1福州三坊七巷
Today ,we will visit the sanfangqixiang,or "three lanes and seven alleys ".it is one of the most rewarding places to visit in the heart of Fuzhou. Three lanes and seven alleys is well-preserved architecture complex from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. As a famous ancient block ,it enjoy a reputation of "the museum of building of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.and it is also regard as a"living fossil"of the walled street system of the ancient cities.
The district covers an area of 40 hectares with 268 ancient houses.the three lanes are:Yinjin lane,Wen ru lane and Guanglu lane.the seven alleys are:yangqiao alley,langguan alley,Anmin alley ,huang alley ,ta alley ,gong alley and jibi alley. The lanes and alleys lie along both sides of Nanhou Street,the central axis of the block ,forming a traditional checkered street pattern .Jibi alley ,Yangqiao alley and guanglu lane have been converted into the streets as the city expanded.nowadays there actually remain two lanes and five alleys.
Three lanes and seven alleys has high value of historical research because it is a places with unique architectural features and had been the home of many outstanding personages.
Today,we will have a visit to the former residence of Lin Juemin, one of the 72 martyrs of the Huanghuagang Uprising in 1911. it is also known as the third Guangzhou uprisings led by huang Xing and his fellow revolutionaries against the Qing Dynasty in GuangZhou. Lin was taught by his father in person when he was a child ,his father firmly believed that his intelligent son would surely succeed in the imperial examination and bring the honor to his family. However,out of his father's expectation ,Lin answered the paper of the imperial examination with only one sentence:"even the highest position falls below my contempt,and left the examination room.soon later he got married with the Chen Yiyin and went to the Japan to study. In Japan he joined in Tongmenghui ,also know as the Chinese United League. This is a secret revolutionary organization founded by Dr.Sun Yat-sen in the late Qing Dynasty.And it is political goals are :"To expel tartar barbarians，revive China ,establish a republic,and distribute the land equally among the people.since the early spring in 1911,Lin had devoted himself to the preparation of a large scale uprising in GuangZhou led by Dr.sun yatsen .in march ,he returned to Fuzhou with main purpose to raising funds and recruiting revolutionaries. In the April he come back to Guangzhou .and on the April 24th ,the Guangzhou uprisings broke out .In the battle ,Lin was wounded in the his waist ,but he refused to withdraw.he was eventually captured and killed by Qing government at the age of 24. In the letter to his wife ,he wrote :I dearly love ,it is love that gives me more courage to face the death. Two years later,Lin's wife Chen Yiyin died.Nowadays ,"A letter to my wife "writer by Lin is included in the textbook of middle school in both Taiwan and mainland .his story still inspires generations of people.
Lin's house was later sold to the grandfather of Bing Xin.Bing xin is one of the most prolific Chinese writers of 20 century.she repeatedly depicted in her works the house where she spend her childhood. Amazingly,the house was also the ancestral residence of Lin hui yin ,another talented female writer and architect in 1930s.Lin hui yin is said to be the first female architect in China .she and her husband Liang si Cheng were involved in the design of the national emblem of people's republic of china and the monument to the people heroes located at Tian'anmen Square. Lin hui yin was also a writer.she wrote poems ,essays,short stories and plays .together with her husband,she wrote The History of Chinese Architecture and translated numerous English books into Chinese.
2南平武夷山
The Nine –bend stream which is full of poetic charms. First of all ,I want to make a simple introduction about Nine-Bend Stream .The Nine-Bend Stream begins in Huanggang shan Mountain which is the main peak of Mount Wuyi. The nine-bend stream are 8.5square kilometers .it is named after it 9 bends and each bend all has the different scenery. And today I will make a focus introduction on the fourth bend to the second bend.
Ok ,dear friends ,we have arrived the wharves. Now, I will briefly introduce some matters needing attention. First, the rides is allowed to 6 people ,and you can choose it freely .Second ,please do not strive to be the first and fear to lag behind ,the attention horizontally steps on the two bamboos in order to avoid you falling into the water. Third ,we must obey the raft labor direction when rafts are marching forward . Furthermore, please do not stand ,and leaving from the chair to take photos and walk at will.
