Yangzhou: Still A Former Rival to Suzhou

Yangzhou: A Former Rival to Suzhou

Eric N. Danielson

Originally Posted on 01/23/2012 with photos at

http://yangziman.blog.com/2012/01/23/yangzhou-a-northern-jiangsu-grand-canal-town/. An archived screen shot with photos can also be found at

https://archive.is/yangziman.blog.com;

https://archive.is/fuug

Preface

Between October 2004 and June 2005 I made four trips to Yangzhou during which I took detailed notes on the historic sites in the city as part of research for a proposed book on the Grand Canal that was never published. In June 2009 I returned to the city for a fifth time armed with a digital camera and took a large number of photographs of the historic sites I had investigated before. Since then I had largely forgotten about all the information I had collected about, and photographs I had taken of, the city. Then, just before the week-long 2012 Spring Festival national holiday started a friend of mine asked if I had ever been there and whether I could recommend any sights to see. That inquiry has now prompted me to finally organize some of my information into a posting to be published here. Enjoy.

Introduction

Located on the Grand Canal near it’s northern confluence with the Yangzi River, Yangzhou was once considered a serious rival to the beauty and economy of the now more famous city of Suzhou in southern Jiangsu (Jiang Nan). It was an important center of Chinese Buddhism starting in the 5th Century A.D., with a large number of Buddhist temples such as Da Ming Si and Gao Min Si. During the Sui Dynasty it was the favorite home of Emperor Sui Yangdi (569-618), the builder of the Grand Canal, who had a palace atop a hill now known as Guanyin Shan because of the Buddhist temple that occupies the site today. Sui Yangdi was eventually killed and buried on Guanyin Shan. So hated was he that he was initially not given a tomb, although one was eventually built for him hundreds of years later on the outskirts of town where it can be seen today. In the Tang Dynasty it was the starting point for the epic oversea journey of the Chinese Buddhist monk Jianzhen (688-763) from China to Japan in 753. During the Northern Song Dynasty the famous intellectual Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072) served as the city’s governor and built the Ping Shan Tang hall on the present day site of the Da Ming Si Buddhist temple in 1084. In the Yuan Dynasty many overseas Muslim merchants and missionaries came to Yangzhou, where they built several mosques such as the Crane Mosque (Xian He Si) and established a Muslim cemetery at the site now known as Puhadin Mu. After the sudden collapse of the Ming Dynasty with the capture of Beijing by the Manchus in 1644, Yangzhou became an important center of resistance by the Southern Ming forces, whose leader Shi Kefa (1602-1645) still has a tomb and memorial hall (Shi Gong Ci) devoted to him in Yangzhou today. In the Qing Dynasty, the two emperors Kang Xi (1654-1722) and Qian Long (1711-1799) both visited Yangzhou six times on their southern tours (nanxun), for which existing sites such as the Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu), White Stupa (Bai Ta) of Fa Hai Si, and their temporary palaces (xing gong) such as Tian Ning Si were originally built. The peak of Yangzhou’s prosperity came in the 18th Century when the wealthy merchant families who lived there, many of whom were involved in the salt trade, built many beautiful walled landscape gardens similar to those in Suzhou. At the peak of the city’s prosperity there were approximately 200 of these private gardens in Yangzhou. The most notable surviving private gardens today are the He Yuan and Ge Yuan. The city was so wealthy at that time that it could support a group of intellectuals and artists known as the Eight Eccentrics (Ba Guai).

Unfortunately, the city’s prosperity began to decline when the section of the Grand Canal passing through Shandong Province was damaged by a dramatic change in course of the Yellow River in the mid-1850s. This was followed by massive destruction during the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) during which Yangzhou was captured by the rebels three times, in 1853, 1856, and 1858.

The economy of Yangzhou went into an even more serious decline in the 20th Century. After years of failed attempts at reviving it, the Grand Canal was formally abandoned by the central government in 1901. As a partial replacement for the canal, plans had been announced in 1895 for construction of a new railroad line to connect north and south China. It was originally expected that the railway line would pass through Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, but in 1908 the route of the railway south of Xuzhou was suddenly moved westward through Anhui and Nanjing. With the completion of the Beijing to Nanjing railway in 1911 and the Nanjing to Shanghai railway in 1907, Yangzhou was completely bypassed by the new national railway network. Even Zhenjiang on the south side of the Yangzi River had a train station, but Yangzhou did not. Without any transportation links Yangzhou was cut off from the outside world during the Min Guo era (1911-1949). While Suzhou, which was on the Shanghai to Nanjing rail line, became a booming center of the modern tourism industry, and had many guide books written about it, Yangzhou was completely forgotten. Even in terms of government administration it was reduced from the status of a city to that of a county. In fact, all of Northern Jiangsu (Su Bei) became very isolated from the start of the Min Guo era and fell into a severe economic decline. Without the Grand Canal, without a railroad line or train stations, with no bridges crossing their section of the Yangzi River, and no airports, it was extremely difficult for tourists to visit, or traders to exchange goods. Those Chinese and foreigners who did visit Yangzhou during the Min Guo era tended to write unflattering accounts about how undeveloped and lacking in modern conveniences it was in contrast to the cities of Jiangnan. It had become the “weedy city” (wu cheng).

