China 2009 Day 2 - Sichuan, Chengdu - Wenshu Monastery (文殊院), Bian Lian (变脸), Bian Yi (变衣)

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30 May 2009

Returning from Wuhou Shrine, we linked up with the rest of the tour group. Then， our coach took us to Wenshu Monastery (文殊院, Wen Shu Yuan) for a visit and lunch. The monastery was originally built during the Sui Dynasty by a prince for his wife. By the time of the Qing dynasty it was old. One of the monks here tried to restore parts of the monastery. It is said that when he passed away, an apparition of the Wenshu bodhisattva appeared. Believing him to be an incarnation of Wenshu, the monastery was renamed to its present name.

Entrance to the monastery, tickets need to be purchased at a low price


First temple building


Second temple building, seems like a junior monk was bringing around a senior monk in the trishaw


Vegetarian restaurant where we will be having lunch


Nice and tasty


A pavilion


The Thousand Buddha Peace Pagoda


A large bell


Outside the monastery is Wenshu Place (文殊坊, Wen Shu Fang) that is similar to Jinli Street we visited in the morning. However it was larger and consists of a few streets instead of a single one.


Wenshu place was also much less crowded than Jinli Street



They make the patterned candy here too


A farmer with his pigs?

After some shopping around Wenshu place, we returned to the hotel. Having free and easy time before dinner, we decided to go to the main shopping belt in Chengdu, Chun Xi Street (春熙街).

Front and back of Gao Yuan An, a traditional chinese medicine for high altitude sickness. Having visited the doctor to get Acetazolamide before the trip, I did not eat them but judging from the rest of the tour group's reaction to high altitude later, it seems to be effective and the domestic tourists all use these kind of medicines.

Along Chun Xi Street


The mannequin is alive!


A little train takes you around if you are tired


A statue of Sun Yat Sen


Kalomani? Hmmm...


Before long it was time for dinner at this vegetarian restaurant in an almost empty shopping mall. Surprisingly business was brisk here.


That's probably because the food was great!

After dinner, I decided to go see some local Sichuan performances at the cost of RMB 180


Feet juggling of a table


Short clip of the table balancing act


A puppeteer


My local guide says Chengdu man are laid back and love to play mahjong while the women make fierce wives. This was a performance whereby a wife punished her husband by making him do different stuns while balancing a lighted oil lamp on his head. Serves him right for gambling his clothes away.


Shadow show, really talented artist


Then came the highlight of the show, Bian Nian (变脸), literally: Face Change


Short clip of the Face Change performance. What is really impressive is that the puppet does the Face Change too!


Another cool part, Bian Yi (变衣), literally: Clothes Change


Short clip of Clothes Change performance, his mask changes with his clothes! Watch the curtains closely!

After the performances we returned to our hotel for an early night's rest. Tomorrow we will be flying to Nyingchi, Tibet. This will be the first time I am in the high lands and I was rather excited. There is only one flight per day, early in the morning. It seems that weather conditions there makes it less suitable for aircraft later in the day.

View the next related post here. Return to the trip index here.

China 2009 Day 2 - Sichuan, Chengdu - Wuhou Shrine (武侯祠) & Jinli Street (锦里)

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30 May 2009

Woke up early and after a hurried breakfast, we took a cab to Wuhou Shrine (武侯祠, Wu Huo Ci). Wuhou meaning the Marquis of War refering to Zhuge Liang. The site is originally build during the Tang dynasty and is dedicated to Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei's famed strategist during the Three Kingdoms Era. However it also is the site of Liu Bei's burial grounds. Now it contains many stuctures as will as figures of famous Shu-Han generals. Beside Wuhou Shrine is Jin Li (锦里) street, an ancient street of old houses now hosting a variety of local shops and eateries.

Main Entrance of Wu Hou Shrine. The board reads in traditional Chinese, left to right as Han Zhao Lie Miao (汉昭烈庙) which I think means Han's Zhāo Liè Temple. Zhāo Liè being Liu Bei's posthumous emperor name.