At the eight bend ,you will find a interesting rock which is called shuigui shi ,which roughly translates as the water tortoise rock .because, from the certain angles ,you may see two rock stake up together resemble a mother turtle crawling into the river with a little turtle on her back.
The land used to be the imperial tea garden of the Yuan dynasty.But,
as early as Tang Dynasty, the public have already regarded the WuYi rock tea as a popular gift. And it becomes a tribute to the court in the Song dynasty. And this imperial tea garden is built in the Yuan dynasty ,about in the fourteenth century ,the central government appointed 2 officials to manage the tea garden.180 kilos of tea was harvested and presented to the court each year.26 years later ,they built the tea plantations in order to increase the tea production.A few years later, a high platform called Hanshan Tai was built in the garden ,and each year in early march this place will held a tea God worship ceremony .the official will burned incense sticks and read an essay in honor the tea God, people would play songs and drums and shout,”tea sprouting! Tea sprouting ” . Then they would start picking tea leaves.
Unfortunately, the court’s demand for tea tribute grew year by year and almost reached 500 kilos a year. In order to reach the destination, the officials give more pressure to the planter and squeeze them almost dry. And from then on, the planters began to flee from the plantations .and in 1557 these 250 years –old imperial tea plantations were finally deserted.
The landmarked at the fourth bend is Dazang feng. And be sure that your tie is fastened .because we are running on an unpredictable pool called Wonglong Tan, which is also translate as hidden dragon pool. It is 30 meters deep. The legend has it that this pool is the home to 8 evil dragon, they usually appear on the water, chasing to each others, brandishing their claws and flooding the river. One day,a immortal pass by ,he killed the dragons with his sword one by one until he came to the smallest and youngest dragon. The little dragon wagged his tail to begged to be spared. The immortal require him to behave well in the future and will spare his life. The little dragon keep his words and continues to hide in the deep pool to protect the mountain.
Now ,we are at the Third-bend .Can you see the small entrance on the sheer rock face? Inside ,there are several boat-shaped coffins. According to the carbon14 testing, these coffins are 3800 years old. Some people think this burial tradition had something to do with their ways of life.
Because the original inhabit is living in the cave, it natural for them to buried in caves. Apart from this, most of them were fisher ,and the boat is a prized possession for them. So,it is natural to honored their dead by laying them to rest in a boat. Buried on the cliff reduce the possible damage from people and natural disasters. Another theory is that the higher the coffins, the faster they can go to the heaven.
Now, we are at the second bend. In front of us this is most famous sight, yunvfeng ,or Jade maiden peak. There is a story that a family of fairies came to visit the earth, and the youngest sister fell in love with a handsome tea planter and decide to stay on the earth. But soon, their love is discovered by her father .Then the emperor sent Iron plate monster to catch her .But he would rather die than submit. Her father is so angry that he turn the girl into yunu feng ,the Jade Maiden peak, and her lover into dawang feng ,the great king peak.
OK, that’s all the introduction of Nine-bend stream, you can walk around by yourself and we’ll meet here in 20 minutes .Thank you.
3鼓浪屿
Initially called “Yuanshazhou Island”,Gulangyu got its present name due to the ocean waves hitting the huge reef .the sound generated like the beating of a drum ,therefore，this island was named “Gulangyu”.In Chinese, gu means “drum” and “lang” means “wave”,while the “yu” means “islet”. Before we arrived here, I want to make a simple introduction of Gulangyu.
Gulangyu is known as the “hometown of music “and the “island of pianos”. As you can noticed, the ticket office on the island pier was built in a sharp of a grand piano. It was said that each family on the island has at least one family member that can play a musical instrument .Wandering around the island in the afternoon or early evening ,you may catch the sounds of music .
