After visiting Wolong Temple on my own last week, on Thursday, I went on to visit Baxianan 八仙庵, the Eight Immortals Temple, a vast Daoist complex on the Eastern side of Xi'an. On the way to Baxianan, I stumbled upon Wangji temple, a nearby Buddhist temple. After asking a worker there about the temple's history, the worker read the text on a stele to me, informing me that the temple dated from the Tang Dynasty. The most interesting part of this temple, however, was not the cultural or historical relics, but rather a cage of at least ten peacocks that are kept next to the monk's quarters. I never bothered to ask what the peacocks were for, but I can only assume that they serve some useful purpose. I then walked through several alleyways, that reminded me of the Muslim Quarter minus the tourists, to arrive at the Daoist temple. When I walked in, a Daoist ceremony was going on, which consisted of a group of eight Daoist monks sitting around a table, each playing a musical instrument, mostly percussion. They continued playing their instruments at this table with a steady rhythm, not looking up at anyone who might pass by. This temple was also especially interesting due to the English explanations on each building, explaining which Daoist god's representation lay inside, although I had to ask a monk regarding the temple's age, who informed me that the temple dated from the Song Dynasty. Behind the temple lay a series of gardens, which were about the same size as the temple itself. One thing I found particularly interesting about Buddhist and Daoist monks, is that Buddist Monks are required to keep their heads shaved, while Daoist monks do not cut their hair and leave it in a bun instead. Outside the temple lay an antique market which I walked through in the rain on my way to the bus stop. This antique market appeared to be unique among antique markets, since some antiques there appeared to be real, unlike most other "antiques" one may find in China, a notion confirmed by a PRC sign above the market's entrance, informing all patrons that they must have government approval prior to buying antiquities at the market.
On Saturday, I also visited two temples (I visited a third too, but it was very poorly maintained, every door was locked, and was at the end of a street filled with beggars.) The first of these was located in Xiaozhai, a popular commercial district filled with many Western chains. Off the main street however, was another Buddhist temple, Daxingshan Temple, much larger, and filled with many Tibetan relics, with some of the buildings featuring Tibetan text. Apparently this temple is from the Jin Dynasty (265-420), making it especially old. I spend several minutes here talking to a Buddhist man at the temple (not a monk) about some of the various differences between different sects of Buddhism, while we watched a Buddhist ritual through windows, which I, not being a Buddhist, was not permitted to enter. From what I could see, a large number of monks sat around a table, while one read from a scroll in a monotone for a very long time, in Mandarin Chinese. This temple was also surrounded by a market selling various Buddhist relics, such as Buddha statues, and incense for offerings. In one of these stalls I bought a series of Tibetan prayer flags, that can be strung up on a wall. It was also next to a very fake "antique" market, whose sellers consistently informed me their goods were from some classical Chinese dynasty, yet were laid out on a picnic blanket on the sidewalk.
After my visit to Daxingshan, I took the subway north, all the way to the northwestern corner of the old city where I found guangren Temple. This was interrupted only by an additional visit to Xi'an's muslim quarter, where I decided I must try Biang biang noodles, after learning to write the character for Biang in the airport, the most complex character in the Chinese language, consisting of 57 strokes. The noodles have a very unique taste, and are as wide as a belt. Guangren is a Tibetan Buddhist temple filled with strings of Tibetan Prayer flags, and Tibetan text on all of the buildings, and many lamas, with their red and yellow robes tending to the temple. There also was Mongolian text on all of the buildings, but I'm not particularly sure why the Mongolian text accompanied the Tibetan. The temple was not particularly old, dating from Kangxi, the first Qing Dynasty emperor's reign in the early 18th century. The temple is filled with eight treasures, that Kangxi presented the temple with, having founded the only Tibetan monastery in Shaanxi. The temple was also probably the best maintained, and clearly intended to make money off of their well kept appearance, charging 20 RMB for all tourists wishing to enter. What was most enjoyable about this visit though, was probably the friends I made at this temple. I spent several hours here talking to Laura, a Xibei Daxue student about Buddhist culture, and her desire to travel and see the world. Although she spoke English very well, she spent a large portion of the time talking to me in Chinese. Afterwards I joined her, and a friend for tea in an office, where we continued to talk about American and Chinese culture for a long time.
Aside from visiting temples, my week consisted of many other cool excursions. On Friday and Saturday Nights, I went to 曲江南湖, where I walked around the gigantic park's lake, which must have been several miles long. The park is always a very happening place no matter when you go, filled with boats on the water, a hot air balloon, many cafes, many groups of people dancing (these are everywhere in China), children roller skating, and a show a company was putting on to advertise themselves before the world cup finals. I tried to strike up conversation here, however most were not interested. I did, however spend a long time talking to a Sichuan College student about the World Cup.
On Wednesday after school, we had a party for two American students who had birthdays coming up. This was also very fun, and consisted of playing with various sand tables like we might have many years ago (I have no idea why the NSLI-Y lounge features sand tables), as well as singing various Chinese songs. This was very relaxing, after a long period of calligraphy, which my lack of fine motor skills prevents me from greatly enjoying.
On Friday, my classmates and I took a trip to the Shaanxi history museum, which was very large and interesting, filled with many classical Chinese artifacts. I was most interested in tomb built for a Persian ambassador to the Tang Dynasty. What was most helpful about the museum was our Chinese tour guide, who taught me many new Chinese words. After the museum, one of my classmates and I took a bus to Xi'an's city wall, where we walked to Xi'an's Bell tower (钟楼). This was very cool, and sits exactly in the center of Xi'an, a three story Ming Dynasty tower, that features many bells, and was initially used to keep time in the city. It also featured a seal from every influential city on the Silk Road. On the bus ride back (which was very prolonged due to traffic), I spent the time talking to a young Swiss couple, teaching them many things about the Chinese and language and culture. Although they spoke many languages, they did not speak any Chinese, and were merely here for tourism purposes.
On Sunday I also had a great time, accompanying my host brother to his classmate's family's house. His classmate's step dad is American, and he and his Chinese wife run a library for little children in an adjacent apartment (apparently many Chinese businesses are run in this manner). The library features many Chinese and English books, as well as several classrooms used for teaching kids English. Interacting with all the kids and their parents was really enjoyable and rewarding, and they were all very excited to practice their few prepared English sentences, and teach me some Chinese phrases as well. After eating lunch at my brother's friend's apartment, I also spent time interacting with their two year old daughter, who is bilingual, and very intelligent. This also upped the number of religions I had experienced that week, since after spending time as a Jew in Buddhist and Daoist Temples, as well as Xi'an's Muslim quarter, I also my host brother's classmate's father is a Bahai, and his mother in law is a Chinese Christian. While at the daycare I also got to partake in many entertaining tasks while conversing in Chinese with little kids, including helping a seven year old Chinese girl pick a better English name, and read a Chinese picture book (she helped me with the characters I didn't know).
Looking forward to the next month,
Ben Weinstein