The entrance ticket costs RMB 60


The first courtyard contains some gardens and two stone slabs carved with prose, the older being a work during the Tang dynasty.

The board above the entrance to the second courtyard reads Ming Liang Qian Gu, 明良千古 which roughly means insight and goodness through the ages. Note the special emphasis on the character of 明 being deliberately written with characters 月(yue, moon) and 目(mu, eye) instead of 日(ri, sun) -- likely to emphasise insight since 明 can be interpreted in other ways.

Even the bins here are well themed to blend in


Along the second courtyard walls is a writing by Yue Fei (岳飞), a Song Dynasty general famous for loyalty. This is probably a replica in stone


Adorning the corridors of the second courtyard is many statues of famous Shu-Han generals mainly made during the Qing Dynasty. Here is Huang Zhong


Ma Chao


Sun Qian the diplomat (left) and Zhao Yun (right)


Now who's this? It's none other than Zhang Fei


This is even more mysteriously happy and docile. He's Guan Yu


Under the main building was emperor Liu Bei


Close Up of Liu Bei


Nearby is Liu Chen (刘谌), grandson of Liu Bei. He committed suicide when his father Liu Shan surrended to Wei Kingdom against his wishes. Liu Shan must have been highly detested. There is no statue of him in Wuhou Shrine.


In the courtyard behind Liu Bei's statue is Zhuge Liang's Shrine


名垂宇宙, ming chui yu zhou -- I think this translates to Famed throughout the Universe.


There he is


Zhuge Liang with his distinctive cap


Zhuge Zhan, son of Zhuge Liang. Died fighting the Kingdom of Wei in the final invasion


Zhuge Shang, son of Zhuge Zhan. Died in his teens fighting alongside his father. This probably ends Zhuge Liang's bloodline.


Around the many other buildings here, some costumed dancers had just put up a small performance


Bronze bells, somewhat an ancient precussion set


One of the structures by a lake. There are many gardens here


Kong Ming Yuan, i.e. Zhuge Liang's garden, Kong Ming is his other name


A bronze drum


Zhuge Liang's family tree from the time of his grandfather


One of the entrances heading towards Liu Bei's mausoleum


Red walls flanked by bamboo groves


Funny statue of what looks like a court official


Lion?


Double dragon


Han's Zhāo Liè's mausoleum. Liu Bei's resting place is beyond


Behind the stone wall is a hill with lots of bush. He's buried there


Emperor Zhāo Liè is here. Of the emperors of the other two kingdoms, Sun Quan of the Kingdom of Wu is buried in front of the tomb of the first emperor of Ming dyanasty, Zhu Yuan Zhang; while Cao Cao of the Kingdom of Wei's tomb has only recently been discovered in 2009.


A stone path and wall circums the bushy hill


Characters are imprinted on some of the stone bricks. I can't remember why.


A small Three Kingdom war museum


The most interesting thing to me here is the repeating crossbow


We decided to enter Jin Li street from the rear by exiting from San Yi Temple (三义庙, san yi miao) built in 1662 to 1722 CE, houses Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei


Inside the temple, incense is for sale


Liu Bei


Guan Yu


Zhang Fei


Finally out of Wuhou Shrine, we enter Jin Li street


Some street food, mutton and squid


Jin Li street dates back to the Qin Dynasty and was an important commercial street durign the Shu-Han Kingdom.


Interesting incense. It burns to reveal a figurine inside!


A row of shops here sell traditional hand made items including candy


Patterned candy. Spin the wheel and the craftsman will make you a candy based on the design pointed to.


Video of the process in action


Blown candy


Mostly animal shapes. I wouldn't eat them


Kind of like blowing glass



Dough figures


We were nearing the end of the street


Tired, we had some starbucks


Nicely furnished inside


Exiting Jin Li Street from its main entrance

That was the end of our free and easy time in Chengdu. Three hours was barely enough to cover everything especially for shopping at Jin Li. We hailed a cab and went back to our hotel to link up with the rest of the tour group that had arrived. Next, we will be going to Wenshu Temple, one of the famous temples in Chengdu for lunch.

View the next related post here here. Return to the trip index here.