I think the multitude of hands are rather wooden (pun intended).


Thousand-hand, thousand-eye Bodhisattva (千手千眼观音)

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