The second one is the island is a pedestrian -only destination .the only vehicles on this island are several fire trucks and electric tourist carts .no matter who you are and how much money you have, if you want to have a visit ,you have to walk around the island on your own foot and this island is connect to the main island of Xiamen only by ferry .
Apart from the two characters, the island is most known as “China’s Museum of international Architecture, the islet preserves more than 1000 historical buildings of various styles, adding much charm to the island .why there is so much architecture appear the island ?It can be dating from the 1840s to 1930s.In the 1840 Britain launched the aggressive opium war against the Qing empire ,which also often seen as the beginning of European hegemony towards china .After the war breakout, Xiamen was forced to become a one of the five trading ports. A total of 13 countries come to here to built there own consulates including Britain,the United state ,Japan, Spain, France and Germany .and set up the firm, hospital, school and churches. In the same time, in the twenties to thirties of twentieth century, some rich overseas Chinese also come here to built house and villas to invest the real estate. So just in 15 years, this island has appeared more than 1000 villas and get a nickname “Architectural Exhibition of ten thousand nations.”
Ok ,in front of us this is the landmark building of Gulangyu .Eight Diagrams House ,or Bagua lou .The building was built in 1907 by LinerJia ,a rich business in Taiwan. May be you will wonder why a Taiwanese people want to come here to a house. It can be date 1984s,when the Sino-Japanese war break out , the Taiwan was forced to ceded to the Japan. And He didn’t want to conquered by Japan ,so he take all his family members to come back to the motherland .But, When he was return to the motherland , the war break out everywhere in china. And it is also not easy to find a peaceful place to live. So, when he found there are so much foreigners consulate was built on the island and this island is equal to the international settlement which means is more safety than other places and there will never break out the war .so he decided to come to here to built his villa.
After he come to here, he find this island has 1014 villas here ,but not so much belongs to China. So he made up his mind ,he want to built a villa here, and this villa must have one special feature when he stand on the balcony he can overlook the whole scene .what does it means ? It means he want his house higher than foreign houses and he want to compare with the foreigners.
So he ask the capital of the hospital to design a sketch for he. When he first saw the sketch, He was so like it that he didn’t think much about it and begin construction. But problems was occurred in the process of building , there are a lot of raw materials are hard to be buy in backward china, and most of them have to be bought from overseas. Sometimes even the materials that can be bought are all need to have a further processing. Over 13 years, from 1907 to 1920, he keeps pouring the money to build the house. But until he put all his money, the house still not finished. And he became the first people who go bankrupt for building a house in Gulang Yu. And he never live the building for one day .
OK, that’s all the introduction of Gulang yu, you can walk around by yourself and we’ll meet outside the buildings in 20 minutes .Thank you.
4泉州清源山
Why the Qingyuan mountain is so famous? The ancients said: the mountain are not high, but there are the immortal names.” The legend that Li Tieguai travel here, when he seen the scenery here is so beautiful and feel so happy. He raised his crutch kept in the place, shouted, ”wonderful, wonderful ,it so beautiful there.” Didn’t overexert, crutches go deep into the stratum, suddenly out of a clear spring, look like a injection. After that, when the first people discovered the fountain in the mountain, he call it Mountain Quan, and this city was named after Quanzhou.
The Qingyuan mountain, a national park of china,lie 2.5kilometers away from the downtown Quanzhou. The scenic area consists of three parts: mount Qingyuan, Mount jiuri and lingshan Holy sepulchers.
The Qingyuan Mountains are rich in the place of culture interest and natural attractions. Historical documents have show that the exploitation of qingyuan mountains can be date back to the Qin dynasty about 1800 years ago .During the Tang dynasty around 1200 years ago ,Confucianism, Taoism ,and Buddhism begin to thrive here. The traces of Islam, Manichaean, and Hindu can be found as well as .Over the centuries, cultural and religious relics have been left behind in great numbers in the mountains. In the same time, the Qingyuan mountain also known for the natural beauty since ancient times.
