Oct 2006

Shanghai, China's leading industrial and commercial city and major financial center, is located in the middle of the coast of the Chinese mainland and on the Southern shore of the Yangtze River estuary. The city is divided into two main areas, Pudong and Puxi, which lie east and west of the Huangpu River. The famous Huangpu River flows through Shanghai, which is in the possession of a host of historical scenes and sights that testify to the city's modern-time glory as a national commercial and financial center. The policy of reform and opening up to the outside world has transformed Shanghai into a sophisticated metropolis with a well-developed network of land, air and sea transportation. Catering and entertainment service are distinctive of the tourist industry of Shanghai.
My Shanghainese friend showed me a three-day around in Shanghai on the National Day.
On the first day we arrived at Shanghai we had a city tour to the Bund, also called the waterfront. The Bund represents the architectural buildings of finance and trade. Many of them are bank buildings. The others are commercial buildings, national organizations, restaurants, clubs, press etc. The Bund has turned into the centre of international finance as well as the touring resort thus constitutes as a beautiful picture of the Shanghai City. My friend told me when lights are turned on between 19:00 and 21:00 p.m., the Bund has the best nocturnal scene to offer.
Then we went to Nanjing Road, both sides are flanked by famed shopping centers, department stores, specialty stores, exotic restaurants and cultural and recreational facilities. The 5-km-long Nanjing Road is the most sophisticated shopping and tourist complex in Shanghai. Every day it is thronged by more than 1 million visitors.
After dinner, we enjoyed the Acrobatic Show. The famous Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe has performed around the globe. Their movement is art - tightly choreographed and rehearsed endlessly. We took a view of “Hula Hoops”, “Caninc”, “Umbrella Handling”, “Through the Tube” etc. It was really wonderful that night!
I lodged at my friend’s home and had a great night. We got up early the next morning, and visited Shanghai Museum. The museum contains more than 112,000 Chinese cultural relics from the Old Stone Age to modern times, including pottery, porcelain, stone carvings, Jiaguwen, that are inscriptions on tortoise shells or animal bones, etc. Chinese tea ceremony
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We walked along the bridge, passed the Jingdai Bridge; we entered the scenic area of “Autumn Moon on Calm Lake”. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the autumn moon because it was daytime. We had to seek the next time to drink with my friends under the moon.
The high Pagoda we saw from far away was Leifeng Pagoda; a famous artist named Luxun mentioned it in his article. Today, the pagoda has been reconstructed. It is said that Leifeng Pagoda was built at Wu and Yue periods; the former name of it was Xiguan Brick Pagoda. The hill was called sunset hill, that’s why we call the scenery “Sunset Glow Over Lei Hill”. There were five floors in the pagoda, but we didn’t need to climb the steps, as we used lifts up and down. There are various murals in the pagoda, which tell us the story about Xu Xian, white snake and Fahai Monk. Every guide would narrate the fantastic story to their tourists.
We saw the typical Sunset Glow over Leifeng Pagoda ，as the Pagoda looked especially majestic when it was surrounded by the golden hues of the setting sun. With combination of a traditional aesthetic style and modern architecture techniques, Leifeng Pagoda afforded a view of West Lake in its entirety.
The well known Late-night Bells were in the Nanshan Street, a row of bells reminded us here was Naping Hill. I was wondering that whether the bells rang at right.

As we hurried to the Ling Yin Temple, all sceneries left us deep impressions.When I closed my eyes to rest on train, even though I was tired, I still felt the satisfaction and I missed the Lotus standing in the Atroceruleous Lake.
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"Rippling waters shimmering on a sunny day, misty mountains shrouded in rain; Plain or gaily dressed like Xizi; West Lake is always alluring." These are the words used by the celebrated Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo to describe Hangzhou’s West Lake. To be honest, in my heart, Hangzhou, the name is replaced by West Lake; hence, Hangzhou is also alluring.

I had never thought West Lake abutted on the street of Hangzhou, because I thought West Lake was at the far suburb of the city. Through some streets, we arrived at West Lake. Yes, the West Lake was in front of me. It was the West Lake at where Xu Xian and White snake met, it was also the lake which brought some inspiration for Qiongyao’s love stories, and the lake which lots of poet intoned.
I felt abrupt because it seemed that I even had not wakened up from my dream when I saw it. Actually, the West Lake, which looked like a girl, was an atroceruleous lake with a row of willows stood at the two sides of the white jade banks.
There are a lot of bridges over the West Lake. Such as Jingdai Bridge, Xileng Bridge, Kuahong Bridge, Suolan Bridge, Yingbo Bridge and so on. The first bridge I walked to was Broken Bridge. In generally, the bridge is arc with only one aperture. It is said that after a snowfall, when snow is on the more exposed side has melted, with the shaded side remaining white, it looks as if a long white belt has been ripped apart on the bridge, thus earning the name "Melting Snow on the Broken Bridge". It was the place where Xu Xian and white snake first met and felt in love with each others.
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though it was designed to withstand harsh weather conditions, over the past 1,000 years,
erosion did become a major threat to the statue. Strong winds, heavy rains, acid rain and
visitors have left their marks. Water detained at the stomach of the Buddha has lowered the
strength of the rock, and as a result, plants and fungi have sprung up from the upper part
of the body. We chose to visit the Giant Buddha by a walk. We stepped onto the breathtaking
plank road alongside the cliff, climbed around the statue and got a good sense of
proportion, it was really worth looking at the Grand Buddha from several angles. The total
walking takes about 2 hours. After 40 minutes, we went to the top, opposite the head. The
charm of the Buddha lies not only in its size but also in its architectural artistry. The
head of the Leshan Buddha is covered with 1,021 buns of curly hair. Seen from afar, they
seem to be a whole while in fact they are made of rocks and each of which is large enough to
support a big round table. But stone coils of hair on the head of the statue have fallen
down.We then reached it’s huge nose, has turned black and the face has become speckled
because of acid rain. What looks like tear stains can be found at the corner of the Buddha's
eyes, and part of the body surface has begun to peel off. During the way, I felt a little
dizzy.We descend a short stairway to the feet for a Lilliputian perspective at last. Each of
the feet is 11 meters long and 8.5 meters wide, large enough to accommodate more than 100
people
sitting on it. Leshan
statue is a work of art as well as a work of creativity. We looked carefully and found
an internal drainage system was incorporated into the sculpture that is still in working
order. My guide told us, the
drainage pipes were carved in various places on the body, that scattered on the head and
arms, behind the ears and in the clothes to carry away the

water after the rains so as to reduce weathering, and they play an important part in
the protection of the Buddha. There is another interesting thing, according to the experts
involved in the maintenance in 1962, there is a cave in the chest of the Buddha. On entering
the cave they found scrap iron and bricks. The stele covering the entrance of the cave dates
from the Song Dynasty. The reason for this stele in the chest of the Buddha remains a
mystery.
The huge statue not only represents the brilliant civilization of ancient China but also the
largest ancient sculpture in the world.
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It was a monk called Hai Tong who initiated the project. Master Haitong, a Buddhist abbot of
the Lingyun Monastery, raised the necessary funds and commenced the construction of the
Giant Buddha in order to subdue the waters and save lives. After 20 years' begging alms, he
finally accumulated enough money for the plan. When some local government officials had
designs on tempting this amount of money, Hai Tong said that they could get his eyeball but
not the money raised for the Buddha. After Hai Tong dug out his eyeball, these officials ran
away scared. The project was half done when Hai Tong passed away, and two of his disciples
continued the work. After a total of 90 years' hard work, the project was finally completed.
I was totally moved by the story.
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