Another overcast morning as we disembarked to visit the Pagoda and Temple at Shibaozhai which means Precious Stone Fortress. From a distance the 720ft hill on which the Pagoda and Temple stand is said to resemble a jade seal – remember the Chinese a big on seals – and it is therefore named the Jade Seal Hill. The Lanruo Temple at its peak was built in the Qing Dynasty in 1750 and originally access to it was gained by an iron chain attached to the cliff!
The main attraction here is the 12 storey high red pagoda shown in the picture and is the tallest example of ancient Chinese architecture. The original nine-level structure was built in 1819 so that monks and visitors to the temple would not have to suffer the discomfort of the iron chain ascent. Three further levels were added in 1956. Inside every floor of this wooden structure is adorned with paintings and sculptures dedicated to a famous general of the Three Kingdoms period (220-265AD). Its tall yellow entrance gate is decorated with lions and dragons and etched with an inscription inviting visitors to climb the ladders and ascend to the top for a stunning – if misty – panorama of the river below. The roof of the entrance gate is adorned with ‘laughing Buddha’s’.
At the top of the hill and between the pagoda and the temple is a Duck Well – so called because if you dropped a live duck down the well as Spring turns to Summer it will quickly reappear swimming in the Yangtze. Sounds to me like a rather sadistic way of seeing if there was water in the well! Apparently the monks drew their drinking water from this well using a bamboo pipe.
In the rear hall of the temple is a Rice Flowing Well. Legend has it that long ago enough husked rice would flow from the small hole each day to meet the needs of the monks. A greedy monk, however, who dreamed of riches chiselled a bigger hole and guess what - the rice flow ceased forever.
To get to the Pagoda from the ship we had to run the gauntlet of over a mile of market stalls. We were funnelled between twin rows of stalls like fish in a net! The worst hassle yet from the vendors so a lot of Bu Yao (A polite way of saying No Thank You) was to be heard. Most of the souvenirs on offer were of the worst kind – no handicrafts – with every stall almost selling the same range of goods!
If we thought the market was bad there was then a wooden suspension bridge to negotiate out to the island. The bridge was very strongly built but with a couple of hundred people on it was very bouncy to say the least!
Shibaozhai was radically changed in 2009 because of the rising waters of the Three Gorges Dam. To protect the Pagoda a cofferdam was built around its base and a rather charming garden built inside the dam surrounding the hill. There is an interesting picture showing the Pagoda in 2004 at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shibaozhai_leaning_red_pavilion_and_temple.jpg
The views from the top of the Pagoda were great and looking back to the docked Viking Emerald I could see a group of people washing their clothes in the Yangtze even though this is one of the towns to which peoplewere moved to avoid the rising waters and rehoused in spacious apartments with washing machines – “Old habits die-hard” as they say.
The top of the hill also provided a rare glimpse of a rare Chinese Salamander living in a pool supplied with small fish for its prey and under a magic arched bridge that if a man could cross in 3 steps and a women in 5 would bring great luck!!
An interesting visit but I was glad to get back aboard without buying anything on the run back through the stall trap!
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