Henan, China

Our family has a membership in the Nanjing International Club which comprises of expat families living in our city.  The main purpose of the organization is for social gatherings and maintaining community relations for international individuals such as ourselves.  It has approximately 500 members and over 32 countries are represented which makes it very interesting and a great way to meet people in the same situation here in China.  Our trip this time was focused on exploring Henan Province, China.  This is located in the central part of China requiring us to take a speed train approximately 5 hours to our final destination.  The name Henan means “south of the river”, as the province is located near the Yellow River with over 5000 years of history and having a population of over 94 million! 

The first city we visited was Luoyang, boarding the capital city of Zhengzhou.  It is here we explored the Longmen Grottoes which is home of Chinese Buddhist art.  There are literally tens of thousands of statues of Buddha and disciples carved into caves which were excavated from limestone cliffs.  The scenery of the areas was incredible as we were surrounding in all directions by beautiful mountains.  Through our tour we learned there are as many as 100,000 statues within the 1,400 caves, ranging from an 1 inch (25 mm) to 57 feet (17 m) in height.  This is classified as a World Heritage Site as “an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity.”  The carvings began in 493AD so I could go on and on about the history of this site however I will instead share some of the pictures we took as we toured along the mountain side.

Next we were off to the city of Dengfeng, known for being a spiritual center within China.  Our focal point was the Buddhist Shaolin Temple which was founded in the fifth century, most famous for the association with Martial Arts (Shaolin Kung Fu).  We quickly moved our way to witness a Kung Fu exhibition which was amazing.  The Shaolin Kung Fu is known for leaps of strength, force and weaponary so it was a real treat to watch  We saw some amazing feats of strength and pain endurance clearly displaying the reputation of the ultimate Buddhist Warriors.  Some of us may remember the television series "Kung Fu", well David Carradine's character was a Shaolin Monk!

Following the Kung Fu show we took time to explore the Temple further wandering from building to building learning about the Buddhist statues contained within.  Interestingly I discovered that Shaolin Kung Fu practitioners can be detected by the use of one arm or hand to represent respect in comparison to the two hands (best way to describe is when your hands are put together in front of our chest for prayer).  This is due to a Buddhist teacher in the temple who cut off his right arm to prove his sincerity to the teaching of Buddhism. 

Next within the Shaolin Temple we tour the Pagoda Forest which is 228 brick or stone pagodas built from 791 AD.  There are a variety of styles and shapes which give you glimpses into the various dynasties in China. 

Lastly in the evening we went to see the Zen Music Shaolin Grand Ceremony.  It is described as a real-scene musical extravaganza featuring dance, light and Shaolin Kung Fu.   The stages is located at the foot of the Daxian Valley with hills standing vertically as backdrop which was just beautiful!  This was a great way to end our day!

On Sunday we had one last stop before heading to catch our train back to Nanjing.  Our visit was to the Shaolin temple Xiaolong Martials Arts School.  This was a boarding school for K through High School where kids got an formal education and also mastered Kung Fu, having training over 78 national champions.  We quickly were assigned a teacher who spent a few hours with us showing us a routine which he made look so easy.  As we trained (and rested…) we were amongst all the students who were gathered in various areas within the campus.  It was here the students were practicing flips, weaponry, hand to hand combat or what I assumed to be skill testing as their fellow classmates watched and cheered.  We had the opportunity to meet the Head Master who spoke about as much English as I know Mandarin, however it was apparent he was a very kind person as he spent the morning with us.  At the end of our visit our instructors showed us some of their skills and posed in a picture with us for a memory.  It was a great morning and a way to witness something I had only seen in movies, kids learning Kung Fu at such a large scale.  A great way to conclude a fun trip and explore another part of this country which is so rich in history!