This period of isolation lasted for a hundred years. It was not until the first decade of the 21st Century that Yangzhou was finally able to get a train station for the first time in 2004 and a highway bridge across the Yangzi River linking it directly to the city of Zhenjiang on the southern shore in 2005. As a result , it’s now never been easier to visit the city, and it is experiencing somewhat of an economic revival. Even so, their train station only serves a spur line that branches off the main north-south line between Beijing and Nanjing. A visitor from Shanghai trying to visit Yangzhou by train still has to travel a round about loop westward to Nanjing, across the Yangzi River, and then back eastward to Yangzhou. Therefore, the most direct route is to take a bus across any of the recently constructed highway bridges over the Yangzi River, such as the Chong Qi Da Qiao (2011) between Chongming and Qidong , the Su Tong Da Qiao (2008) between Suzhou and Nantong, or the Runyang Da Qiao (2005) between Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. Prior to the recent completion of these three bridges, the most direct route was by motor vehicle over the highway bridge at Jiangyin (1999), but the newer and larger bridges offer less chance of a traffic jam.

Yangzhou Historic Sites Index

Eric N. Danielson

(01-26-12)

1. He Yuan Garden

The He Yuan private garden was built by He Zhidao in 1883. It covers an area of 1.5 hectares. It has sometimes also been known as the Ji Xiao Shan Zhuang Mountain Villa. The main attraction is the Mountain Rockery House (Pian Shi Shan Fang), which originally was the property of Wu Jialong during the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, before it was later merged with the He Yuan by He Zhidao. There are also many two-story, red brick halls with wooden verandas, and tw0-story winding corridors. The inner walls of the compound are pierced by a fantastic assortment of windows, each with its own unique shape. Another historic sight inside the compound is the Mansion of Yu Xiu. The garden’s rockeries were supposedly originally designed by the famous monk Shi Tao in the early Qing Dynasty. The whole site was completely restored in1987. The entrance to the garden is from Xu Ning Men Da Jie.

2. Ge Yuan Garden.

The Ge Yuan private garden was built by salt merchant Huang Zhiyun in 1818 during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty it had previously been the site of an earlier garden known as the Shou Zhi Yuan. The walled compound includes three historic residential courtyards known as the East, Middle, and West Residences, which were once the living quarters of the garden’s owner and his family. There is also a Book Building. However, the main attraction is the Four Seasons Rockeries (Si Ji Jia Shan); four rock gardens named after and meant to depict the four seasons. By far the most impressive is the Summer Rockery (Xia Shan), reflected in a lake beneath it. The Xuan Yu Pavilion faces the Summer Rockery and provides good views of it. The large Bao Shan Building and a smaller tingzi pavilion stand on top of it. Beside the Summer Rockery stands the smaller, less impressive, and somewhat chunky Autumn Rockery (Qiu Shan) formed of square blocks of yellow stone, with the Zhu Qiu Pavilion standing at its foot. Atop the Autumn Rockery stands several pavilions and a small footbridge crosses a chasm between its peaks. Behind the Xuan Yu Pavilion is the Spring Rockery (Chun Shan) inside a separate walled enclosure. The Feng Yue Hall faces the Winter Rockery (Dong Shan) in another separate walled enclosure. In Chinese these rock sculptures are usually known as Jia Shan or fake mountains. The most convenient access to the main historic sights of the He Yuan is via the back door leading into it from the lane known as Dong Guan Jie, as opposed to the main front gate on Yan Fu Dong Lu which requires you to walk a long distance through an immense, uninteresting modern park. It was listed as a protected site in 1988 and now covers an area of 2.4 hectares.

3. Da Ming Si Buddhist Temple.

Da Ming Si Buddhist Temple covers a large area atop a high flat plateau (Ping Shan) connected to the ridge (Shu Gang) that is home to Guanyin Shan, the Tang City Ruins, and the Han Dynasty Tomb. Only three of its main halls stand on a straight south-north central axis, while the rest of the sights are spread out over a wide area to the east and west. After the first two fairly typical Buddhist temple halls, the Tian Wang Dian and Da Xiong Bao Dian, the third hall on the central axis is the Jianzhen Jinian Guan. This hall was completed with Japanese cooperation in 1973, after ten years of planning and construction. It is modeled after a temple hall in Nara, Japan. Inside the hall is a lifelike seated statue of Jianzhen inside a glass case and a scale model of the wooden sailing ship that took him from Yangzhou to Japan in the Tang Dynasty. The outside courtyard surrounding the hall is designed like a Japanese zen garden with raked sand and a stone lanern standing in the center. This is the only hall of Da Ming Si to feature bilingual signage.

Most of the genuine historic sights lay to the west of the Jianzhen Memorial Hall, while a collection of newer structures stand on a terrace to the east.

On the west side of the Jianzhen Memorial Hall stands the Ouyang Temple devoted to the Song Dynasty scholar-official Ouyang Xiu. This hall was rebuilt in 1880.

To the west of the Ouyang Xiu Hall is the beautiful oasis of the West Garden (Xi Yuan), located down in a deep basin. Built in 1751, this garden contains many historic relics, including imperial stele pavilions (yu bei ting) of both Kangxi and Qianlong, as well as the Fifth Spring Under Heaven (Di Wu Quan). The fifth spring was chosen by the Tang Dynasty writer Zhang Youxin in his book “Jian Cha Shui Ji.”

A hidden trail leads from this garden through a tunnel in a rockery and up a forested ridge to the Buddhist Treasure Hall and a cemetery for Buddhist monks (mu ta yuan) where each grave is marked by a small stone pagoda.

The most famous site within the Da Ming Si compound is the Ping Shan Tang hall, which was originally built by Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song Dynasty when he was the governor of Yangzhou.

To the east of the Jianzhen Memorial Hall is a large terrace featuring the comparatively new structures of the Qi Ling Ta Pagoda completed in November 2003, the Jade Buddha Hall (Yu Fo Dian) featuring a reclining jade Buddha statue from Burma, the Drum Tower (Gu Lou), and the Bell Tower (Zhong Lou).

