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Chengde-chengdu-dat-dazu-guan-guilin |
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Chengde |
Situated in northeast Hebei
Province, 250 kilometers from Beijing, Chengde covers an area of
4442 square meters. Surrounded by mountains and with brooks and
streams running through the city, Chengde commands beautiful scenery
and a pleasant climate. Here the Chengde Mountain Resort of classic
beauty and elegant taste, the grand "Eight Outer Temples" and the
strange hills and crags combine to make Chengde a city of scenic and
historical interest with a special and rational layout, as well as a
tourist attraction famous both at home and abroad.
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Chengdu, capital of Sichuan
Province, is located in the center of the plain in west Sichuan,
known as the "land of heavenly kingdom". With an elevation of 500
meters, the city is slightly larger than Paris. For nearly 2500
years, it has been the economic and cultural center of the province.
Long noted for its brocade industry, Chengdu was named Jincheng or
the Brocade City in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220A.D.).
Chengdu has a history of over 2,300 years. In 311 B.C., the State of
Qin, during the Warring States period, established a county here.
During 221-263, Chengdu was the capital of Shu, one of the three
rival kingdoms. The 43 years of rule left many relics. In 1644,
Zhang Xianzhong, leader of a peasant uprising, conquered the city,
and established his capital here. There are at least 14 imperial
mausoleums, but so far only seven have been excavated.
There are many historical spots in Chengdu. Among them, the Thatched
Cottage of Du Fu, the Tomb of Wang Jian, the Dujiangyan Dam Water
Conservancy Project and etc. are very famous places.
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Located in northern Shanxi
Province, Datong was first known as Pingchang and served as the
capital of the early Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534); later it was
also the second capital of the Liao and Jin Dynasties (907-1234).
Among its ancient sites of interest are the Huayan Temple, the
Shanhua Temple, the Guanyin Hall, and the 45.5-meter-long, 9-dragon
glazed screen. The main attraction, however, is the Buddhist
carvings at the Yungang Grottoes, which dates as far back as the
Northern Wei Dynasty.
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The stone carvings of Dazu are
located in Dazu County, 163 kilometers west of Chongqing City
Proper. The carvings started in 892 and concluded by the end of the
Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). They are excellent works of stone
carving produced during the later period of grotto arts in China.
More than 50,000 carved stone figures are scattered over forty
places. Those carved out of the rocks at Beishan and Baodingshan are
the greatest in number, the largest in scale, the finest in
craftsmanship and the richest in content. in 1961 they appeared on
the list of the first group of important cultural relics under state
protection as promulgated by the State Council.
The stone carvings of Dazu, chiefly of Buddhist images, are an art
of a religious nature and are praised as the "Oriental Carved
Bible". There are also, however, separate areas of Confucian and
Taoist images, and caves in which the founders of Confucianism,
Buddhism and Taoism are placed together. Beside, there are
commemorative statues of historical figures.
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Guangzhou covers a total area
of 7,435 square km, with an urban area of 1,444 square km.
Administratively, it consists of 8 districts, 3 counties, and one
municipality. The population is 6.3 million, of which 3.94 million
live in the urban areas and 1 million are seasonal laborers.
With a history of over 2800 years, Guangzhou has always been a port
for foreign exchanges and trade, and is still one of the largest
ports in China. Here the China Export Commodities Fair is held every
spring and autumn, which attracts business people from the world
over.
Known as "City of Flowers", Guangzhou is famous for being a city
with flowers all year round. The top four fruits of Guangzhou are
lychees, bananas, pineapples and sweet oranges.
People in Guangzhou speak Cantonese, a spoken language quite
different from Mandarin. The delicious Cantonese cuisine is noted
for its freshness, tenderness, smoothness and crispiness. On the
other hand, Cantonese people are notorious for eating everything:
snakes, mice, cats, sparrows, and monkeys --- you name it. Hence the
banter: "the Cantonese will eat anything that flies save planes and
anything with legs save tables."
The points of historical interest include Zhen-hai Tower, the
Guangxiao Temple, Liurong Temple, Huaisheng Mosque, Sun Yat-sen
Memorial Hall and so on.
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Guilin is in the northeastern
corner of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It just sits on the
west bank of the Li River, covering an area of 2,000 square km, with
a population of 1.2 million. Major nationalities living in the
cities include Han, Zhuang, Miao, Yao and Dong.
Guilin has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is famous in the
world for its green hills, clear water, fantastic caves and
spectacular rocks. It has typical karst topography. Scientists
believe that Guilin was an ocean between 370-325 million years ago.
Between 200-180 million years ago, because of changes in the earth's
crust, the bottom of the ocean rose up and became land. Over
subsequent centuries, the erosion effect gave rise to a myriad of
eerie-looking peaks, underground rivers and caves.
The hills and pinnacles in Guilin, gifted by nature, rise sharply
from the ground in many different shapes. Diecai Hill, Fubo Hill,
Duxiu Peak, Nanxi Hill, Crescent Hill and Putuo Hill are the biggest
attraction for tourists when they make a tour of the city.
The Li River is in the region of Guilin. Elephant Hill, Chuanshan
Hill, Pagoda Hill, Qifengzhen Peak Forest, Crown Cave, Painted
Cliff, Xingping Town and Green Lotus Peak are the extraordinary
scenic spots along the river.
Grotesque caves can be found in all the Guilin hills. Reed Flute
cave, Seven-Star Cave and Chuanshan Hill are honored as "Palaces of
Nature's Art". Stalagmites in the caves present colorful pictures.
Linking the waters of the Xiang and Li Rivers, the Ling Canal in
Xingan County, north of Guilin, is a great ancient water conservancy
project in Chinese history. It was built over 2000 years ago during
the reign of the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. |
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Western
China
