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1997
Route in China (CHINA - Kaifeng)
Bec2004-09-19 16:15:18
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Kaifeng
Initially I had planned to go from Nanjing directly to Beijing but seeing that travel in China was easier than I thought, I decided to visit the ancient Song Dynasty (960 - 1126) capital of Kaifeng and Luoyang's Longmen caves on the way. An overnight train brought me here at 7:00 am, I dropped my packpack at the Dajintai hotel and set off on foot. My first stop was at the Xiangguo Temple originally established in 555 and rebuilt several times since.
Today's Xiangguo Temple is a large establishment which appears to be a school for buddhist monks. A succession of courtyards leads to three main buildings and several minor pavilions built in 1766.
I managed to take this picture of the three Buddhas Amitabha, Sakyamuni and Maitreya in spite of the presence of a number of young monks (which led me to surmise that this was some sort of school). Service to the faithful and training new monks might have been part of the temple's vocation but that did not preclude its role as a tourist attraction as witnessed by the availability of souvenir shops and of Song costumes for tourists to be photographed in.
No, this building next door to the Xiangguo temple is not another temple, it's a large department store. Those of you who can read Chinese would have known that right away but I had to go in before I realized it. Market or temple, it was a fine building anyway! I should have guessed however because of the two large parking lots full of bicycles right and left of this picture.
This bicycle parking lot drew my attention and I went into this modern plain building that turned out to be the local Securities Market! Again, I should have guessed because of the people studying stock quotation sheets and the bull and bear statues in front!
The great historical Xiangguo temple was almost empty, the traditionally styled department store was fairly busy but the local
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See photographs from:
China Gallery