There has supposedly been a Buddhist temple on this site since the 5th Century A.D., albeit under various names. The temple’s original name came from the Da Ming reign (457-464) of Emperor Xiao Wudi of the Liu Song Southern Dynasty (420-479), who was the ruler at the time the temple was founded. In the Sui Dynasty the temple was known as Xi Ling Si, after the Xi Ling Ta pagoda that had been built there, but in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) it reverted back to the name Da Ming Si. During the Qing Dynasty, emperor Qianlong feared that the temple’s name might spark a Ming Dynasty restoration movement, and thus forced it to change its name to Fa Jing Si in 1765. After 215 years the name was finally changed back to the original Da Ming Si in 1980.

4. Jianzhen Memorial Hall (Jianzhen Jinian Guan)

Located inside Da Ming Si Buddhist Temple.

5. Wen Feng Ta Pagoda.

Located on Bao Ta Lu beside the Grand Canal (Da Yun He). This pagoda was originally built in 1582, the 10th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty. It was later repaired during the Kangxi and Qianlong reigns of the Qing Dynasty. It stands 44.75 meters high, has eight sides, and seven floors. The base is built of stone, the main body of brick, and each floor has wooden eaves. The Bao Ta Wan bend in the canal here marks the spot from where the Buddhist monk Jianzhen set sail for Japan in the Tang Dynasty.

6. The Literary God Pavilion (Wen Chang Ge).

The Wen Chang Ge stands in a traffic circle in the center of downtown Yangzhou where the streets Wen He Nan Lu and Wen He Bei Lu converge. The three-story, octagonal, wooden pavilion is 24.25 meters high. It was originally built at Wen Jing Qiao in 1585, during the 15th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty. In 1952 it was moved to its present location.

7. Si Wang Ting Pavilion.

The Si Wang Ting is a three-story, octagonal wooden pavilion with a red brick ground floor containing four archways facing each of the main compass directions. It stands 20.34 meters high and covers 120 square meters. According to one source it dates from 1559, the 38th year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, and originally served as a Kui Xing Ge pavilion of the Jiangdu Confucius Academy. During the Taiping Rebellion the rebels used this pavilion as a look out tower. It stands only two blocks away from the present site of the Wen Chang Ge, and one block from the Stone Pagoda (Shi Ta), at the intersection of Si Wang Ting Lu and Wen He Bei Lu.

8. The Stone Pagoda (Shi Ta).

This hexagonal, five-story stone tower stands in a traffic island on Wen Chang Zhong Lu, near its intersection with Huaihai Lu, across the street from the appropriately named Stone Pagoda Hotel (Shi Ta Binguan). You have to be careful crossing the busy lanes of traffic on either side to get to it, but it’s worth the effort. The pagoda dates from at least the Southern Song Dynasty, although some sources claim it was first made in 838 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty. The base of the 10.09 meter high pagoda features a marble terrace and balustrade covered with bas relief , carvings of animals and flowers. The stone balustrade and terrace now stand below the current ground level in a hexagonal pit. The tower is made of cut stone square blocks. It has five sets of stone roof eaves and a stone pinnacle. There are 30 stone Buddha carvings, one on each of the six sides of each of the five levels. Most of the Buddha’s heads have been broken off. Hollow chambers travel from side to side of the first, third, and fifth floors. Most likely this was originally a sheli ta designed to store precious Buddhist relics. It is known that the stone pagoda was once a part of a Buddhist temple known as Mu Lan Si that stood here until 1978 when it was demolished in order to widen the road to its present width. The only other remains of the temple are a two-story brick building across the street now used as retail shops, and some ancient trees still standing in the traffic median. One of the trees stands 20 meters high and is reportedly 1,000 years old, from which it gets its name of ”Giant Tang Dynasty Gingko Tree.” It is known as the No. 1 most famous tree in Yangzhou. From this spot you can see the Wen Chang Ge Pavilion straight ahead one block away.

9. The Imperial Jetty (Yu Matou).

This is supposedly the spot where Emperor Qianlong would board his boat and travel up the Hu Cheng He city moat to Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu). The boat dock and stone steps leading down to it date from 1756, the 21st year of the Qianlong reign. The spot is marked by an Imperial Stele Pavilion (Yu Bei Ting). Beside it stands the famous Ye Chun Yuan Tea House. Behind the boat dock stands Tian Ning Si, a former Buddhist temple which marks the site of Qian Long’s temporary palace (xing gong). The closest main street is Yan Fu Xi Lu.

10. Tian Ning Si Buddhist Temple.

This site was originally the location of a temporary palace (xing gong) built for the second of six visits to Yangzhou by Emperor Qian Long in 1757. It was once a functioning Buddhist temple, but hasn’t been so for a long time. A complete set of the Si Ku Quan Shu was once stored here in 1783. However, in 1853 the entire temple was burned down by the Taiping rebels, after which it was partially rebuilt. The whole site was rebuilt in 1982. For a number of years it served as the Yangzhou city museum, but recently a new facility was built for that purpose. The complex of buildings is composed of four rectangular halls on a central axis separated by courtyards that are surrounded by smaller side halls. None of these buildings seem to be genuine historic relics, and even the red color scheme is contrary to that of a normal Buddhist temple. On my last visit in 2009 it had been turned into a rather sterile museum of Buddhism. When I went there in 2004 Tian Ning Si was still the city museum, with one hall dedicated to the Eight Eccentrics and another to Marco Polo. However when I returned in 2009 the city museum had moved into a new facility. For a glimpse of a what a real Buddhist temple used to look like, try to sneak into the closed and abandoned Chong Ning Si compound directly behind Tian Ning Si on the other side of a small road.

11. Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu)

Although there were several smaller lakes and rivers (Bao Zhang Hu and Pao Shan He) located here as early as the Sui and Tang dynasties, Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu) was expanded into roughly its present form in 1757 in preparation for the visits of Qing emperor Qianlong. The lake was dredged in 1979 to allow boat traffic to resume as far as Da Ming Si, and designated as a national park open to the public in 1988. Although the lake itself stretches 3.4 km. in length and covers approximately 30 hectares, the entire immense scenic area now covers at least 120 hectares. It features lush vegetation, willow trees, plants, flowers, green grass, passenger boats sailing up and down the waterway, islands, a number of former private gardens, foot bridges, and temples. It was originally built by local merchants for the visit of Emperor Qianlong. Especially notable sights within the park include Five Pavilion Bridge (Wu Ting Qiao), the White Stupa (Bai Ta) of Fa Hai Si aka Lian Xing Si, and Small Golden Island (Xiao Jin Shan).

The national park created in 1988 has incorporated into the Shou Xi Hu scenic area many previously privately owned gardens, such as the Xu Yuan built in 1915 near Xiao Jin Shan. One area that’s usually missed by visitors is an isolated corner of the park near the New North Gate Bridge (Xin Bei Men Qiao) containing the Rock Rolled Up Grotto of the former Yun Yuan. This is in fact one of the most impressive rockeries in Yangzhou. Another is the Zig Zag Creek area nearby which used to be the Ke Yuan. A stone boat was moved here from the Wei Yuan in 1960. Both the former Yun Yuan and Ke Yuan areas were rebuilt in 1984.

12. Five Pavilions Bridge (Wu Ting Qiao)

Located inside the Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu) scenic area. From a distance the Wu Ting Qiao looks deceptively new, but up close you can see the stone blocks comprising the structure are worn, weathered and cracked in ways that make it appear to be a genuine historic relic. It was originally built in 1757, the 22nd year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign, in preparation for one of his six visits to the city, and was later restored in 1956 and 1982. As its name implies, it does consist of five pavilions connected together in a unique geometric pattern. If you look underneath you can count a total of 19 stone arches through which water flows.

13. Fa Hai Si Buddhist Temple (aka Lian Xing Si)

Located inside the Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu) scenic area. This temple was originally named Fa Hai Si when it was built in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), but had its name changed to Lian Xing Si during the Kangxi reign (1661-1722) of the Qing Dynasty. Later it suffered considerable damage during the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), but was rebuilt during the Guangxu reign (1875-1908) of the late Qing Dynasty. The brick temple halls were un der heavy restoration when the author visited in October 2004.

It is most notable for its White Stupa (Bai Ta) built in 1784 for Emperor Qian Long’s sixth and final visit to Yangzhou. This white stone Buddhist stupa is 30 meters high. The local salt merchants who built it supposedly wanted to imitate the White Stupa still found in Bei Hai Park in Beijing in order to favorably impress the emperor. It stands on a hilltop just above the Wu Ting Qiao.

14. Small Golden Hill (Xiao Jin Shan)

Located inside the Slender West Lake (Shou Xi Hu) scenic area. This is a man-made hill that stands like an island in the lake and is reached by a foot bridge leading from the Xu Yuan garden built in 1915. It offers excellent views of the Wu Ting Qiao and Bai Ta. There are a number of traditional temple halls, pavilions, and inscribed stone stele here. A stone paved path leads to the top of the hill, which actually has two peaks divided by a chasm in between that is crossed by a stone foot bridge. The top of each peak is occupied by small open-air tingzi pavilions. There is supposedly an underground cave inside the hill. Like the Wu Ting Qiao, this island was also constructed in 1757 in preparation for the impending visit of the Qianlong emperor. The earth came from dredging a canal all the way from Shou Xi Hu to Da Ming Si.

15. Shi Kefa Memorial Hall (Shi Gong Ci aka Shi Kefa Jinian Guan).

Shi Kefa was a native of Kaifeng who was the main leader of the Southern Ming military resistance against the Manchus. After the capture of the Ming capital of Beijing and death of the emperor Chongzhen on April 25, 1644, the Ming Prince of Fu escaped to Nanjing, where on June 19th he was enthroned as the Hong Guan emperor at the head of a Southern Ming government. Shi Kefa was placed in charge of the Southern Ming military defenses north of the Yangzi River and made Yangzhou his headquarters. He died in battle on May 20, 1645 while attempting to defend Yangzhou against the Manchu invasion. His memorial hall and tomb are located beside the Hu Cheng He city moat, across a footbridge from the main street of Yan Fu Xi Lu, a short distance away from Tian Ning Si. The official address is 24 Yan Fu Wai Jie.

Before his death Shi Kefa had expressed a desire to be buried at the foot of Plum Blossom Ridge (Mei Hua Ling). Although his body was never found after his death, his family reportedly buried his personal possessions in a mound there as early as 1646. The earliest documented eyewitness account of the tomb is from a 1653 travel account which described having seen an earthen tomb mound marked by an inscribed stone stele (mu bei). The memorial hall was first officially established in 1768 during the 33rd year of Qianlong’s reign as a means of gaining popular support for the Qing Dynasty.

Inside the walled compound today are the Shi Kefa Memorial Hall (Shi Kefa Xiang Tang), Shi Kefa Ancestral Hall (Shi Ke Fa Ci Tang), Shi Kefa’s Tomb, Plum Blossom Ridge (Mei Hua Ling), the Plum Blossom Pavilion, and a well-stocked book store.

After passing through the gate house you walk through the first courtyard along a stone paved path to the Memorial Hall (Xiang Tang). It features an impressive looking seated statue of Shi Kefa. Exhibits in this hall include stone relics such as his jade belt (yi dai yu ban) and his jade seal, which were discovered when his tomb was renovated in 1797. There are also calligraphy scrolls of his final letters to his family, and his written refusal to surrender sent to the Qing prince regent Duo Ergun (aka Dorgon).

