One of the four sacred mountains and origins of martial arts in China - Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area 779; Chinese traditional architectural craftsmanship for timber-framed structures 00223; The Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge in China of time and practices developed through observation of the sun’s annual motion 00647
What and Why
Mount Emei (Chinese: 峨眉山, Emeishan) is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China, and is traditionally regarded as the bodhimaṇḍa (Sanskrit: बोधिमण्ड), meaning place of enlightenment, of the bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व) Samantabhadra (Sanskrit: समन्तभद्र), meaning universal worthiness). Together with the Buddha (Sanskrit: बुद्ध) and his fellow bodhisattva Mañjuśrī (Sanskrit: मञ्जुश्री), he forms the trinity in Buddhism. Samantabhadra is known in Chinese as 普賢菩薩 (Puxianpusha).
Emei is also famous for being one of the main sects of wuxia (武俠) in traditional Chinese fictional martial art novels, usually featuring female martial artists.
Emei is itself a volcanic area and hence the land is very fertile. There are loads of hot springs around the area and the mountain exhibits high level of endemism, meaning a large number of flora unique to the area, making it one of the most scenic places in China. Today Emei is an integrated tourism area, with cultural, historical, natural and recreational areas all in one single area. It is highly recommended to spend at least two or three days in the entire mountain.
This is also the place I proposed to my wife, you can see how holy and blessed am I.
Toponymy
Emei means the eyebrow of a high mountain in Chinese, symbolising its curvy shape as in the tourist map below.
See
Mount Emei (峨眉山)
From the bottom of the mountain, one takes the official shuttle bus to the mid-level of the mountain, where one can take a cable car all the way up to the top. Be warned, it does not mean that you do not need to walk. In fact I really wonder how this cable car system is designed, as you have to hike up a few tall flights of steps before you can take the cable car. By the way, Emei is very crowded even during low season; and I could not imagine what it looked like during peak season.
We booked a hotel right at the top of Mount Emei (to be detailed later), with the reason to see the main sight called Jinding (金顶), meaning golden peak. The peak is located at the peak of Mount Emei at 3,077 m. Jinding is landmarked with a golden statue of Samantabhadra.
At Jinding, depending on weather and circumstances, one can observe four views of natural wonders: sunrise (日出, riqu), as above, sea of clouds (云海, yunhai), glory (佛光, foguang) and will-o'-the-wisp (圣灯, shengdeng). Lazy people like us, who were sleeping in a frosty hotel, managed only to see the sea of clouds during this journey, and that was only taken by my in-laws.
There are multiple Buddhist and Taoist temples around the hill and it is highly recommended to take a day or two hiking around the mountain.
Almost all these temples employed traditional timber-framed structural techniques with very precise joints and bolts. The wooden components such as the columns, beams, purlins, lintel and bracket sets are connected by tenon joints in a flexible, earthquake-resistant way. Most importantly the entire structure is done usually, though rarely now, devoid of nails. The fact that they are still standing after a thousand years speaks for itself.
Wanniansi (万年寺) - Thousand-year temple, is the largest temple in Mount Emei, and is apparently built in the 5th century CE! The temple is known only for the bronze statue of Samantabhadra. It looks very new as it was almost totally destroyed during the Second World War, and was rebuilt since.
This pure Buddhist temple is the famous Qingyinge (清音阁), the silent sound pavilion, and is built in the 9th century CE. The temple is built on a big piece of heart-shaped rock and is called the cow's heart (牛心石, niuxinshi).
Inner stream of Emei from Qingyinge.
Crystal stream of Qingyinge.
Baoguosi (报国寺), temple of patriotism, is a famous Confucian temple where many religious activities are performed and is very near the main entrance, and is usually considered as the official entrance to Emei. The temple is built during the 16th century CE and is an important exhibition of the intertwine of Buddhism-Taoism-Confucianism in China, or 三教合流 (sanjiaoheliu), as in our blog of Chongqing (重庆).
There is a special macaque monkey in Emei. If one is lucky, one may even locate a small panda in Emei. Many of these macaques are found in Leidongping (雷洞坪), the thunder cave.
Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛)
Leshan Giant Buddha (乐山大佛, Leshan dafo) is a 71-m tall stone statue built during the 8th century CE, depicting Maitreya (Sanskrit: मैत्रेय). It is carved out of a cliff face along the confluence of the Minjiang (岷江) and took 90 years to construct. The stone sculpture faces Mount Emei, with the rivers flowing below its feet. It is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world. The Buddha was built with the intent of calming the turbulent waters that plagued the shipping vessels travelling down the river, as the river used to be the main shipping route for salt-trade. Leshan (乐山) means a happy mountain.
Climbing up the statue can be a huge task and is definitely not the faint-hearted. By the way along the steep staircase, you can see the many holes on the body of the Buddha. This is the very sophisticated working drainage system that was incorporated into the Leshan Giant Buddha when it was built. It includes drainage pipes carved into various places on the body, to carry away the water after the rains so as to reduce weathering.
At the entrance of Leshan Buddha, there is an excellent display about the Chinese lunisolar calendar and its solar terms (二十四节气, ershisijieqi). This calendar has been in use since perhaps the 5th century BCE, and was first documented in the Classic Book of Documents (书经, Shujing). This calendar matches precisely a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon with the position of the sun. The solar points are spaced 15° apart along the ecliptic and plays an exceptionally important role in agrarian society, even until today. Every Chinese still follows this calendar in some forms for the various festivities. It is quite incredible that ancient science can still apply so accurately even up to this date, and all these have been achieved without any precise instruments.
The list of solar terms is as follows:
Ecliptic Name Meaning Date Chinese month
315° 立春 (lichun) Spring begins 4th February 寅 (yin)
330° 雨水 (yushui) Rain 19th February 寅 (yin)
345° 惊蛰 (jingzhe) Animals awake 6th March 卯 (mao)
0° 春分 (chunfen) Spring line 21st March 卯 (mao)
15° 淸明 (qingming) Clear and bright 5th April 辰 (chen)
30° 谷雨 (guyu) Rain for corn 20th April 辰 (chen)
45° 立夏 (lixia) Summer begins 6th May 巳 (si)
60° 小滿 (xiaoman) Little full of corn 21st May 巳 (si)
75° 芒種 (mangjong) Corn on ear 6th June 午 (wu)
90° 夏至 (xiazhi) Summer arrives 22nd June 午 (wu)
105° 小暑 (xiaoshu) Little heat 7th July 未 (wei)
120° 大暑 (dashu) Big heat 23rd July 未 (wei)
135° 立秋 (liqiu) Autumn begins 8th August 申 (shen)
150° 處暑 (chushu) Heat leaves 23rd August 申 (shen)
165° 白露 (bailu) White dew 8th September 酉 (you)
180° 秋分 (qiufen) Autumn line 23rd September 酉 (you)
195° 寒露 (hanlu) Cold dew 8th October 戌 (xu)
210° 霜降 (shuangjiang) Frost falls 23rd October 戌 (xu)
225° 立冬 (lidong) Winter begins 7th November 亥 (hai)
240° 小雪 (xiaoxue) Little snow 22nd November 亥 (hai)
255° 大雪 (daxue) Heavy snow 7th December 子 (zi)
270° 冬至 (dongzhi) Winter arrives 22nd December 子 (zi)
285° 小寒 (xiaohan) Little cold 6th January 丑 (chou)
300° 大寒 (dahan) Very cold 20th January 丑 (chou)
It is not too difficult to notice the close correspondence of dates to the western horoscopic signs. Moreover the 24 solar terms are also subdivided into three subdivisions, literally every five to six days, to specify the various natural phenomena, as pictured above. Such is the advanced wisdom of ancient China that this lunisolar calendar is listed as an ICH.
Buy and Do
Mount Emei is a geothermal area and has lots of hotspring resorts. Many hotels offer hotsprings themselves. We had a good hotspring session in Lingxiu Hotspring (灵秀温泉, Lingxiu wenquan) where there are multiple levels of hotsprings of a variety of water flavour and mineral contents. It also features a radioactive radon hotspring. Very good.
Eat and Drink
Boboji (钵钵鸡)
One of the famous Sichuan snacks is the boboji (钵钵鸡), which literally means little dishes of chicken. This dish is simply skewers of shredded and cooked chicken meat, skins and innards and all soaked into a soup of red chilli oil. Apparently this dish has a history of
more than a century in Sichuan.
