Authentic Tranquility in the Bustle of Modern China – Asia

Cigarette dangling from his dry lips, a gap-toothed, leathery-faced farmer moved to the back of the Taiyuan to Wutiashan bus to talk to me. While I’d been studying Mandarin in Beijing for six months and for a few years back in the west before that, his accent was so thick our conversation did not get very far. Off the beaten track in China, the locals expect foreigners to speak Chinese. They are right to do so, because traveling off the main tourist track without Chinese skills is well nigh impossible.

In Beijing I had visited most of the ancient sights, such as the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. The problem with these places was that they didn’t seem so ancient anymore. They were all tarted up for the Olympics, they looked brand new. Every single temple in Beijing was like this, from the major tourist destinations, such as the Temple of Heaven, to obscure neighborhood temples. I even went to temples not in any guidebook, and they were quite literally brand new. One of these newly renovated temples in the south of the city was apparently turned into housing in the 1950s, and then a few years ago was "rescued" by the authorities. I am convinced they rebuilt the whole thing. After visiting all these ersatz temples, I knew that I had to leave Beijing to discover the real thing. I decided to go to Wutaishan, a sacred Buddhist mountain, during a weeklong reading break. Wutaishan, near Beijing, was built in 857 AD. Surely a building that was over a thousand years old would actually look its age.

Although geographically close to Beijing, transportation is difficult due to the mountainous terrain. I took an overnight train from Beijing and then transferred to a bus. After construction detours, constant picking up and letting off of passengers and just plain inexplicable delays, the bus ride that was supposed to take three or four hours seemed to drag on forever.

Splendidly isolated in the mountains, Wutaishan is high enough to avoid the smog that blankets much of Northern China. Pastoral farmland gave way to grassy slopes and the occasional tree clinging for dear life, fearful of a landslide, or the peasant’s axe. At the top of a particularly windy stretch of road that included many switchbacks, the bus reached the entrance to the Wutaishan scenic area.

In thick Chinese, the bus driver told everyone to get out, and pay an entrance fee before going further. After paying, the bus began to descend into a valley ringed by the five peaks that give Wutaishan its name. In Chinese, Wutaishan literally means, "Five Terrace Mountain". The winding descent continued past a few temples until we finally reached Taihuai Village, located in a valley in the center of the five peaks.

Getting off the bus I was accosted by some touts wanting to have me stay in their accommodation, a few rooms next to a restaurant. While not great, having hot water only in the evening, it was cheap, clean, and had a somewhat decent bathroom. Often in Chinese hotels, the room will look great until you open the door to the bathroom, and see that it is shoddily constructed and dirty.

It was already three in the afternoon, but I managed to visit about five temples in the town, including the enormous Great White Stupa, the symbol of Wutaishan. The temples were swarming with Chinese tourists, and were newly renovated, at least I could see lots of monks bustling about. These temples had more monks than the ones in Beijing, but still did not feel "authentic".

The following morning, I found a cab nearby and negotiated a rate to get to the Foguang Temple. The driver tried making conversation with me, but as with the man on the bus, his accent was hard to understand. We drove through a village filled with vendors selling produce and other odds and ends, and then we turned onto a small road that led towards the mountains. At the foot of the mountains we arrived at the gate of the Foguang Temple. We were the only visitors. There was a significant amount of construction going on, with the entrance gate and one of the halls was in the process of renovation. However, I was delighted to go inside and discover that the East Hall, the one built in 857, was not being restored and was more beautiful than I imagined.

Located on a terrace quite a bit higher than the main courtyard of the temple, the East Hall sports massive flying eaves that poke out from behind two massive cypress trees. I climbed the stairs, an employee opened the massive door for me. Inside the hall, surrounded by iron bars, were many statues as old as the hall itself. The iron bars protect the statues, worth a fortune to collectors, from theft. The building was built without a single nail. The massive roof beams, placed on a series of columns, use gravity to avoid collapse. However, I noticed a lot of rotten wood in the ceiling, and some beams were straining under the weight of the roof. While a bit of restoration had been done to the outside of the hall where I saw fresh pieces of wood, more work was needed to protect this gem of Chinese architecture.

To the right of the East Hall, was a small, inconspicuous pagoda, the second oldest pagoda in China, dating from the sixth century. It was only four meters tall, but quite beautiful, with an Indian influenced design. Despite the racket from the construction work, the temple exuded an air of tranquility and enchantment that I had not experienced at other temples. The only thing that was missing were the monks. Also surprising was the total lack of visitors. Even though the temple contains one of China’s most important buildings, I saw not a single visitor for the entire time I was there. Perhaps this was why it felt so serence

The rest of the day was spent looking around Taihuai Village. Taihuai is going through massive changes. Half of the village was a construction yard, with both hotels and new temples being built. There were billboards all over the place trumpeting a master plan for the town, which anticipated Wutaishan being listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. That listing remains a distant dream, but the authorities are building up the tourist infrastructure in anticipation of the increase in tourism that a listing on the world heritage list would bring.

How long would the Foguang Temple be free of tourist hordes? Owing to its distance from Taihuai, it will likely remain little-visited for years to come. At least somewhere in China, among a sea of over a billion people, one authentic temple remains.