A fascinating map of the Yangzhou city wall as it looked in 1645 shows two walled city areas side by side divided by a wall and moat in between them. This moat was the present-day Xiao Qin Huai He, which separated the old walled city to the west and the new walled city to the east. Another canal divides the old west side of the city in half, and other waterways surrounds all four sides, the Grand Canal to the south and east, the Hu Cheng He to the north. There were seven land gates in the new east city. There were two land gatesin the inner wall separating the two halves of the city, the Small East Gate (Xiao Dong Men) and the Big East Gate (Da Dong Men), both of which had barbicans, along with two water gates on the Xiao Qin Huai He canal. The old west half of the city had three more land gates, all with barbicans, plus two water gates. Of the three external gates in the old west city, the West Gate (Xi Men) obviously faced west, the Zhen Huai Men faced north, and the An Jiang Men faced south. In the new east city the main north gate was known as Tian Ning Men, and the main south gate was called Chao Guan Men. Only the latter of these two had a barbican. Thus for the whole city there were a total of 10 external gates and two internal ones. Of these, six of the gates had barbican enclosures.

Behind the Xiang Tang is a small grass covered tomb mound inside a separate walled enclosure with an inscribed stone tablet standing in front of it. After his death in battle in 1645, Shi Kefa’s body was never found. So this is what’s known as a “garment tomb” (yi guan zhong or zhong yi mu), in which his clothing and personal possessions were buried.

Behind the tomb stands Plum Blossom Ridge (Mei Hua Ling), a fairly impressive man-made rockery garden with a pool of water surrounding the foot of a ridge of several earthen hills connected by stone foot bridges, with stone caverns and grottoes. Stone step foot trails lead up to the top of the ridge where you can sit and eat your lunch.

Beside the ridge stands the tw0-story wooden Plum Pavilion (Mei Hua Xian Guan). On its second floor is an exhibit devoted to the history of the Guanglin Qin music club (Guanglin Qin She) which flourished here in the late Qing and Min Guo eras. The building is an authentic relic dating from at least the Min Guo if not the late Qing.

Many more traditional style halls lie behind the Plum Blossom Ridge. There are stele corridors, an octagonal stone Buddha pillar, and an inscribed iron canon.

Walking counter-clockwise through the compound you enter another separate courtyard where you find the Shi Kefa Ancestral Hall (Shi Kefa Ci Tang), which features a hanging scroll portrait of Shi Kefa as well as his inscribed wooden spirit tablet, along with many similar wooden tablets devoted to other members of his family.

The last courtyard before you leave has an interesting bookshop stocked with local publications unavailable elsewhere due to China’s undeveloped book distribution network.

16. The Crane Mosque (Xian He Qing Zhen Si).

Located on Wen He Lu, this mosque was originally built at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1275 by the Arabic Muslim missionary Puhading, who was supposedly a 16th generation descendant of the Prophet Muhammed. Despite being an important historic site, non-Muslims are typically not allowed to enter this mosque, which has some of the strictest visitation rules of any mosque in China. Fortunately, the even more impressive Puhading’s Tomb Garden (Puhading Mu Yuan) is open to the public.

17. Puhading’s Tomb Garden (Puhading Mu Yuan).

Puhading was the 16th descendant of the Prophet Muhammed. He came to Yangzhou towards the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. During his time in the city he built the Crane Mosque (Xian He Qing Zhen Si) in 1275. Upon his death he was buried at this site. Since then it has continued to be used as a Muslim cemetery. As such it is full of tomb stones with Arabic inscriptions dating from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Some of the people buried here were Arab merchants and missionaries, but others were Chinese Hui Muslims. This makes the tomb garden an important resource for the study of the history of Islam in China. There is also a Watching the Moon Tower (Wang Yue Lou) and a Prayer Hall (Li Bai Dian) located here. The Yangzhou Islamic Association has its offices in the more modern outer garden area surrounding the historic inner walled garden. The site is located on the Grand Canal beside Jiefang Nan Lu. A long flight of stone steps leads up from the canal to an arched gateway in the garden’s wall.

18. Gao Min Si Buddhist Temple.

Following Run Yang Nan Lu headed towards the town of Guazhou you turn off onto a side road to your left to reach this impressive Buddhist site out in the countryside. Before 1949 Gao Min Si was one of the most respected Buddhist temples in China and its monks followed the strictest rules of Chan Buddhism. Unfortunately, it seems that during the Cultural Revolution most of the temple was destroyed, and only in recent years did it begin to rebuild. On my previous two visits considerable reconstruction was in progress. The site stands at the confluence of two canals, the San Cha He and the historic route of the Grand Canal (Jing Hang Da Yun He). A tall new pagoda tower stands at the spot where the two canals meet, replacing an earlier one that was destroyed. The monks here still practice strict rules such as insisting that visitors first present themselves at the Guest House (Ke Tang) and then receive a guided tour. Some parts of the compound tend to be off limits to visitors, such as the main compound’s octagonal Meditation Hall (Chan Tang). It took me two visits to be allowed to see their pagoda courtyard (bao ta yuan).

It was supposedly used as temporary palace (xing gong) by the Emperor Kang Xi during his southern tours. Today the monks still point to one inscribed sign board over a doorway facing the San Cha He canal and tell visitors with great pride, “Kang Xi wrote this!” In fact, it has been documented that Kangxi definitely had a temporary palace (xing gong) built for him to stay here in 1705, and awarded the temple with an inscribed sign board.

