Temples and tea plantations

Published on July 22, 2009 in Hangzhou. 15 Comments

It’s been awhile since I last updated; things have been really hectic around here and work has been ramping up. A couple weeks ago I sustained injury #2 in China, this time on my right ring finger. I was checking out some industrial fans in a factory outside Hangzhou (for a project at work) and while leaning on one of the fans my finger slipped through the casing and got sliced by the fan blades. The doctor at the hospital chuckled at the sight of me again. He fixed me up right and it looks like I’m off to a full recovery:

battle wound

more battle wounds

This past weekend I got a chance to check out some places outside Hangzhou which I hadn’t seen yet. Accompanying me for the adventures was my friend from Stanford, Juliet Rothenberg, and her Chinese teacher from Shanghai:

the three musketeers
the three musketeers

We first went to check out the Lingyin Temple, a buddhist temple located in the mountains northwest of Hangzhou. One of the largest in China, the temple was established over 1600 years ago. The structures were beautiful, and the Buddha in the main hall was the size about the size of a small building! Although there were monks living in the monastery there, the temple seemed to be more of a tourist attraction than a place of worship. As most everywhere in China, the place was packed:

main hall of Lingyin Temple

main hall of Lingyin Temple

the monks could ball, yo

the monks could ball, yo

a random pretty picture

a pagoda in the courtyard

The topic of religion is a touchy one in China. Due to their complex history and thanks in no small part to the Communist Party, the population today is generally atheistic. The other day my boss (who is nonreligious), chastised the country’s lack of faith and lamented that “Chinese kids these days begin to lie at a very young age, and grow up not learning how to distinguish right from wrong.” In the US, where faith is generally cast in a favorable light, I’ve always looked to highlight the violence and hate caused by religious fervor around the world. However, in the face of China’s extreme corruption and crime, it’s tough to argue against the positive effects of a religious populace.

After seeing the Lingyin Temple, we decided to tour the neighboring Longjing tea plantations to try our hand at some authentic Longjing tea. Unfortunately I have absolutely zero knowledge of teas, so it was rather difficult to appreciate their quality. The fields where they grew the tea leaves were quite pretty however:

tea fields

tea fields

worker at the tea plantation

a worker at the tea plantation

All in all, thanks to the great company and cool sights, it was another awesome weekend in Hangzhou. On a side note, earlier today I got to witness something which I’ll likely never see again my lifetime–a total solar eclipse! It was completely dark for about 6 minutes around 9:30am, and hordes of people gathered outside to watch while fireworks littered the air. Awesome!

- Pu Anren

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