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Published: December 10th 2009
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Hanging Monastery with 1400 years history
1400 years old temple built onto the cliff wall. We managed to visit the key attractions in Shanxi in 3 days instead of the typical 4-5 days. Our initial plan was to visit the Pingyao Ancient City and a local residential compound of the past rich merchants on the first 2 days then spent a day in Taiyuan before going back to Beijing.
Fortunately, we met a good honest driver who knows the place very well and we were able to bring us to the key attractions in the province.
Day 1 - Qiao Family Compound and Pingyao Ancient City
We took a morning flight from Beijing to Taiyuan airport. Upon reaching Taiyuan airport, we were not able to find any car rental service or tourist information kiosk. We started to asked around and found a private car driver who is willing to take use to Pingyo which is about 2 hours away. However, the price quoted was too high so we turned him down. Then another driver approached us with a better offer. Assessed him by asking him a few questions about the cost and the travel routes etc and he seem to be trustworthy so we took up the offer.
While driving us to Pingyao, the
driver suggested that we don’t spent too much time at Pingyao. So, we asked if it’s possible to visit Mt Wutai, the hanging monastery and Yungang Grottes in Datong over the next 2 days. He said yes and when we agreed to the travel plan, he even helped us the make hotel arrangements for the next 2 days.
Along the way to Pingyao, the driver stopped by at one of those compunds of the past rich merchant for us to visit (Qiao Family Compound). This was a residential compound built during the Qing dynasty by the rich Qiao family to house several generation of their family members.
Next, we went to see the 1000 years old Pingyao Ancient City which was China’s first financial capital and now a UNESCO world heritage site. It was here that the cash remittance business started and contributed towards the economic development in north China over Ming and Qing dynasties. The trade required armed escorts to transport the cash to other parts of the country and with this, there was a focused to recruit men with martial arts skills for the work.
The Risheng Exchange shop is one key attractions. It operate
like our banks today where you can deposit cash in one branch and draws out cash in the branches elswhere.
The entire city was protected by city walls.
We booked an electric car and a guide to bring us round the city which still has residents. The city mostly has single story houses hotels and shops that retains the architectural designs of the last 600years of Ming and Qing Dyansties. You can also go up to the city walls to have a good birds eye view of the city.
We headed back to Taiyuan to stay for the night before setting out to Mt Wutai.
Day 2 - Mt Wutai
Mt Wutai is a UNESCO world heritage site with many monasteries/temples built in the mountains since the Tang Dynasty. Some of the them are more than 1000 years old now. It is good place to see old Chinese temple architectural. We visited several of the monasteries before going to the hotel. It was cold and the temperature was -20 deg C at night.
Day 3 - The hanging monastery (Xunkong Shi) and Yungang Grottes
It was -30deg C in the morning. We were
going towards the Hanging Monastery before going to the Yungang Grottes which is the third UNESCO site we are visting. Along to way, the scenery was beautiful with blue sky and snow on the ground.
The hanging monastery has a section built on the mountain cliff and has a history of more than 1400 years. It’s a small temple but spectacular especially when seen from far. The part of the structure is above the ground and supported by “columns” that were inserted into the cliff walls.
We reached Datong City to visit Yungang Grottes after 5pm but managed to get the tickets in.
The 1500 years old Yungang Grottes was built during the North Wei Dynasty. It consists of caves with Buddhism sculptures craved on rocks. The caves were actually dug out from rock cliff walls and the sculpture and the decorations are still visible today. The grottes is a showcase of the engineering expertise at that time. They had been designed to be structurally sound and can withstand its own weight over time. The water drainage and the openings for lighting were also demonstrated in the design of the caves and is still working till today.
Finally ,we headed straight to the airport in Taiyuan after just in time for the flight back to Beijing.
Note: The contents (text and photos) of this article remain the copyright of the Author, Jenny. Under no circumstances should the photos or text be used without the express written permission of the Author. Please contact the Author by leaving a message if you wish to use or publish photos or text from this article.
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manuel
non-member comment
Hi, could you tell me how much you paid for transportation? would you have your driver's contact info? thanks