By 2005 a new Da Xiong Bao Dian had been constructed, but the monks were very strict at controlling public access to it. It was normally kept padlocked shut, and visitors had to request it be unlocked. Once you were allowed inside the gate was locked behind you until it was time to leave. Inside there was a giant statue of Sakyamuni (Shijiamouni) in the center, flanked by smaller statues of his two main disciples, Ananda and Kasyapa. Unlike at at temple of the Pure Land Sect (Jingtu Zong) of Chinese Buddhism, there’s no statue of Amitabha (Omituofo) here because this is a Zen Sect (Chan Zong) temple. However, the two ends of the hall were lined with 16 statues of unusually life-like Arhats (Luohan). Other new structures that had been completed, the octagonal Meditation Hall and the Pagoda, were completely off limits to visitors. Monks showed me a blueprint for the construction of more new temple halls (Gaomin Si Chongjian Lantu). It included plans for a new Scripture Hall (Cang Jing Lou) and Arhat Hall (Luohan Tang).

There are actually two temple compounds here separated by the San Cha He canal and some wide open farmland. The other compound stands on a hilltop and seems a bit older, with buildings possibly dating from the Min Guo. It includes residential quarters, and another Meditation Hall (Chan Tang).

According to the Guest House (Ke Tang) manager who showed me around both sites, the hilltop compound is for Buddhist nuns (nu shi), whereas the main compound is only for male monks (nan shi).

Also found at the hilltop compound were several hexagonal temple ancestor tomb pagodas (zu shi mu ta), the most recent embedded with the departed’s photo and inscribed 1985. These seem to be devoted to the temple’s two long-serving masters (fang zhang) of the 20th Century, Lai Guo Lao He Shang and De Lin He Shang.

Although it stands close to the main highway of Yangzi Jiang Nan Lu, the hilltop compound can only be reached from the main temple compound by taking a short ferry ride in a small boat across the San Cha He canal. You have to wait until the ferry boat captain is ready to go. People can be impatiently heard shouting, “Kai chuan, kai chuan!”

All in all, this is a truly spiritual place where you can see the monks practicing their calligraphy and meditating in earnest. It stands in stark contrast to some of the other fake tourist temples found elsewhere in China these days. There were 200 monks living there in 2004-2005.

19. Guanyin Shan Buddhist Temple.

Located on Shu Gang Ridge, beside the Tang City Ruins. The site is reached by taking a long, leisurely walk up a winding, sloping road built into the hillside, through several brick arched gateways, until you reach the temple compound on the hill top. This is the same site where Emperor Sui Yangdi once had his imperial palace. The existing brick temple halls seem as if they may date from the Min Guo era. The nearest motor vehicle road is Ping Shan Tang Dong Lu, but normal mortals can’t drive to the top of the ridge, although there is a backdoor highway for VIPs.

20. Tang City Ruins Museum (Yangzhou Tang Cheng Yizhi Bowuguan).

Located on Shu Gang Ridge, beside the Guanyin Shan Buddhist temple, the Tang City Ruins Museum (Yangzhou Tang Cheng Yizhi Bowuguan) is surrounded by a fake reproduction of a Tang Dynasty-style city wall (Tang Shi Cheng Qiang) that looks impressive from way down below at the foot of the hill. Unfortunately, once you hike all the way up to the top of hill there isn’t really much of interest to see. This is supposedly the site where modern Yangzhou’s predecessor, the city of Guangling, was built in 783 A.D., during the Tang Dynasty. However, most of the exhibits are devoted to a Korean, known as Cui Zhiyuan in Chinese, who visited Yangzhou during the Tang Dynasty from 880-884. As a result, much of the signage here tends to be written in the Korean language. The site can be reached by taking Ping Shan Tang Dong Lu, and then climbing up the many flights of steep steps from the gate at the foot of the hill.

21. Han Dynasty Tombs (Han Mu).

Located on Shu Gang Ridge, beside the Tang City Ruins, the Han Dynasty Tombs (Han Mu, aka Han Ling Yuan), include those of the “Guangling King,” Liu Xu of the Western Han Dyansty, and his wife, the “Guangling Queen.” Liu Xu was buried in an elaborate jade burial suit. However, this is not the tomb’s original site. The whole tomb was moved here from its original location in Linyang village, Tian Shan town, Gaoyou city. The present site can be reached by taking Ping Shan Tang Dong Lu, and then climbing up the many flights of steep steps from the gate at the foot of the hill.

22. Eight Eccentrics Memorial Hall (Ba Guai Jinian Guan).

This walled compound of red brick walls with wooden pillars was once the Xi Fang Si Buddhist Temple, and also served as the residence of the painter Jin Nong (1687-1763). The main hall, known as the Nan Mu Da Dian, looks deceptively new on the outside but the interior shows it is clearly an impressive historic relic. Wood cross beams and dou gong brackets with faded colorful patterns painted on them support a high roof overhead. It is supposedly 600 years old and dates from the Ming Dynasty. I believe it once served as the temple’s Da Xiong Bao Dian. It now houses an exhibit of statues of the eight eccentrics, although for some reason the group includes statues of 15 people. On the other side of a courtyard is a second smaller hall in the rear with a painting exhibition. Inside the front gate house is a bookshop with many useful local publications. Its selection is second only to that found at the Shi Kefa Jinian Guan bookshop. The entrance to the site is off a small lane, the name of which I neglected to write down.

23. The Grand Canal (Jing Hang Da Yun He)

The Ancient Grand Canal (Gu Yun He) built by Sui Yangdi from 605-610 A.D. formed the city moat along the east and south sides of the old walled city center. It is along this Gu Yun He that you will find some historic sites such as Puhadin Mu and the Wen Feng Ta Pagoda. However, there is also the more modern channel of the Grand Canal (Jing Hang Da Yun He), which is still a working waterway today, carrying shiploads of goods north and south. When exploring the Grand Canal it is important to know that it has several channels dating from various time periods ranging from ancient to modern. The Chinese terminology for each channel usually distinguishes this, but the English name does not.

