China Guide
Jiangsu and Zhejiang
Putuo Shan
Undoubtedly one of the most charming places in eastern China, the Buddhist island of Putuo Shan has no honking cars or department stores, only endless vistas of blue sea, sandy beaches and lush green hills dotted with ancient monasteries, with endless opportunities for walking. Putuo Shan is also a peak that rises to 300m at one end of the island, one of the four Chinese mountains sacred to Buddhism. A few hours by boat from Shanghai, the island measures just twelve square kilometres in area and is divided by a narrow channel from the much larger Zhoushan Island.
Putuo Shan has been attracting Buddhist pilgrims from all over northeast Asia for at least a thousand years, and there are many tales accounting for the island's status as the centre of the cult of Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy. Over the years more than a hundred monasteries and shrines were built here, with magnificent halls and gardens to match. At one time there were four thousand monks squeezed onto the island, and even as late as 1949, secular structures were not permitted on the island, and nobody lived here who was not a monk. Although there was a great deal of destruction on Putuo Shan during the Cultural Revolution, many treasures survived. Restoration continues, and three principal monasteries survive – Puji, the oldest and most central; Fayu, on the southern slopes; and Huiji, at the summit.
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