We start Part two with our first stop at the Ghost City October 17th. Fengdu Ghost City Is located in the north of the Yangtze River. It was our first stop along the Yangtze and the only recognized Ghost City in the world. According to Chinese superstitious legend “the dead come to Fengdu and the devils go to torture.” There are 27 temples within Fengdu. These temples and statue groups display the Chinese original ideas about gods and ghosts. The basic story is that dead come to Fengdu to be judged by Yama, the big boss of all gods. You are judged and excellent persons are reincarnated, a good person goes to the underworld and can be reincarnated and an evil person goes to a torture chamber for eternity. They use the term Hell but it is not the concept of hell as known in the western world The area is encompassed by the Ming Mountain, the Devil Palace, and the Shuanggui Mountain. We were on the Ming Mountain which included Hum-Haw Shrine, Gratitude Temple, Dead Bridge, Hall of the Jade Emperor (Yama), the Gate of Hell, and the Palace of Hell.
Entrance to the Ghost City at the base of the mountain.
Looking up at the Big Head representing Yama. About 20 years ago there were plans to turn it into a hotel. Two workers were killed on the site including the site manager. The plans were abandoned and it remains a shrine.
The first guard that welcomes the dead to the city for judgment or the living for prayers.
The layout of the shrines and temples. There are 420 steps to the highest point tourists generally go.
Guards to the first temple area. One on each side of the walkway.
Crossing the lucky bridge. There are three bridges. If you can cross the center bridge without stumbling you’ll have along, happy life. Couples who cross in nine steps holding hands will have a happy life. It is also real world in that those guys are just dressed in costume and there is a photographer to my left. You will have a very nice photo available when you get to the top for only 20 RMB.
Buda in temple of learning. Along the side are statues of teachers of various disciplines.
The welcome committee. If he is holding the staff as seen here you are welcome to pray, eat and stay the night. If the staff is held across the chest you can pray and eat. If the staff is held over the head you can only pray, not eat or stay at the temple.
Counselors and advisors along the sides of the temple.
Most of the temples are guarded by two lions. Male on the right, female on the left facing the temple. You can tell the difference by looking under the paw. Male has a ball. Female has a baby lion on it’s back.
Same idea in different material
I know this is getting long so I’m going to skip several temples. I just want you to realize how big this place is and you aren’t getting a view of it all.
This is the temple of women and children. You come here to pray for a boy or girl child. Most Chinese want girls today. There is a shortage of girls and they are in high demand for marriage. If you have a boy it is very expensive to raise him, help him get a place to live and a car; all requirements for marriage. Also girls take better care of their parents than boys do.
Chinese praying in in this temple.
Side gods that people were praying to. Not sure what they represent within the overall temple.
These statues line the walkway to the Gates of Hell. I think they are designed to frighten children into a good life. There are a lot of them and each is different and stands for a different behavior. Some examples.
The Gate of Hell. It has a very high threshold to step over. This is a form of test. Black and red are significant colors dealing with the underworld.
After passing through the gate if you don’t “make the cut” you go to the torture world for eternity. This is their definition of Hell and is depicted in statues all along the sides of the temple.
The statues along the upper level are gods supervising the torture of the evil.
If you make through all the tests you come to the temple of Yama, the big Buda. This is the largest Buda statue and here final judgment is passed for those who get this far.
His counselors for the underworld. They are deliberately not in human form so it is know they are from the underworld.
These are his counselors for judgment of the good people.
Walking down we passed this construction. You can see they still use bamboo for scaffolding. This is for the smallest jobs and biggest high-rise construction.
On the way in and out we have to pass through a market. This is a ready to eat stand with many different items. Yes those are pig snouts in the middle. Not sure of all the rest.
Sign on the electric cart back to the boarding area. You can save a lot of space by not using punctuation.
A disclaimer. This was a long tour with a lot of information. I may have got some of it mixed up but I think I got the jest of it all. As mentioned earlier this is only a small picture of a much larger area of great significance to the Chinese. I work hard to get clear pictures but I can can assure you we weren’t alone at the site.
This is the end of Part Two.
