Yangtze (Chang Jiang) River Cruise Day 4

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Day 4: The excursion today is the the city of Feng Du (city of the dead). Ancient Chinese belief is that when a person dies, they automatically go to hell, but there is a special way to get out of hell and into paradise. First, the body stays in the house for 7 days, in case they come alive again. At the end of 7 days, the son must light a candle under the coffin .If there is no son, too bad you stay in hell and the torture chamber. If the son lights a candle, the spirit of the perosn can travel a special road called the Huanguan Road and come before the 'judge'. There are three tasks along this road to be successful in your journey, fail them and you know what happens. You have 49 days to complete the tasks and see the judge. If you are successful, he will judge your behaviour on earth; if your are worthy, you will go to paradise; if not you will stay in torture chamber. If after a certain time in the torture chamber he deems you worthy, you have a second chance at paradise. If not, you are there for good. Pretty gruesome stuff. This Feng Du is the city of the dead where supposedly people's spirits travelled on the way to see 'the judge'.


Most of the original temples and monuments here were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and have been rebuilt only since 1985. the only original is the top one where 'the judge'sits. Our guide said that one was not destroyed out of fear that the people had of this ruler and strong respect they had for the tradition involved.

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Photos

Feng Du City excursion
Off the boat and onto a small tram that took us to the excursion site

Gates to Ghost City
Fengdu was a bustling city of 750 million people before the dam flooding. It is now only a tourist place, with most of the people having been moved to the other side of the river into new housing.

Map of the area
We only saw the right hand side of the area this morning. There are lots of stairs involved in this sight.

Wizard
I think this is one of the bad wizards.

The Ghost King
I think this is the 'good' ghost of the city. It is actually the shell of a 5-star hotel that has never been finished- that seem to be the way things go here.

Hengha Temple
There are many temples along the way with lots of buddahs, ghosts and devils.

Test for husbands
A small side test for husbands - lift this 400 pound rock and balance it on the mound to show that you love your wife! Rick failed...... as did all the othe men until some local showed them the trick! (but still difficult)

Hats for Sale!
a bit of local flavour and a few laughs, but our guide did not appreciate his participation in the group.

Buddah
One of the many buddahs in the various temples along the way.

Female Buddah
This was the only female Buddah.

SIns
There are 18 statues along the way representing the sins that a person could commit (the different sins represented different kinds of torture at the end) This one must deal with loose women.

Beer Drinking Sin
Rick bonded with this guy right away!

Haungquang road
This is the special road that all sprits must pass to meet the judge.

The Judge's Palace
This is where the judge resides and if you have successfully completed the three tasks in 49 days, your spirit may enter

The Judge
This guy is the judge. I didn't take pictures of the torture chamber, but it was pretty gruesome!

Prayers before the Judge
Lighting incense, candles and offering special (and expensive) prayers before the Judge.

Another temple
not allowed in this one - it must be either special or slated for repairs.

Cemetery at Ghost City
I think these burial sites are for important taoist believers, but couldnt find much information about them.

Bottle Painting
This demonstration was of bottle painting, but painting on the inside of the bottles! Very intricate and difficult art. Lisa spent a couple of hours with us showing and describing how she does this. Her master is still teaching her, but too old to do the delicate lines required.

Lisa
Lisa shows how she uses a very fine brush to paint on the inside. She showed us how to tell the difference between a machine and handmade bottle