Laozi is one of the greatest Chinese philosophers and thinkers around 2500 years ago .He is best known for the author of the Tao Te Ching, and because of this book, he is consider as the founder of the philosophical Taoism.
The stone statue of Laozi was carved out the natural rock more than 1000 years ago. And it is nearly 20 feet tall, 23 feet thick and 26 feet wide ，covering a space of 66 square yards. It had been consider as the biggest Laozi stone statue over the centuries, until in the 1990s a s16-meter-tall Laozi stone statue was carved in North Fujian Wuyi Mountains. But surely no other statue can compare with the Quanzhou’s Laozi statue in term of the history.
In fact, originally the statue is used to be sheltered by the Taoist monasteries. But a fire break out, it was burned down. Since then the statue of Laozi has been sitting in the open air and perfectly harmony with the surrounding natural. In QuanZhou, There is a saying goes ,”if you reach his nose, you will live up to 120 year old ;if you reach his eye , you will live up to 160 years old”; However , in nowadays, the statue has been fenced off and the tourists are not allow to touch him.
Now ,we are at the Qianshou rock temple ,or the thousand-hand Buddhist rock temple .the ancient pine tree in front of the temple is over 300 years old .it stands here with stretching branches ,just like an old men ,opening his arms to greet the tourists.
Behind the Guanyin temple is the Dagoba of Master Hongyi. Master Hongyi, also known as Li Shutong is an internationally known figure famous for his artistic attainments in poetry, opera, music, painting and seal cutting .he is also a patriotic educator before he became a Buddhist master monk .
At the age of 26, he went to the Japan to have a further studies of art and music .Five years later ,he came returned to china to be an art teacher and editor. Disappointed with the deterioration of the state affairs and the impermanence of life ,he became a monk in a Quanzhou monastery in 1918 ,concentrating on his studies of Buddhism .He spent 14years in his later life ,preaching Buddhist doctrines and precepts .He passed away in Quanzhou in 1942,with half of his relics kept in the Mountain Qingyuan ,and another half in Hangzhou .Ten years later, his student came to here to built a Dagoba for him to set his relics .And in the side ,this inscription is the master’s calligraphy. The four characters means “A mixed feeling of bittersweetness”.A Picture of the master was caved on the frontage stonewall by his star student FengZikai, also a famous Chinese painter .The stone tower characteristic of south Fujian has been included in the protection unit of cultural relics in Fujian province.
As you can see that is not a single tree, but two tree of different species tangled together .one is a Java bishopwood, and another one is a banyan. They have been hugging each other like constant lovers for more than 300 years .Many couples like to take the photos under the tree. And look over there, that is a big tree, it is a wax apple tree introduced from Taiwan. It’s said that 300 years ,General Shi Lang of his Fujian navy stationed in Taiwan ,the local people give him a wax apple seed as a gift and after he came back ,he take the seed with he to QuanZhou ,and planted it beside the Mituo rock .Since then, the tree from the other side of strait has been growing well on the mountain ,bearing the fruit every year.
5南靖土楼
Today, we are going to visit the Nanjing earth buildings. Before we arrived here, I want to make a simple introduction about people who lives here, which is also called Hakka. And what’s the Hakka? It means the people coming from the China Central Plains .such as inhabit near the Chang Jiang river or Huang He river. With the collapse of the western Jin Dynasty in early fourth century, China Central Plain were invaded by the nomadic tribes in the north and became a battlefield of civil wars. To escape from the wars, the people who lives here choose to migrate to other place for live. Most of them choose to migrate to Fujian and other provinces in southern china. “First for host, later for guests, so they called themselves Hakka.
About the earth building how to appear on the public and become a hot spot? There is a story behind it .In the 1960s, there is a top secret letter submit to the 40th president of United State Ronald Reagan. In this document, it shows there are more than1500 structures resemble to nuclear lunch base .when he read it, he shocked. The Technology of nuclear missile in china have in such high level. So without any hastate, he sent a couple of spy to come to the china to have an investigation.
