fengdu

town of fengdu, said to be the abode of devils, is one of the first stops on your yangtze river cruise. here the famous 'ghost city' is deserved to visit.

situated on the northern bank of the river between zhongxian and fuling, the city was once depicted as the 'city of ghosts' in two ancient chinese classic works - monkey king and strange stories from a chinese studio. the origin of the town's extraordinary reputation can be traced back to the han dynasty (206 b.c. - 220 a.d.) when two official, yin and wang, became taoist (taoist) recluses here and eventually immortals. later in tang dynasty, when combined, their names mean "king of the under world".

thereafter, mt.mingshan gained its reputation as the 'city of ghosts' where the king lived.

today, the town is thronged with more tourists who come to visit temples and shrines dedicated to the gods of the underworld. landmarks here bore horrific names - last glance at home tower, nothing-to-be-done bridge and ghosttorturingpass - the three check-ups on dead ghosts who wanted to enter the nether world.

temple of heng and ha

the origin of the two vajras can be traced back to ancient indian buddhism. in one of chinese classical legendary, they were transformed into two guardians with supernatural strength that guardian heng could roar or bellow a kind of dazzling light and han a kind of yellow wind. a dead who had misbehaved when he was alive would be jolted down by those light and wind.

nothing-to-be-done bridge

this three-arch marble bridge is supposed to be the second inspection. a dead who could stride across it by three steps was considered as an indeed man while those villains would drop down into the river and was deprived of choosing new living.

ghost torturing pass

ghosttorturingpass is the last to the nether world. these temples display instruments of torture and horrible demon images. two devilkin guarders (shopkeepers) kept a basin of water into which customers threw their coins: if they sank they were genuine, but if they floated the coins were ghost money and unacceptable. another passport, for the sum of one dollar, visitors can obtain is a 'passport to heaven', stamped by the local magistrate and the abbot.

on the other side of the bridge, mt.shuangguishan reputed as this world, which is considered a fairyland of tranquility and harmony with lush greenery. on the fairyland stand some commemorative buildings such as confuciustemple, lumingtemple, yuming spring and en'lai pavilion, consecrated to zhou en'lai.