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泉州

China exploring 厦门 Friends NSLI-Y 厦门

The Maritime Silk Road Museum 

Today, July 12, all of the 32 NSLI-Y 厦门 participants traveled to 泉州, an ancient city that was part of the maritime Silk Road. Our first stop was at the QuanZhou Maritime Museum. Walking into the exhibits was breathtaking with multiple real ruins displayed as well as replicas. Also because of the breeze coming from the air conditioning machines. Skylar and I have decided that next we must visit the Chinese Museum of Air Conditioners because we always tend to huddle around them when we see them.

Skylar and I sitting in front of a boat replica 

The Cross-Culture Exhibit was very impressive. What impressed me the most was that 泉州 is the only city where Hindu ruins were found. These ruins included temples and altars that have very distinct carvings on them that attracted many tourists and experts. Hinduism was a very prominent religion in China which was first introduced by immigrating Indians in the 13th century. This suggests that there was a large Hindu community in the Fujian province. This was very surprising to me because Eastern China is known for its                                                                                     very Buddhist and Muslim community.

Replica with the map of maritime silk road

The "World of Chinese Ship" exhibit was fabulous as well with its countless real boats in display. There was a raft: boat that was completely made out of an ox hide. Crazy right?!?!? Other part of the exhibit that I really liked was the miniature replicas of ship building with little plastic people figures. It reminded me of "Night of the Museum" with all the tiny people that come to life at night. I wonder if the figures in the Maritime Museum come to life when the building is closed...
After visiting most of the exhibits inside my group went outside to the Oyster Wall which is exactly what it sounds like; a wall made of oysters. Later 杨老师 told me that some houses around the area are built out of oysters as well.

For the rest of the day we traveled to three different temples. First we went to the 通淮关庙 (Tonghuai GuanYue Temple). It was stunningly beautiful and was built by the third student of Muhammad. Sadly, most of it was destroyed during Son and Yuan dynasty because of the war. We also went to another temple where a “superhero” type figure was worshipped by three different religions including Buddhism, Confucianism, and Toaism. People would come to and pray, light incense, leave gifts, and feed the gods food.

Sorry, there are no actual pictures of the inside of the temple because it is against the rules. There was actually a sign that said "No photographing" haha

Second temple we went to. Look at those dragons 

Maddie and I with our new friend :)

The last temple was my favorite because of its extraordinary architecture and history. The 开元寺 (Kaiyuan Temple) is a Buddhist temple. Although it is formally known as a Hindu-Buddhist temple, the main hall shows off the main Buddha, Vairocana Buddha. Built in the second year of Chuigong Reign, Tang Dynasty (686), the two towers located on the East and West of the temple grounds showed off their phenomenal structure reflecting early Ming Dynasty architecture. The East, regarded as Zhenguo Pagoda, was built in the second year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1238-1250).  It’s solid, octagonal wooden structure draws the attention of many. The 16 Buddhist figures carved into the wood from top to bottom is jaw dropping. The West tower, called Renshou Pagoda, was built during the same time period as the East tower. These two towers are, to this day, the tallest twin towers in China, reaching 45.06 meters high. Also fun fact: there was a tree in the temple that was 800 years old!!!!

One of the two towers 

Main temple building

Sky and I

All in all, today was a success in my opinion. I loved being able to learn more about the history of China and the city I will be staying in for the next five weeks.