Road to Heaven

A couple months ago, the New York Times had an article about the rise of Daoism in China that I featured in a blog post. A few days after posting that article, I read a post on the excellent China Beat blog by the author of the NYT article, Ian Johnson, giving some reading suggestions for those interested in learning more about the history of Daoism.

I've never had a tremendous interest in Daoism, but figured it wouldn't hurt to better familiarize myself with the history of the religion a bit. I picked up the number one book on Johnson's list - The Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits by Bill Porter.



I got very excited about this book just a few moments after opening it. The following map is on the page after the table of contents:



I copied this on a copy machine and then scanned it. Doesn't look quite as good as it does in the actual book. If you can't tell, this is a map of where Porter goes searching for hermits: Xi'an and Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi Province (the Sian in the middle of the map is Xi'an). The setting of Porter's book is where I lived while I was in China.

I thoroughly enjoyed that this book takes place on my old stomping grounds in China. Visiting ancient temples, meeting Daoist hermits, climbing serene mountains - Xi'an and its surrounding area is just a surreal place. When it comes to history and culture - the birthplace of Daoism, the numerous dyasties, the terracotta warriors, the beginning of the Silk Road, etc. - Xi'an can't be beat.

Outside of my three climbs of Hua Shan, I hadn't been to any of the places that Porter writes about. But anyone who's read my blog before or has seen my travel recommendations knows that I'm crazy about Hua Shan and am very taken by the Daoist aspects of that mountain.

Porter goes to Hua Shan in the book and has an entire chapter on the mountain. He gives a thorough history of Daoism on the mountain. Here is the beginning section of his Hua Shan chapter - "Sound of the Crane" from page 60:

"The Road To Heaven" - A photo I took at Hua Shan in 2008

Very romantic stuff, this. Between this chapter in Road to Heaven and the chapter "The Hermit of Hua Shan" in China Road, I've been able to learn a lot about Hua Shan since leaving China.

Qian and I just bought tickets for a three week trip to China this summer. I'm hoping to consult the map at the beginning of this post and the pages of Porter's book as a guide for an off-the-beaten-path couple day excursion outside of Xi'an. I'm not expecting that I'll run into hermits or go searching for the history of Daoism like Porter did. But spending some time in the Qinling mountains at the heart of China's Daoist history is something I want to try to do on our trip.

While there were parts of Road to Heaven that I really appreciated, it is hard for me on the whole to endorse the book very enthusiastically. The book was only 220 pages, yet it took me several weeks to finish. Many of the stories, history, and interviews with hermits ran together badly by the middle of the book. I got stuck/bored for long periods of time.

If you don't know the difference between Buddhism and Daoism, are interested in China's folk religions, are planning a trip to Xi'an, or want to read the history of China's only major home-grown religion, Road to Heaven is something you may appreciate. I didn't love the book, but I'm glad I picked it up.

Xi'an Featured in US TV Commercial

Watching CNN Obama's inauguration yesterday from justin.tv, I saw this Cisco commercial prominently featuring Xi'an and its city wall:



It looks as if it was shot somewhere outside the south wall. Although I can't quite tell from the video whether this was really shot in Xi'an or not. It looks really clean. Maybe a bit too clean to actually be from Xi'an.

If it was shot in a studio and not in Xi'an, they did their homework. The ad features a number of bridges going over the moat surrounding the city wall which look realistic.

This is the second time Xi'an has been featured in a US television commercial. The first was this Snapple ad from a few years ago shot at Hua Shan:



Watching this ad once again, I just noticed something very interesting.

At the very end of the commercial, you see this shot of the man walking back down the mountain from his visit with the tea guru:



Now check this out.

Here is a picture I took from the exact same spot back in October:



If you look at the staircase and the shrub on the left of the path, I think the Snapple camera man was standing about ten stairs higher up than I was. He probably shot from that stair to avoid the small light post that I caught in my photo.



Craziness. Snapple and I were, obviously, in a strong agreement about this exact spot being a beautiful shot.

Hua Shan - Part 6

Looking for something to put onto my blog today, I came across more pictures from Hua Shan that I felt were worth posting.


My friend Andy took this one

Hua Shan - Part 5

Another round of photos from Hua Shan:


This is one of the best photographs I've ever taken. Andy appears to be floating on the ledge jutting out of the mountain.


Some instant noodles planters


This woman was struggling with the climb just before the North Peak


A map of Hua Shan. This helps me visualize the north, east, south, and west peaks a lot. It's easy to lose this perspective while on the mountain.


A shot from the lower part of the mountain


Me ordering/negotiating our dinner with the owner of the small guesthouse we stayed at near the North Peak. As you can see, I opted for Kobe Bryant-style leggings on this cold night.


Andy, me, and a middle-aged Chinese man going on a cable car down the mountain. As you can see, we were all soaked from being out in the rain all day.


These are a few Chinese guys I chatted up near the South Peak. The guy in the Texas Tech hat was very talkative. I still can't get over that he was wearing a Tech stocking cap.

Here is a video of us discussing beautiful women from all over the world:

Hua Shan - Part 4

Below are some videos I took from Hua Shan in October:


From the South Peak. The wind up there was absolutely brutal. As you can see from my lens, rain was pouring down at that point. Probably not good for my camera, but worth the cool video.


From the East Peak. Great panoramic view.


This is from earlier on in the mountain before getting to the peaks.

Hua Shan - Part 3

Some more Hua Shan photos:


A daunting staircase


A staircase cut into the mountain


A view from the East Peak

No striding here


Andy, supporting a massive rock


Me, above a small waterfall


Me, on the deadly path to the South Peak

Hua Shan - Part 2

Here are some more pictures from my two days at Hua Shan:


I really like this photo. It's so... bubbly (I suppose is the right word).


This little hut juts out from the East Peak. It is one of the only parts of Hua Shan that we didn't make it to.


A very long and steep staircase


A peak, through a valley


This is a waterfall on the lower part of the mountain. Left my shutter open for a while on this one.


Me overlooking the mountains


Andy took this photo. It was on a part of the mountain where people put locks to signify everlasting love and things of that sort.

Hua Shan - Part 1

Last month, I climbed Hua Shan for the third time.

It was amazing.

My friend Andy and I began climbing the mountain, from its base, at about 3:00PM. We climbed for four hours until we reached the North Peak. We spent the night there and then climbed around to the other four peaks the next day.

The first day was really nice, but the second day was rainy. Although it was pretty arduous climbing in the rain, it provided for some great shots.

Here are a number of my photos from Shaanxi's Holy Mountain.


Love this shot. Left the shutter on the lens open for 15 seconds. Such a clear and nice night.


Stairs


Stairs (you don't want to fall to the left or right here)


And more stairs


This shot is a bit surreal, I think.


Clouds from above


云海 - Sea of clouds