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Putuo Mountain |
Putuo Mountain, on one of the Zhoushan Islands and with an area of 12.5 square kilometers, is one of the four Buddhist shrines in China. Its main peak, the Peak of Buddhist Top, is 300 meters above sea level.
Putuo Mountain is famous for its rough physical features and exquisite landscape. The mountain rises alone over the East China Sea. Sailing near, one can see verdant trees, strange rocks, mysterious temples, and huge inscriptions carved on stones. The mountain also has a beach stretching to a long distance and a lot of caves, surrounded by floating clouds.
Putuo Mountain is especially famous among Southeast Asian countries. Its first temple built in 863 AD is called Guanyin Temple. Putuo Mountain is not only a sacred place of Buddhism, but also an ideal summer resort.. The three famous temples are Puji Temple, Fayu Temple and Huiji Temple, composing the three largest ones among the 20-odd existing well-preserved temples
nationwide.
The principal temple -- Puji Temple -- with more than 200 halls built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and with an area of 11,000 square meters., is the chief temple where Guanyin (a Bodhisattva) is enshrined. The Fayu Temple, consisting of halls in six layers, is the second largest temple on the mountain and was constructed in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The Huiji Temple, built in the Ming Dynasty, is located on the top of Putuo Mountain. You need to climb some 1,000 stone steps to reach these temples.
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Puji Temple |
Putuo Mountain is also famed for stone caves. Among them, the Chaoyin and Fanyin caves are the most renowned. When the sea surges, water tumbles into the Chaoyin Cave and bumps into the rocks with a thunderous roar, and looks like a madly gyrating dragon from a bird's-eye view. There are also many oddly-shaped stones, the 20-odd most famous ones of which include Pantuo Stone, the stone of Two Tortoises listening to preaching, and the stone of Sea and Sky Buddhist Kingdom, etc.
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Pantuo Stone |
The island is surrounded by quite a few beaches. The Baibusha Beach, along the east coast and 1.5 km. in length, is the best bathing beach. It is flat and covered with soft golden sand.
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