Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Feilai Feng and Lingyin Temple
Three kilometres west of the lake (bus #7 from Yuefei Mu to its terminus),
Hangzhou's most famous sights are scattered around
Feilai Feng
(daily
5.30am-5.30pm; ¥25). The hill's name -“The Hill that Flew Here” - derives
from the tale of an Indian Buddhist named Hui Li who, upon arrival in
Hangzhou, thought he recognized the hill from one back home, and asked
when it had flown here. Near the entrance is the
Ligong PagodL
, constructed
for him. If you turn left shortly after entering the site, you'll come to a surpris-
ingly impressive group of fake rock carvings, replicas of giant Buddhas from all
over China. To the right of the entrance you'll find a snack bar and beautiful
views over the neighbouring tea plantations up the hill.
The main feature of Feilai Feng is the hundreds of
Buddhist sculptures
carved into its limestone rocks. These date from between the tenth and
fourteenth centuries and are the most important examples of their type to be
found south of the Yangzi. Today the little Buddhas and other figurines are dotted
about everywhere, moss-covered and laughing among the foliage. It's possible to
follow trails right up to the top of the hill to escape the tourist hubbub.
Deep inside the Feilai Feng tourist area you'll eventually arrive at
Lingyin
Temple
(Temple of the Soul's Retreat; daily 7.30am-4.30pm; ¥20), one of the
biggest temple complexes in China. Founded in 326 AD by Hui Li, who is
buried nearby, it was the largest and most important monastery in Hangzhou
and once had three thousand monks, nine towers, eighteen pavilions and 75
halls and rooms. Today it is an attractive working temple with daily services,
usually in the early morning or after 3pm.
The temple was so badly riddled with woodworm that in the 1940s the main
crossbeams collapsed onto the statues; the eighteen-metre-high Tang statue of
Sakyamuni is a replica, carved in 1956 from 24 pieces of camphorwood.
Elsewhere in the temple, the old frequently brushes against the new - the
Hall
of the Heavenly King
contains four large and highly painted Guardians of the
Four Directions made in the 1930s, while the Guardian of the Buddhist Law
and Order, who shields the Maitreya, was carved from a single piece of wood
eight hundred years ago.
South of the lake
Down in the southwestern quarter of the city, in the direction of the village of
Longjing, the dominant theme is
tea production
: gleaming green tea bushes
sweep up and down the land, a n d old ladies pester tourists into buying fresh tea
leaves. Fittingly, t his is where you'll find the
Tea Museum
(daily 8am-5pm;
free), a smart place with lots of captions in English, covering themes such as the
history of tea and the etiquette of tea drinking. There are displays on different
varieties of tea, cultivation techniques, the development of special teaware, and
finally, reconstructed tearooms in various ethnic styles, such as Tibetan and
Yunnanese. Bus #27 from Pinghai Lu in the town centre comes here; get off
more or less opposite the former
Zhejiang Hotel
, then head southwest to the
museum along a small lane just to the north of, and parallel to, the main road.
A couple of kilometres further southwest, the village of
Longjing
(“Dragon
Well”), with tea terraces rising on all sides behind the houses, is famous as the
origin of
Longjing Tea
, p e r haps the finest variety of green tea produced in
China. Depending on the season, a stroll around here affords glimpses of
leaves in different stages of processing - being cut, sorted or dried. You'll be
hassled to sit at an overpriced teahouse or to buy leaves when you get off the
bus - have a good look around first, as there is a very complex grading system
166
