An Encounter with the Ancients on the Road (Part One)
The culture of the Great Han Dynasty is most prominent in the areas surrounding Xuzhou.
This place is not only the hometown of Liu Bang, Pei County, but also the world-famous Mount Mangdang. It takes less than an hour to drive from Xuzhou to Mount Mangdang, and less than a hundred kilometers from Mount Mangdang to Shangqiu, so this journey is very relaxing.
To make the most of the toll-free policy during the Spring Festival holiday, and to add a bit of a free spirit to the increasingly subdued New Year atmosphere, I decided to hit the road.
I spent several days studying the map before leaving, and had several plans in mind, ready to adjust on the fly according to the actual situation. As for time, I wasn't too strict; if I encountered traffic on the way back, waiting for a couple of days was also acceptable. The characteristic of a road trip is just that, casual and free.
I started preparing to travel through Kaifeng-Zhengzhou-Luoyang-Laojun Mountain-Sanmenxia-Yuncheng-Hukou Waterfall—Linfen-Jincheng-Yuntai Mountain-Heze-back home. After setting off, I began monitoring the crowd status of these places, and found that Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Laojun Mountain were basically fully booked. So I changed my plan and decided to go to Xuzhou first, and then decide on the rest of the itinerary based on the situation.
1, Xuzhou
I set off early in the morning and arrived around 11 o'clock. After getting off the highway and entering Xuzhou city, I passed by Baolian Temple, went to visit it, and planned to eat vegetarian noodles. Baolian Temple covers a large area, about two to three times the size of a typical temple, with the main hall and the Buddha storage pavilion as the core buildings, majestic and gorgeous, very impressive, and also a popular spot for taking photos.
Of course, although Baolian Temple is known as the largest temple in the north, it is after all a modern construction. The temple emphasizes grandeur, splendor, and carved beams, but lacks some of the Buddhist spirit and essence. The temple is quite commercialized, with no real monks seen, nor any scenes of monks worshiping and practicing, so it is more appropriate to treat it as a scenic spot that takes advantage of Buddhist opportunities.
There were too many people for the vegetarian noodles, so I didn't join the crowd. When there are many people, the mind is not at peace, and eating vegetarian noodles would also be tasteless.
Lion Mountain Chu King's Tomb
I left Baolian Temple around 2 pm and quickly arrived at Lion Mountain.
Since I arrived in the afternoon, I avoided the peak of the crowd and hired a guide to visit the Chu King's underground palace. The underground palace is in a straight line, with small side chambers on both sides, and it's unclear where the main tomb chamber is, as it is an unfinished project. However, a jade burial suit with gold thread was excavated here, which is the most exquisite one in the country. The original is in the Xuzhou Museum (which I couldn't book), but a replica is still in the tomb chamber.
During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han, Cao Cuo's reduction of the fiefs led to the Rebellion of the Seven States, one of which was Chu. Therefore, after the third generation Chu king ascended the throne, the construction of the tomb stopped abruptly in the twenty-first year due to the failure of the rebellion, and the Chu tomb was also built for twenty-one years. Thus, after the Chu king committed suicide, he was hastily buried, and the construction was unfinished.
The biggest highlight of the Lion Mountain Chu King's Tomb is not the tomb chamber, but the terracotta warriors. It was after discovering the terracotta warriors that the Chu tomb was identified. After human sacrifices in ancient burials, starting from the Qin Dynasty, pottery figures were used instead. The Qin Dynasty made them at a one-to-one scale, and in the Han Dynasty, they were made at a smaller scale, but the regulations remained the same, and they were much smaller in size, yet equally precious.
The Underwater Chariot and Horse Pit Museum is actually the site of the ancient workshop. There are no finished terracotta warriors, but it is possible to reconstruct them based on the scattered parts. The reason it is underwater is that this place was originally an excavation site. After discovering the Chu King's Tomb, it was backfilled with water to create the current lake, which inadvertently created a gimmick of an underwater museum. As for the Han Que Corridor, it is a place where Han tombs and Han que from the Xuzhou area are gathered for exhibition. The carvings on the Han que are exquisite, like comic strips on stone, worthy of careful appreciation.
The Chu King's tomb chamber, terracotta warriors, Underwater Museum, and Han Que Corridor are the core essence, and the rest are park-like attractions.
The guide was very beautiful, but her overall knowledge of Han culture was insufficient; she only had ample knowledge about the Chu King's tomb, which is not enough. I asked how the Han tombs around Lion Mountain compared to it? She couldn't say which was better or worse, only that Lion Mountain was the best, which made me chuckle!
Lion Mountain's excellence is not the Chu King's underground palace, but the jade burial suit with gold thread, terracotta warriors, and Han que. Later, I thought that the Chu King's underground palace here was the smallest and unfinished.
After leaving Lion Mountain, I checked into a hotel, and in the evening, I went out for a foodie street tour, ending the day's journey.