Fengdu Ghost City |
Far 170 km from the east of Chongqing (chóng qìng 重庆), on the north bank of the river with a history of 1,900 years, Fengdu (fēng dū 丰都), which also called the" City of Ghosts" on the Ming Hill (míng shān 名山) is a treasure house of local customs, culture and art, integrating the Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist cultures. Why it has been regarded as the "City of Ghosts" ? It got its extraordinary reputation as the "Ghost City" in the Eastern Han Dynasty (dōng hàn 东汉). Two officials from the imperial court: Wang Fangping (wáng fāng píng 王方平) and Yin Changsheng (yīn cháng shēng 阴长生), got bored with the political life in the court and came to Mt. Minshan outside Fengdu City to practice Taoist teachings. Both of them later became immortals by carrying out self-cultivation. This story widely spread and Mt. Minshan became famous. Later in the Tang Dynasty (táng dài 唐代), When combined together, their surnames Yin and Wang, sound very much like "King of Hell" in Chinese. Hence the people began to call Fengdu the "Ghost City".
It was the legendary capital of The Ghost King sculptured statue is 138 meters high and 217 meters wide. The tongue only is 81 meters long and mouth 70 meters wide. The pictures are carved in to the mountain for a depth of 26 meters. Visitors can climb the body of the king to the top of the mountain. Guinness World Records has listed it as the biggest sculpture carved on a rock. Ghost State by Daoists. Legends said "the dead come to Fendu and the devils go to hell." Numerous temples containing sculptures of demons and devils have been built on the mountain since the Tang dynasty. Travelers have given mixed reviews to this little "Hell World" exhibit. It is very exciting and a little bit horrified to tour the ghost city. Some attractions are very popular.
With temples constructed on the Ming Hill by the river bank and many statues of ghosts and devils molded in the temples, these terrifying statues describe the after-life where people who disobey ancient Chinese morals are punished in every horrifying way. By the standard of Hollywood movies, it should be rated the highest level.
As a westerner you might feel it is a very weird scene to see so many imagined figures, too ugly to approach them. Anyway, it is a tiny part of Chinese traditional culture and some of the legends might be narrated by the guide or introduction wordings in the pamphlets.
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