The spy we call them Bake couple, they are good at taking the photo. When they came to Zhangzhou, Fujian province .the government treat them in a high level. They put forward come to western Fujian province to have a visit, as his grandfather was born here. But the really purpose to come here to find out if there is really have a missile base. After have a visit to house, they have a climbing. When they arrived the top of the hill, they found there is a plumes of smoke rose from the forest, they thought, oh, this must be the missile base of china. But, when they came down, they smelled a rice fragrant .They found that is not the nuclear missile generate the smoke but the cooking .So unexpected, the earth building appear on the public with the widely reported of America. And, nowadays, more and more peoples come to here to visit the unique architecture.
When they come here, they start out building the house. They mix the stone, bamboo, wood and other readily available materials to built the Tulou. The earth buildings were originally used as living barracks, castles or strongholds. Because of Hakka reside in the mountains, there is a lot of bandits and wild animals, so the biggest function of Tulou is the defense to protect the people from other’s attack.
Ladies and gentlemen, our first stop of tulou trip today is the Tianluokeng Earth building cluster. Or nicknamed as “four dishes and one soup ”,the unique cluster is look as the most attractive earth building in the country .Now we are going to the upper platform to appreciate the charm sightseeing.
Do you find the cluster is situated halfway up the mountain. It consist of five tulou buildings, with one square building in the center and four round around it，forming a pattern of “four dishes and one soup”.
The square building sitting at the center of the cluster is buyun lou, literally translated as Reach-the-Cloud Building. Built in 1796，have 3-floored ,covers an areas of 1050 square meters. The building is different from the other earth buildings, because you can find a window in each of the four rooms at the corners .This is really rare, for safety reasons, rooms on the first and second floor usually don’t have a windows.
The round Tulou in the right is zhengchang lou . Built in 1930,it is also 3-floored ,with the same number of rooms as Buyun lou .And the central hall does not face the front gate, because in Chinese convention, this can avoid the outflow of the wealth.
The oval tulou to the left is wenchanglou ,built in the 1966, also have 3-floored ,but with more rooms than buyun lou and zhengchanglou.The round one to the left is ruiyun lou ,or auspicious clouds ,built in 1936. Symbol the wealth and auspice .
The nearest round building is hechang lou ,it was built in 600 years ago.But in the 1930s,it was still in a square shape and was burned down by the bandits. So, in front of us, this building is rebuilt in 1953and become the shape of round.
Look ,there are 2 parallel oblong earth buildings beside the cluster look like a pair of chopsticks .And this make a pattern of “four dishes and one soup”. Ok, you will have 15 minutes for taking photos and please be carefully when taking the photos.
Ok, this is our second stop, yuchang lou, it was built in 1308,and it is the oldest tulou among the existent earth buildings. It has 5 floors with 54 room on each .Not one family but 5 clans, put the money to build the big house .So,it was also divided into 5 separate parts.
The most special of this building is on the third, fourth and fifth floors are noticeably leaning left or right, and this giving the building a nickname “the leaning building. It was said when the earth building was built ,the carpenter in order to show his superior techniques, deliberately leaned the pillars by applying the principles of structural mechanics .In the same ,he explain to the owners that leaning the pillars is a must for the sake of thriving family and prosperous business. Nowadays ,in spite of the apparent leaning ,the earth building has withstood the test of the time over hundreds of years .but a large groups are not allow to crowed in to the upstairs for a safety reason.
Ok, come here I will show you something really peculiar in yuchang lou, the wells inside the kitchens. Each of the 25 kitchens on the ground floor has a private water-well beside the stove. This is the only tulou in Fujian have such a convenient water supply .why did people dig indoor well? It is because underground springs happen to run under the kitchens not deep from the surface of the ground .people can easily scoop the water from the wells simply with a ladle. Besides water in the indoor never dries or overflow, and it test fresh and sweet all the year round.
