Tom Goes to Putuo Shan!

For those who do not know, the Chinese word for mountain is Shan. Consequently, there are many, many, many places in China which have the word Shan in them. Some of which are not really mountains but rather very large hills. However, some of the most famous Shans are the ones which play an important role in Chinese religions such as Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Somewhat unintentionally me and Katy have scaled quite a few of these ‘holy’ mountains. One of the most unique holy mountains, in this case a Buddhist one, is Putoushan. Putoushan is both a mountain and an island. As if someone had just dropped a Chinese mountain off the coast of China, Putoushan is a tiny place. About 5 kms long and 2-3 kms wide, it is one of the smaller inhabited islands of what is called the Zhoushan archipelago. Basically a few dozen islands off the coast of Ningbo (A large city near Hangzhou).

Shortly after getting back from Beijing rules were passed to restrict travel outside of Zhejiang. That is to say, to leave the province you needed to get a covid test done, and not an at home test like you can in the UK, but rather scheduling an appointment with a doctor and getting tested. The test needs to be done within 48 hours of travel so a bit annoying. Annoying enough for me to try and focus on just travelling somewhere interesting within my province which I had put off doing for a while.

You cannot really take a train to Putoushan, largely because it is an island. There are a series of bridges spanning the archipelago almost like a freeway elevated above the ocean. I elected to take a long distance bus to the island from Hangzhou Eastern Rail station, the total journey took about three hours.  Long distance buses in China are variably about the same if not cheaper than taking a train and can be quite comfy. Each chair looks more like a recliner than a traditional bus seat. Biggest problem however is the invariably broken toilets onboard. Putoushan itself doesn’t allow any private vehicles on the island, so to make the final leap one has to take a passenger ferry across the bay.

The biggest attraction Putoushan has to offer is also the largest, a massive bronze sculpture of Guan Yin. Guan Yin is the Boddhisatva (Like a saint/deity) of compassion in Mahayana Buddhism (Chinese Buddhism really). She’s often thus erected facing the ocean as she is said to provide protection for sailors.  The island is associated with her because it is supposedly her birth place. Though they can’t seem to decide which cave it was she was born in.

The island has over a hundred temples/shrines dedicated to Guan Yin and you do not need to try very hard to find them as the island is littered with temples and electric busses linking them altogether. Accommodation on the island is a bit limited ranging from a few luxury resorts to home stays and guest houses. I elected to stay at such a guest house.

It was nice however staying in a community block as there were plenty of small Chinese restaurants serving the locals.

Far as I could tell there were no other foreigners on the island that weekend, which may have explained the amount of stares I received being a bit larger than usual.  I do wish I had gone during a warmer month however, the beach looked picturesque!

I walked to the top of the island and to the highest peak, and cheated slightly by taking a cable car back down to one of the largest temple complexes on the Island. If there was any big detractor/disappointment it would have to be how relatively new everything felt. Many of these temples are technically centuries old, but most like many things in China have just sprung up or been heavily rebuilt since the 1990s. There is also something of a sense of sameness to some aspects of the island. Anywho, shortened post this time. Find attached a few more photos I took while spending the weekend in Putuoshan.