Yuhu Bay

Mountains...

So..this is what I like Hangzhou the most, ranges upon ranges of mountains.

A bit mysterious, but quite peaceful.

There are many retired officers and celebrites choose HZ as their second home, sometimes just to clean their souls.

Sunset

Another sunset view near the Qu Garden.

Summer is Here

Another view of the West Lake, and this seems like Hangzhou is a cool place. If you think so, you think wrong... It is 38 celcius degrees, my god, the best season to tour Hangzhou is defintely not summer, unless you are a photographer interested in lotus shots.

Air Force Sanitarium

And...this was taken at an air force sanitarium near the QuYuanFengHe scenic spot on my way home.

Hope you enjoy the scene as I did!

Mountain View

This is another photo featuring the misty mountains in the Laohe mountain region.
Although Hangzhou is known for its natural beauty, the lifestyle of Hangzhounese also worth a look into.
So I will try to take more lifestyle photos---sth like shopping malls, pubs, clubs, night markets, bus stops, railways, I guess I'll have more to say about those things.

Broken Bridge

I took this photo several days ago, this bridge names "断桥"，literally "broken-bridge", it has a long fairy tale in it. I guess some of you might have heard of this tale before, um..."The white snake"

The hero meet the heroin on this bridge...

Can you have a guess why it's named "broken bridge"? It has sth to do with the snow...

Cruise

I guess this is a dragon boat...full of tourists

Sky Watch

West lake in this angle...looks like another ocean.

I think the sky in this picture is better taken than the lake.

Waterman

Lake House

This house has been here for hundreds of years, it was fisrt built in the Northen Song dynasty.

“湖畔居” is its chinese name.

（The house is not that old, it is the Qiantang Gate before this lake house that built in the late Tang and the northen Song dynasty, the house is actually a morden-styled one, there are small Irish pubs and a Casablanca club near the main building.）

Lake View (2)

lake View

Cozy...

I went out this afternoon for my paper's references. The destination is somewhere near the Westlake, so I took the camera with me,and jumped on an empty wooden boat, swaying my way to the store on Qinchun Road. The waterman charged me less money than usual, probably because he didn't get enough tourists in this recession.

I took an hour get to the book store, and a good nap on the boat.

Backyard of Buddha's House----SR Temple(7)

We toured around the temple and discovered this unworldly peaceful backyard. There's nobody around, the scene just impressed us on its rich color. The one-storey wooden house(behind the garden) homes dozens of monks who lead a tranquil life inside this 1600-year-old temple.

"CHAN"-----SR Temple(6)

This is the Chinese Character of "Chan", a sect of Buddhism cognate to Zen in Japanese Language. Photo taken in SR Temple.

Lotus---SR Temple(5)

Stepping into Soul's Retreat Temple, we saw lots of Lotus-shaped stuff, that's because Lotus is considered to be the symbol of Guanyin(the buddha as you can see in the last post). This is a facility for drinking water(What do you call this in English? You native speakers must know, I'm really curious about its name.)

Luck Rilievo----------SR Temple(4)

This verdict rilievo inside the temple is much like those good-luck fountains in Rome, people tossing coins onto it, the only difference is it's really difficult to keep your coins on this verdict wall, I tossed 10 Yuan, but.... should have change them into 100 cents and then toss them together, there must be one got in.

(In the second photo) you believe these two coins were tossed into it? I don't..

Cross Our Fingers------SR Temple(3)

I just heard the shocking news of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Sichuan, nearly 900 students were buried as two primary school buildings collapsed. I'll cross my fingers for them..

This photo was taken within the temple, I almost got caught when I took the photo because normally it's not allowed to take photos inside the temple. This statue of Guanyin(aka Avalokitesvara) stands about 15 meters high, but the wall in the back is much more magnificent, rises over 30 meters high with 108 arhats sculptured on it.

May Guanyin and Arhats bless those in Sichuan.

A Twist In History-----SR Temple(2)

First and fore most: Happy Mother's Day!

This is the front door of Soul's Retreat Temple(SR Temple,aka Lingyin Temple),but it was closed when we got there, you might wonder why, well, will you be surprised if I tell you this door, this magnificent front door, has been closed for years and all the tourists are only allowed to enter the temple through the side-gate, unless you are the emperor or the head of states. I heard the last time that it fully opened was for Chairman Mao's arrival, and even the highly-admired Premier Chou(aka Zhou Enlai) was greeted by a semi-opened gate. Aha..it's really picky,right?

But this gate was not closed until the secret visit of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, here's a really interesting story, I don't know if it's true but that's what we were told by the tourist guide.
It took me almost an hour to translate this story, still, it's pretty sketchy and poorly organized. But I'd like to take it as a gift for my mom and all the moms who see this story. May Buddha bless you~

During Emperor Qianlong's secret inspection tour(trip intended to inspect the livelihood of his people without informing any people of his arrival) in the southern China, Emperor Qianlong visited the SR temple at midnight, as you can imagine, all the monks had slept except a gatekeeper, and the front gate was closed with only a side-gate open for midnight lodgers.

Without knowing whom he's talking to, the gatekeeper refused to open the front gate for Qianlong and told the emperor the door would not open even if the epmeror was here.

Being the emperor of this country, Emperor Qianlong should, by no means, walk the side-door.
Without any alternatives, however, Emperor Qianlong, took the side path and the next day he made up a decent excuse to save his face, asking the leader of the temple to shut down the front door(aka the east gate) lest the divinity atmosphere of this temple(located in the eastern China) leak from this east gate.

There are two other occasions for the open of the front gate, one is the birthday of Avalokitesvara(a buddha), the other is the shuffling of the temple leader.

And it is considered to be a great great luck if you happen to be there the day it opens.^^