Well, that’s all introductions about Tulou, you can walk around by yourself and we’ll meet outside the buildings in 20 minutes .Thank you.
6宁德白水洋
Before we arrived here, I will make a simple introduction about Pingnan. Pingnan is an island country in northeastern of Fujian .the county covers an area of about 1,500 square kilometers and has a population of 180 thousand .It is one of the smallest countries in Fujian. Pingnan is a capital of “summer mushroom “,it is the largest export base of summer mushroom in china ,every year it has a produce of more than 6,000 tons. Beyond that, Pingnan is also famous for fruit, such as Younai plums and seedless persimmons.
The Yuanyang river is the major scenic attraction in Pingnan, located at the northeastern part of Pingnan country about 30 kilometers away from the county. This river is named after “Yuanyang”, the Chinese named for mandarin duck. They migrate from thousands of cold Siberia to here to bathe in the warm water. The mandarin duck is a national secondary animal, they are often seen in pairs. In Chinese, mandarin duck is usually seen as the lifelong couples. Hence they are often used in Chinese weedings. A Chinese Proverb for loving couples uses the mandarin duck as a metaphor “two mandarin duck playing in the water”.
And the best sight in the area is Baishui yang .About the name ,there is a folk story behind it .It was said there is a man who is called huize Cheng, he became a dragon because of he swallow a pearl of dragon. He opened three hundred acres of farmland for local people .When he is ready to leave to fly to east sea, he want to do something for the local people, so he swept out the farmland with his tail, after that, people inhabit here and lead a happy and peaceful life .but a local tyrant colluded with the local officer want to occupied the land. these things was known by monkey king, who is live in the water Curtain cave ,overnight ,the monkey king move all fields to the water Curtain cave .Since then, the remains became a smooth stone bed ,and this is baishui stream. And, another official explain is the water here were looks almost white in the sun ,so it get the name “baishuyang”.
Now we have come to shangyang, the upper section. shangyang is a natural surfing slide, it is more than 60 meters wide and and nearly 100 meters long. Look ,sun in the sky ,people who wear the swimming suit lie in the stone .surfing in the stream is different from surfing on the sea .and it is very enjoyable and special to surf in the stream .I would like you to have a try. But you should be very carefully when you surfing ,because there is a gap between shangyang and zhongyang .and this forms a waterfall that is more than 50 meters wide and more than 8 meters long .The waterfall is like a necklace that make the baishuyang look more beautiful and pure.
Baishuiyang is naturally divided into three parts: the upper section, the middle section and the lower section. The most spectacular is zhongyang .zhongyang is more than 200meters wide and 150 meters wide, the area is more than 30000 square meters. In the summer, there are a lot of tourist came to here to enjoy the water and really like to walk in the stream. If you want to walk in the stream, you had better to wear socks that can prevent you from the slipping .Now, expects are designing the red army straw shoes in the brand of baishuiyang. It was make from straw and flax. Because it can cut down the costs and protect the environment .And, after finish the travel, the shoes also can be bring back as a souvenir. Walking in the river, you will feel so cool, because the water is rich in mineral substance and it is really good for your heath.
A sports meet that includes Kung Fu performances, dragon dance ,and even tug of war is hosted here every year.May be you might curious why people have a dragon dance here? I know that the dragon is evil in other countries ,but in our country ,the dragon is different from the western dragon .Our dragon is a symbol of fortune .In the ancient times ,people believe that the dragon king can bring rain to them so that they can have a good harvest .In china ,dragon are usually appeared in five to nine member .because ,in chain ,the number five and number nine stand for good luck and nobility. This is the body of the dragon ,the chief color is red and black and it has the brown horns and hundred-teeth.may be you will feel is impossible to move a dragon in such a big shape. But it is true. Look, a old men and prestigious men is standing under the part of the dragon head and others are behind the old men .they working together and let the dragon move. In the evening, they will light torches and fire tracks, and that will be more funny and lively.
