Leena's Photoblog
Lingyin Temple / Hangzhou, China
Posted by Leena (Joensuu, Finland) on 10 June 2009 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.
We wanted to see this peaceful - or so we thought - wonderful temple area, but so did a couple of other persons too, because it happened to be a birthday of Indian spiritual teacher and founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama
The temple's name is commonly literally translated as Temple of the Soul's Retreat. It is one of the largest and wealthiest Buddhist temples in China.
It is located in Hangzhou, what is listed as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China.
Early history of this area:
The celebrated Neolithic culture of Hemudu inhabited Yuyao, an area (now a city 100 kilometers east of Hangzhou), as far back as seven thousand years ago when rice was first cultivated in southeastern China. The area immediately surrounding the modern city of Hanghzhou was inhabited five thousand years ago by the Liangzhu culture, so named for the small town of Liangzhu not far to the northwest of Hangzhou where the ancient jade carving civilization was first discovered.
The city of Hangzhou was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty, but the city wall was not constructed until the Sui Dynasty (591). It is listed as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China.
A source is Wikipedia.
Thank you very much for your visits and comments !
jamesy from christchurch, New Zealand
ooophs wrong day for peaceful. What a lot of people great shot
10 Jun 2009 6:58am
Babzy from France
Too many people , but you couldn't know ;) That makes the shot interesting , there are so many details to look at , i hope you'll show us the temple tomorrow :) have a good day !
10 Jun 2009 7:25am
Hidalgo from Herunen, Finland
Nice photo. I see that You were not the only one to visit that Temple. LOL.
10 Jun 2009 10:50am
Trotter from Portugal
Hi Leena! Peaceful? It seems you would be better off at the Tokyo uUnderground at 6:00 p.m. ;))
Hopefully you had the book from Herman Hesse to keep you in the mood... Lovely your China!
Blogtrotter (not me, I’m stuck here ;)) is profiting from the holidays in Lisbon this week and has a tour of Lake Galve, one of the beautiful lakes near Trakai, to show you! Hope you enjoy and have a great week!
10 Jun 2009 3:59pm
photowannabe from Rocklin, CA, United States
My goodness, that's a lot of people all crowded into one place. It does make an interesting photo with so many things to look at. I guess that patience was the order for the day.
10 Jun 2009 4:36pm
Susan from Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
Wow, looks like you picked the wrong day!! But you still managed to get a shot that tells another story!!!
10 Jun 2009 10:26pm
Judy from Brooksville, Florida, United States
That is a huge number of people ... not my favorite type of situation to be in, but you got a very colorful shot!
11 Jun 2009 1:41pm
