Jia-yu-guan (West End of Great Wall)
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Jiayuguan or Jiayu Pass is the first pass at the west end of the Great Wall of China, near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province. It has also been called "Jiayuguan Pass"; however, this form is redundant since "guan" means "pass" in Chinese. Along with Juyongguan and Shanhaiguan, it is one of the main passes of the Great Wall.
The Great Wall near Jiauguan fabulous legend recounts the meticulous planning involved in the construction of the pass. According to legend, when Jiayuguan was being planned, the official in charge asked the designer to estimate the exact number of bricks required and the designer gave him a number. The official questioned his judgment, asking him if that would be enough, so the designer added one brick. When Jiayuguan was finished, there was one brick left over, which was placed loose on one of the gates where it remains today.
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Dunhuang and Silk Road |
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Dunhuang was made a prefecture in 117 BC by Emperor Han Wudi, and was a major point of interchange between ancient China and Central Asia during the Han and Tang dynasties.
It is made famous largely by the Buddhist Grottoes, known as the Mogao Grottoes, which are one of the World’s most important sites of ancient Buddhist culture. The grottoes, also known as Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, preserve nearly a thousand years of Buddhist cave-temple architecture, clay sculpture, mural paintings, and manuscripts, dating from the 5th to the 14th centuries.
The rediscovery of the caves and their treasures in 1900 opened a new field of study that uses the monuments and documents found at Dunhuang to illuminate the complex cultural interactions of ancient Central Asia. The Dunhuang finds reflect periods of Chinese, Tibetan, and Uygur control, and the images and texts reveal the impact of many other Asian regional styles and languages.
The intermixture of Indian, West Asian, Central Asian, and Chinese elements reveal a dynamic, eclectic, and thoroughly multicultural context that had a profound impact on the later development of narrative literary forms as well as on Buddhist image-making.
This early internationalism has an echo in the contemporary distribution of Dunhuang material and Dunhuang studies around the world. The discovery of a sealed-up library of manuscripts and painted scrolls at the Mogao Grottoes led to the acquisition of significant collections of such portable items by museums and libraries in London, Paris, St. Petersburg (Leningrad), and New Delhi. |
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Shaolin Temple |
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Located in the Songshan Mountains, a little more than 50 miles southwest of Henan's provincial capital, Zhengzhou, Shaolin Temple is famous not only as one of China's important Buddhist shrines, but also as the ancient center of Chinese kung-fu.
Built in 495, the temple was originally designed to house Batuo, a celebrated Indian monk, who, after many years of spreading Buddhism, was later known as Fo Tuo, or Grand Monk. In 537, another famous Indian monk, Boddhidharma, settled in the temple, and as legend has it, created a sort of primitive bare-hand combat routine called “xingyi boxing” after he had sat meditating in a cave for nine years.
That started the kung-fu tradition at the temple. At the beginning of the seventh century, a tiny army of 13 Shaolin monks were reputed to have saved future Tang Dynasty emperor Li Shimin, by defeating an entire division of the ruling Sui Dynasty's army and helping him break out of prison. When he took power, Li showered favors, land and wealth on the temple. Shaolin then thrived as a center of kung-fu masters from around the country. At its heyday, it housed more than 3,000 solider-monks.
The present buildings at Shaolin Temple are spread out over an area of about 10,000 acres. The most interesting relics are the murals in the Eastern Hall, which depict groups of boxing monks. |
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Shanghai City |
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The largest city in China, Shanghai contains the most striking blend of oriental and western cultures and of the past and present. In this city, European-style buildings can be seen standing alongside typical Chinese structures and ancient temples. Modern ocean-going vessels sail past junks. A flourishing commercial and industrial center, Shanghai has a population of over 16 million and a land area of 3,355 square miles.
Although early records indicate that a settlement was founded during the Song Dynasty (960-1380 AD), at a time when invaders from the north were retreating to their own borders, it remained a small fishing village and did not become a town until the mid-13th century. Compared with other major cities in China it has had a relatively short history.
After the Opium War, Shanghai was forced by European powers to open as a "treaty port." From that time on aggressors from many countries began to flock in and the city became known as a notorious "paradise for adventurers." Carving out their own spheres of influence, they settled there by seizing their respective "concessions," which were characteristic of this colonial period.
Due to many years of foreign influence, Shanghai, the first Chinese city to open a disco for foreign visitors, is perhaps China's most cosmopolitan city. It also offers the tourist art and history museums tracing China's growth through the ages, and magnificent examples of Chinese architecture in its temples and buildings.
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