Ok ,that is all the introduction about Baishui yang ,here you go ,to have a “water fun” with your friends, and we will meet here in later 3 hours .See you later.
7漳州平潭岛
Pingtan is the china’s fifth -largest island and almost three times the size of Hong kong island ,measuring 29 kilometers from south to north and 19 kilometers from east to west .The island is separated from the motherland by HAITAN Strait，and the ferry is the only traffic tool in the past which both inconvenience for residents and limit the economic development .Back then，it would take at least three hours to travel from the provincial capital of Fuzhou to Pingtan .And weather you can enjoy a holiday here mostly depends on how luck you are .because some much people want tocome here and there is always have a long wait line to boat a ship.
In the 2010 ,Pingtan’s first cross-strait bridge and express high way was completed ,reducing the trip from Fuzhou to Pingtan to one and a half hour. It is one of the largest infrastructure projects in china -involving a total investment of 1.4 Billion RMB, over $US 200 million .And with the completed of this bridge ,it is not only brought convenience to the island resident as well as tourists but also play an important role in promoting local economic development .At present ,an 88.5 kilometers railway from Fuzhou to Pingtan via Changle airport ,is now under construction .This must be make the island more accessible .
The most famous item of Putian is the tunneling industry ,it contracted more than 80 percent of tunneling projects in china . in the same time ,the small island is the home to establish ship repairing and building ,sea farming and maritime transportation industries as well as the tourism. And because of it is the closest Fujian island to Taiwan , Ping Tan is going to be transformed into a new commercial hub of two sides of the Taiwan strait .
The most typical of these marine abrasion landform is shibeiyang,also known as Double -sail rock .This is a dic-shaped reef which hold two table shaped rocks ,looking very much like a big ship with two sails ,riding on the crest of waves .And it’s said that shibeiyang is the largest granite spherical sea-eroded column across the world .
Another master piece of marine abrasion is God of Haitan ,the reef is 330 meters in length and 150 meters in width ,looking very much like a man lying on his back by the sea ,with his head and arms and legs and everything .Most interestingly , a weathered column-shaped rock erect right “down here”.The God of Haitan’s male organ is worshiped as a token of fertility by the coastal fishermen .They believe touching it will increase their chances of conceiving .
Speaking of Ping Tan ,one must to mention one is the china’s most important archaeological find ,Wanjiao No.1.The reef got it’s name because fishermen used to get wrecked porcelain bowls in their hauls near the submerged reef .On June 24,2005,a fishermen found a few pieces of ancient porcelain in his catch .Unlike his ancestors who throw them back to the sea ,he dived into the bottom of the sea and found a shipwreck. In the same year ,on September 17,the national museum’s underwater Archaeological Research Center begin the excavation work .The ship was estimated to more than twenty meters long ,a medium-sized ocean going junk. The shipwreck contained over 17 000 pieces of export porcelain dating from the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty.Most of them are blue and white porcelain produced at the famous Jingdezhen kiln site .and is about to rent to European market.
Before the discovery of Wanjiao.No.1 ,most of the under water archaeological finds in china are shipwrecks of Song and Yuan dynasty.Although there were some items from wrecked ship from the Ming and Qing Dynasties ,they had never been a whole shipwreck.And this shipwreck was found along the maritime silk road. The ship carrying Chinese silk ,tea ,porcelain and lacquer products set off from Guangzhou and Fujian provinces via the south china ,the Indian ocean ,and went as far as Southeast Asia and even Africa .Recorded shipwrecks along this route exceed 100.
That’s all for the today’s trip, hope you can enjoy it ,thank you !
8湄洲妈祖文化
Good morning ,ladies and gentlemen ! It is my pleasure to be with you today to visit Mezhou island ,the birthday place of mazu ,the legendary sea goddess .Mezhou island is 42 kilometers away from the downtown Putian ,and just 72 sea miles away from the Taichuang Taiwan
Because have a good geographical advantages ,the island has been enjoy a fast economic and social development since nearly 20 years ago .