Zhu Yu Wan is a spot 8 km. to the northeast of the city center near Wan Tou Town where the two main channels of the Grand Canal, the new modern one and the ancient historic one, merge together forming a peninsula. This scenic area was turned into a park in 1987. It’s a good spot to watch swarms of white butterflies or ride a horse.

The Han Gou He is the third and supposedly most ancient channel of the Grand Canal flowing through Yangzhou. It was originally built by King Fu Chai of Wu in 486 B.C. to link the Yangzi River with the Huai He. Although it is lined with paved pedestrian pathways, in fact there isn’t really much of anything of interest to see there.

24. Emperor Sui Yangdi’s Tomb (Sui Yangdi Ling)

Before becoming the second emperor of the Sui Dynasty, Sui Yangdi (569-618), led the Sui military conquest of the Chen Dynasty capital of Nanjing in 589 and then spent nearly ten years as governor of Yangzhou from 591 to 600 A.D., when he was appointed crown prince and heir to the throne by his father and had to return to the capital in Xian. That decade spent in Yangzhou, then known as Jiangdu, seems to have been the happiest in his life. He built a palace for himself atop Gunayin Shan, and even wrote a poem about it entitled, The Joy of My Palace in Jiangdu, in which he described Yangzhou as “a land of pleasure and delight.”

Later, after he became emperor in 604 and began constructing the Grand Canal in 605, the new inland waterway connecting Yangzhou with Sui’s second capital at Luoyang made it easier for him to revisit his palace at Jiangdu. The official dynastic history the Sui Shu describes one epic voyage the emperor made down the canal from Luoyang to Yangzhou in 605 in a fleet of ships that supposedly stretched for 65 miles in length. Later in 609 he completed a northern branch of the canal from Luoyang to Beijing, and in 610 extended the canal further southward from Yangzhou to Hangzhou. Thus, within five years from 605 to 610 he had connected Hangzhou and Beijing with an inland waterway stretching from south to north, albeit in a v-shaped pattern stretching west to Luoyang that contrasts with the straight line of the canal route rebuilt through Shandong during the Yuan and Ming.

Despite his accomplishments of building the Grand Canal, constructing a new capital in Luoyang, and rebuilding the Great Wall, during the later years of his reign Sui Yangdi faced growing popular resentment towards the labor and financial cost these construction projects required, and lost face over the defeat of far flung Chinese military expeditions in Vietnam and Korea. Unable to deal with these problems, in the fall of 616 Sui Yangdi left Luoyang and sailed by boat down the Grand Canal to his beloved Yangzhou, where he spent the final years of his life as a s0-called “retired emperor” (Tai Shang Huang). Finally, in 618 he was assassinated in his Jiangdu palace by his own bodyguards, soon after which the Tang Dynasty was proclaimed.

Initially Sui Yangdi had been hurriedly buried at his palace atop Guanyin Shan, but in the Tang Dynasty the Emperor Gaozu (618-626) had his body moved to an earthen mound at a place far outside the city called Thunder Pool (Lei Tan), where it was forgotten for over 1,000 years. The tomb site was rediscovered and rebuilt in the 19th Century by a local man named Ruan Yuan (1764-1849) who thought it was wrong that until then the former emperor had not had a proper tomb. Ruan Yuan rediscovered the emperor’s derelict tomb mound in 1807. He had the tomb mound rebuilt, planted trees around it, and erected a new inscribed stele (mu bei). Unfortunately, even though it had been listed as a protected site in 1956, that work was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and the tomb site had to be rebuilt again in 1995. Since then it was expanded again in 2002.

The present tomb of Sui Yangdi is located quite a long distance outside the city center in Huai Er village, Huai Si town, Han Jiang district. It can be reached by following You Yi Lu until you see a sign marking the turn off from the main highway onto a side road to your left. Beside the gate house is a small exhibition hall on your right and a book shop on the left. It’s a good place to get a biography of Sui Yangdi, albeit in Chinese. Walking straight ahead from the gatehouse of the walled compound you cross one of the three arched stone bridges over a square pool of water known as the Lei Tan and approach the large earthen burial mound covered with grass. An inscribed stone stele stands on the raised terrace in front of the tomb mound. Sui-Tang style pillars stand at the four corners of the tomb mound’s inner wall, as well as in pairs of two at each of the three gates leading to the mound enclosure. Two natural stones with new inscriptions lay on the raised terrace at the foot of the mound.

Although this is a very peaceful, thought-provoking site, there don’t seem to be any genuine historic relics here. As stated above, the site was rebuilt in 1995, and later expanded again in 2002. Oddly enough, the exhibits at the site today make no mention of Ruan Yuan nor do they show any photographs of how the site looked before it was destroyed in the late 1960s. However, there is reportedly still an ancestral temple known as Ruan Yuan Miao located somewhere nearby, although we were unable to find it.

25. The Xiao Qin Huai He Canal.

This is a narrow canal that flows through an old residential area in the center of the city. It is named after the larger Qin Huai He waterway in Nanjing. Pedestrian paths line both sides of it and it is crossed by a dozen picturesque stone and brick arched bridges. The two most interesting are the Big East Gate Bridge (Da Dong Men Qiao) and Small East Gate Bridge (Xiao Dong Men Qiao), which mark the spots where the two east gates in the old wall once stood. Walking from one end of it to the other can make for a very pleasant experience. It starts in the north at its intersection with Yan Fu Xi Lu and the City Moat (Hu Cheng He) at the Imperial Dock (Yu Ma Tou) and Ye Chun Yuan Tea House, then runs all the way south to its intersection with the Ancient Grand Canal (Gu Yun He) at Nantong Xi Lu. In the Ming Dynasty the Xiao Qin Huai He was the old walled city’s eastern moat, until 1556 when Yangzhou’s urban area was expanded by enclosing a formerly suburban area within a new set of walls. After this the Xiao Qin Huai He became the barrier between the old and new walled cities for the rest of the Ming Dynasty and the ensuing Qing Dynasty as well. This can be clearly seen on a map dating from 1645 on display in the Memorial Hall (Xiang Tang) of the Shi Kefa Jinian Guan. Since the city walls were all razed during the 20th Century, it is these urban waterways that still provide the outlines of the old city’s urban geography.

