THE PEAK THAT FLEW FROM AFAR
There is Heaven in Paradise. On Earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou! That’s how the Chinese
feel about the beautiful tourist spots in their middle kingdom. Many of the sightseeing attractions on the West Lake in Hangzhou have exotic names like ‘Three pools mirroring the moon’, ‘Twin peaks piercing the clouds’ and the like.
Another great tourist attraction is the vast Lingyin
Temple, also
known as the Temple of the Soul’s retreat. This is one of the very few Buddhist temples which survived the Cultural Revolution. It is said that the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai extended special protection to this Temple.
A fantastic legend in this temple complex concerns Feilaifeng or ‘The peak that flew from afar’. It is said that an Indian Buddhist monk visited this temple sometime in 326AD. He saw a peculiarly shaped hill and promptly declared that it must have flown from Magadha (Now known as Bihar) in India. This announcement was based on his claim that similarly shaped hills were found in plenty in Magadha! Hence this hill is known even today as ‘Tianzhushan’ (Indian hill), or Feilafeng (The peak that flew from afar).
Some 330 statues belonging to the era between 10th and 14th centuries are seen here with carvings in the ancient Sanskrit language of India.
Hangzhou is also famous for its green tea, supposed to be China’s finest variety. A waiter in a local teahouse claimed that last year, top quality ‘Lonjing’ tea was auctioned in Hangzhou for a whopping 17470$ for just 100 gms!
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