Tianpiya (甜皮鸭)
The second famous dish in the area, in particular Leshan, is the tianpiya (甜皮鸭), meaning a sweet-skinned roast duck, which again comes all the way from Qing (清) dynasty. It is a derivative from the marinated duck in the area, and is just as good, or even better, than the Peking duck (北京烤鸭, beijingkaoya). This duck is eaten full with its meat together, unlike its Beijing counterpart.
Along the foot of Emei and Leshan there are many snack stalls. One of the things that will definitely catch your eyes are the fried insects. These insects are skewered and usually deep-fried. Honestly these snacks are just crunchy chip-like snacks and actually taste quite good, despite its appearance. I had the locust, caterpillar cocoon and water-cockroach as illustrated. Enjoy.
Stay
We stayed at the top of Mount Emei for one night, the Jinding Hotel (金頂大酒店, Jindingdajiudian). The hotel was, frankly, terrible and was very cold and worn down. It was also my first time I experienced altitude syndrome. Even walking one short flight of stairs, I did feel a bit exhausting and went into panting, not to mention walking up to Jinding.
Getting There and Around
One cannot drive up to Mount Emei. You have to park at the the official carpark at the headquarter or basecamp, located at the bottom of the hill. You can then take a bus to the main entrance, purchase the entrance ticket to the entire site at CNY 185¥ and take its official shuttle to various different parts of Mount Emei. The bus ride from the bottom of the mountain to the first cable car station is around 30 minutes. As mentioned the whole site deserves three or four days of visit.
UNESCO Inscriptions
The first Buddhist temple in China was built here in Sichuan Province in the 1st century A.D. in the beautiful surroundings of the summit Mount Emei. The addition of other temples turned the site into one of Buddhism's holiest sites. Over the centuries, the cultural treasures grew in number. The most remarkable is the Giant Buddha of Leshan, carved out of a hillside in the 8th century and looking down on the confluence of three rivers. At 71 m high, it is the largest Buddha in the world. Mount Emei is also notable for its exceptionally diverse vegetation, ranging from subtropical to subalpine pine forests. Some of the trees there are more than 1,000 years old.
Standing as distinctive symbols of Chinese architectural culture, timber-framed structures are found throughout the country. The wooden components such as the columns, beams, purlins, lintel and bracket sets are connected by tenon joints in a flexible, earthquake-resistant way. The surprisingly strong frames can be installed quickly at the building site by assembling components manufactured in advance. In addition to this structural carpentry, the architectural craft also encompasses decorative woodworking, tile roofing, stonework, decorative painting and other arts passed down from masters to apprentices through verbal and practical instruction. Each phase of the construction procedure demonstrates its unique and systematic methods and skills. Employed today mainly in the construction of structures in the traditional style and in restoring ancient timber-framed buildings, Chinese traditional architectural craftsmanship for timber-framed structures embodies a heritage of wisdom and craftsmanship and reflects an inherited understanding of nature and interpersonal relationships in traditional Chinese society. For the carpenters and artisans who preserve this architectural style, and for the people who have lived in and among the spaces defined by it for generations, it has become a central visual component of Chinese identity and an important representative of Asian architecture.
The ancient Chinese divided the sun’s annual circular motion into 24 segments. Each segment was called a specific ‘Solar Term’. The element of Twenty-Four Solar Terms originated in the Yellow River reaches of China. The criteria for its formulation were developed through the observation of changes of seasons, astronomy and other natural phenomena in this region and has been progressively applied nationwide. It starts from the Beginning of Spring and ends with the Greater Cold, moving in cycles. The element has been transmitted from generation to generation and used traditionally as a timeframe to direct production and daily routines. It remains of particular importance to farmers for guiding their practices. Having been integrated into the Gregorian calendar, it is used widely by communities and shared by many ethnic groups in China. Some rituals and festivities in China are closely associated with the Solar Terms for example, the First Frost Festival of the Zhuang People and the Ritual for the Beginning of Spring in Jiuhua. The terms may also be referenced in nursery rhymes, ballads and proverbs. These various functions of the element have enhanced its viability as a form of intangible cultural heritage and sustain its contribution to the community’s cultural identity. Knowledge of the element is transmitted through formal and informal means of education.
References
Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area | UNESCO World Heritage Centre (📹)
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