Dengfeng

First things first, Dengfeng to me was a site I couldn't place at all when reading past it. But everyone who has seen a single kungfu movie knows what this includes: the fabled Shaolin Temple. So my proposal to Unesco and the Chinese authorities would be to rename the site. Spitballing some ideas here: Shaolin Temples, Shaolin Temples of Dengfeng, Shaolin-Dengfeng, ... Probably, the authorities don't care about the name recognition of this site as much, though, as it is really popular nonetheless.

I made my way in January on a day trip from Xian. My day was fairly packed as I also visited the Longmen Grottoes the same day, another Buddhist monument nearby. Both sites were a nice combination as they presented different angles on the Buddhism in China topic. 

Reading the other reviews, many seem to prefer other parts of the site. Visiting in off season and the temple still being plenty crowded, I can see the point. Still, I wanted to visit the Shaolin Temple and I did. Had I had more time, I would have loved to visit more, most specifically the observatory. In sum, I felt I did not spend enough time with the site to get a full picture. That's why I rated it 4* instead of 3.5* which I would have awarded the Shaolin Temple on its own.

Getting There

Arriving from Xian at Longmen Luoyang bullet train station a driver contacted me when I left the station. We …

This is a site that I really enjoyed exploring. It’s not difficult to check out all the inscribed sites, and Mount Songshan has a lot to offer: landscape, religions, architecture... Again I’ll only make comments complementary to previous reviews. Sites are mentioned in chronological order.

Que Gates are important cultural relics that embody ancient Chinese ceremonial or funerary traditions. They are also considered as lithic replications of wooden structures that no longer exist nowadays. The three Han Que Gates at Mount Songshan were built during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the heyday of Que Gates. Due to their importance, all three were protected in sheds around 2010 to alleviate erosions caused by nature and fast-growing tourism. Now the only visible Han Que is Shaoshi Que, which can be seen through newly installed glass curtain walls. One can still appreciate on its body the carved paintings with religious or aristocratic themes.

Juha’s summary of the Songyue Temple Pagoda is very precise. I’d like to add that its dodecagonal shape stands as proof of imported Indian influence on early Chinese architecture, and makes an isolated and unique case in the evolution of domestic Chinese pagodas.

The Shaolin Temple is indeed considered as a tourist trap to some extent, as the majority of the kernel compound is a 20th-century reconstruction and the Kung Fu shows are highly commercialized. But it is still worth visiting because of the Pagoda Forest and the Chuzu Temple. The Pagoda Forest consists of 248 pagodas, some …

[Visited April 2017]

I spent 3 days exploring all inscribed components during a 4-day Qingming holiday weekend. My visit was possibly a few days before Juha’s and I concur to his impressions on the review below. As he had excellently written about the components he visited, I will focus mine on the others in a lengthy review.

SHAOLIN TEMPLE COMPLEX

Shaolin Temple is the birthplace of Kung Fu. Visiting it was worth the hype and hassle. Yes, it is crowded and considering I went on a public holiday, it was really ”people mountain people sea” type of place. The payoff is not solely on the exceptionality of the built heritage. After all, when you’re templed out, seeing one you’ve seen them all. Rather, it is on the overall experience, especially on the little surprises, that I was rewarded.

Within the Shaolin Temple scenic area are Kung Fu academies offering short or long term courses. If martial art is not your forte, you can just delight on watching the students/kids practice. Morning is best to see them doing exercises - it is not for show but as part of the school schedule. It is an amazing sight viewing them in rows with synchronised movement and dexterity. 

As expected Shaolin Temple Kernel Complex is the most crowded. Notable relics are the mural depicting the Shaolin tradition and a bronze monk statue. Deeper into the compound are places of solitude where I was rewarded with a man practicing Kung Fu (in photo). It …

Site visited April 2017. The historic monuments of the city of Dengfeng was a pleasant experience. There were absolutely the smallest amount of visitors among the sites that I have visited in China. The places were calm and quiet and some of them are surrounded by beautiful nature. I visited five of the eight inscribed properties.

First of all I must tell that in this review I'm not going to mention anything about visiting the Shaolin Temple. Actually I had heard nothing but bad things about it being a major tourist trap. So I deliberately left that off from my itinerary. I was curious to see what other things there are in this WHS.

Despite of being named after the city of Dengfeng, this inscription is all about Mount Songshan and the monuments connected to and located around it. Mount Songshan is one of the most sacred Taoist mountains of China. The city of Dengfeng at the foot of Mount Songshan is a spiritual center where the most important temples and religious institutions are located.

I would say sarcastically that it is quite difficult to get to the city of Dengfeng. Not because of bad transport options, actually those are very good, but because everyone assume that you want to go not to Dengfeng but to Shaolin Temple. All the people in Luoyang is trying to push you to Shaolin, even the ticket salesman at the bus station counter. So after some worthless efforts to buy a bus ticket to …

I visited Dengfeng in 2009 and I didn't know it was going to be a WHS at that time. The reason I came here was the famous Shaolin monastery. Besides Chinese tourist groups, there was little tourist infrastructure for the individual tourist (it was hard finding a hotel and restaurant) so I didn't know about the other important places in the area. Visiting the Shaolin temple was impressive though. The complex is large and I especially liked the large wall with frescos (see picture). There's also a large pagoda forest and some other temples. Going up the mountain you will get to the cave where Boddhidarma meditated for nine years and where apparently zen Buddhism started and also Shaolin boxing