Mezhou is best know for being a holy land of mazu worship.The mazu temple on this island is believed to be the origin of over 3000 mazu temples around the world ,which is also be consider as the “Oriental Mecca ”for more than 200 000 000 disciples across the world .
Mazu ,literally “mother ancestor ”,is the indigenous goddess of the sea who is said to protect the fishermen and sailors ,and it is also consider as the patron deity of all southern Chinese and southeast Asian people.
Legend has it that she was born in MEIZHOU PUTIAN in Song Dynasty about 1100 years ago .Before she was born ,she's parents has already got 6 son，and her parents want to have a daughter .so her mother came to the temple everyday to prayed the goddess GUANYIN .Hearing her fervent prayer,GUANYIN came to her in a dream ,give her a blossom flower to eat ,and the next morning ,her mother was consider to have a conceive。 The day when she was born ,the room full with brilliant red light and fresh smell .As a newborn ,she was strangely silent ，she did not cry at all during the first month of her life ,so her parents make a name for her Lin MO NIANG，means silent girl.
When she was 16，a celestial being gave a bronze talisman,and from then on ，she got a supernatural power and wisdom。she went about doing good deed ,healing the sick with herb，teaching them how to prevent the disease，rescuing the fish ship and business travelers .it was said she wear a red garment while standing on the shore to guide fishing boat home even in the most dangerous and harsh weather .throughout all her life ，she was devoted to help others in trouble or need .It is said that even after she died at the age of 28 ,her spirit still appear on the sea to guide the floundering ships to the safety。Later on ,the grateful fishermen worshiped her as the goddess of the sea.In the same time ,stories about mazu manifesting her power to save the people spread widely ,finally reach the imperial court ,and won her 36 Royal titles from the emperors ,including “”Heavenly Queen”,”Heavenly princess consort ”,”Heavenly Holy Mother” and so on .
Here ,we are at the dock .Do you see the statue of MAZU on the top of the hill over there ?that’s a stone statue of MAZU ,14.35 meters tall ,built with 365 granite rocks.The figures imply that the goddess will bless the 14.35 -square kilometer island in all the 365 days of a year .
Here is the Heavenly Empress palace ,the originating temple of all the MAZU temples around the world .This is the memorial Archway ,in this place you can have a full view of the originating temple .In front of ,this is the first gate of the temple ,may be you will find the gate here is not a usual one .It is sharped like an imperial city gate ,and this is because MAZU was granted an imperial title of “Heavenly Holy Mother”.
Now we are the second gate to the temple ,the two character on the plaque above are translate as “Imperial Edict ”,so the gate is also named “Imperial Edict gate ”.This is remind people that MaZu’s honorary title conferred by the imperial court .This square is usually use for Memorial ceremonies ,people can singing and dancing here in the special days .The two buildings on the two sides are bell tower and drum tower .Traditionally ,Memorial ceremonies begins with the beating of the drum and end with the ringing of the bell.
This is the main hall of the palace ,a sacred palace for million of Mazu believers .the palace hall is divided into the upper hall and the lower hall,connect with the courtyard .This one in front of us is commonly known as the “Touring Mazu”,a wood sculpture with movable arms and legs .Sometimes ,the idol tour outside to accept the worship from believers of other place.And the other wood Mazu sculpture ,sitting behind the touring Mazu ,it is the “staying Mazu”,when the touring Mazu go outside ,the “staying Mazu ” would stay in the temple for visiting.
Now we are going to Chaotian Pavilion ,as you can notice the Mazu statue here are all has a black face .There is a story behind it ,It is said that Taiwan believers were so devoted to the Mazu that they burned the incense day and night in front of the statue ,making her face dark .Therefore mazu is dark -face in every temple in Taiwan ,and this one is donated by the Taiwan believers ,is no exception.
That’s all for the today’s trip, hope you can enjoy it ,thank you !