29. Chong Ning Si Buddhist Temple.

Walking the road behind the Xi Yuan Hotel and Tian Ning Si area, you may discover this hidden compound of abandoned temple halls. Unlike the fake reproductions of Tian Ning Si, the two buildings in the rear of this compound are unrestored, genuine historical relics from at least the Min Guo period if not the Qing Dynasty. In the front of the compound there is a newer gate house dating from an abortive 1995 restoration. The whole site is now mysteriously abandoned and off limits to visitors, except for those who manage to sneak inside. At the rear of the temple axis are two enormous wood and brick structures. The 1st of these is a two-story hall, while the 2nd one is a three-story structure. Wooden temple halls of this impressive size are rarely seen elsewhere today. The first of the two historic halls has a number 11 painted on it and a red metal plaque dated May 1962 which says that the building dates from the Qing Dynasty, without specifying exactly which reign or year. There are faded patterns of once colorful designs painted on the wooden crossbeams. A storage warehouse nearby is filled to the ceiling with old wooden beams, apparently from previously dismantled historic structures. Although this site is labeled on local maps as Chong Ning Si, if the guard at the gate catches you he will ask you to leave. This site is on the exact same axis as the four halls of Tian Ning Si.

30. Other Yangzhou Gardens

As stated in the introduction, at its peak of prosperity in the 18th century Yangzhou had 200 private gardens. Although the most well-preserved remnants are now concentrated in the Shou Xi Hu scenic area, the He Yuan, the Ge Yuan, the Xi Yuan of Da Ming Si, and the Mei Hua Ling of the Shi Kefa Jininan Guan, beyond these five main areas there are still some others. However, these other private gardens tend to be hidden in a maze of narrow alleyways in old residential quarters of the city. Not only are they hard to find, but they also tend be closed to the public and in some cases are possibly still privately owned. Anyone with plenty of time to spend might want to try to seek out these other gardens, but if your visit to Yangzhou has a strict time limit you might want to focus on the easier to find main sights.

The Xiao Pang Gu garden on Da Shu Lane was the private residence of Zhou Fu, Viceroy of the Liang Jiang provinces during the Guang Xu Reign of the Qing Dynasty. His walled garden was separated into eastern and western parts by a winding corridor. It had pavilions, ponds, and rockeries. It’s other main features were the Jiu Shi Peak, the Longevity Stone, and a heart-shaped gate. I spent many hours wandering a maze of alleyways on foot before I was able to find it for the first time. Since then I’ve tried to visit it several time, only find it closed on every occasion.

The Xiao Yuan in the Dong Quan Men area was built by salt merchant Wang Boping in 1932. This garden and the former owner’s home are now open to the public, but unfortunately the whole Dong Quan Men old residential area has been heavily restored into a tourist trap frequented by bus loads of visitors. In addition, the restoration has been so thorough that the whole area now looks deceptively new.

The Half Moon Mansion (Ban Yue Zhuang) on Guangling Road was built in the Dao Guang reign of the Qing Dynasty.

The Zhen Yuan on Wen Chang Zhong Lu was built by salt merchant Li Xizhen at the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The Wei Yuan on Feng Xiang Lane was built at the end of the Qing Dynasty. In 1960 its stone boat was moved to the site of the former Ke Yuan in the present-day Zig Zag Creek area of the Shou Xi Hu park.

Bibliography of Sources on Yangzhou

The following 15 published sources were consulted in my research on Yangzhou.

Fang Peihe, ed., Chinese Classical Gardens: Classical Personal Gardens in Jiangnan Area of China, Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Fine Arts Publishing House (2002).

Finnane, Antonia , “Yangzhou: A Central Place in the Qing Empire,” in Linda Cooke Johnson ed., Cities of Jiangnan in Late Imperial China (1993).

Finnane, Antonia, Speaking of Yangzhou: A Chinese City, 1550-1850, Cambridge: Harvard University Press (2004).

Mackerass, Colin, Modern China: A Chronology from 1842 to the Present, London: Thames & Hudson (1982).

Meyer-Fong, Tobie, Building Culture in Early Qing Yangzhou, Stanford: Stanford University Press (2003).

Mote, Frederick W., Imperial China, 900-1800, Cambridge: Harvard University Press (1999).

Struve, Lynn A., The Southern Ming, 1644-1662, New Haven: Yale University Press (1984).

Travel Round Jiangsu, China Forestry Publishing House (2001).

Wang Hong, Lao Yangzhou: Yan Hua Ming Yue, Nanjing: Jiangsu Meishu Cubanshe (2003).

Wright, Arthur F., The Sui Dynasty, New York: Alfred A. Knopf (1978).

Wright, Arthur F., “Sui Yang-Ti: Personality and Stereotype,” in The Confucian Persuasion, Stanford: Stanford University Press (1960).

Yangzhou Tourism Information Office, A Tourist Guide to Yangzhou (n.d., ca. 1996). Preface by Jiang Zemin signed 1987.

Ye Shaonan, ed., Yangzhou China, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press (1998).

Zhou Ganzhi, Yangzhou, Beijing: China Railway Publishing House (2004).

Zhu Guoan, ed., Chinese Famous Parks and Gardens (1999).