BETWEEN ROCKS IN A HARD PLACE
A trip for those who love nature – and do not fear heights. Yang Feiyue reports.
Iwas on a rugged, narrow stone path carved out of a cliff face. In fact it was so narrow that before I embarked on it I had to make sure no one was coming the other way because even two slim people would barely have been able to pass each other.
I bent over at certain points to avoid bumping my head against protruding boulders on my left, all the while making sure my feet did not slip across the iron chain to my right, sending me over the precipice.
The strange excitement of all this was supplemented by the wondrous view of the mountainous landscape.
The 900-meter path, at an altitude of 1,000 meters at its highest point, is one of the hidden delights awaiting the adventurous along Jianmen Pass in Guangyuan city, Sichuan province. The city is about 200 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Chengdu.
The pass features two cliffs facing each other and stretched out like castle walls. It is a vital point along the Shu Road that connected Xi’an, in Shaanxi province, to Sichuan in ancient times and is more than 3,000 years old.
This section of the Shu Road used to be the only access to the southwestern region from the outside world.
Last year the Shu Road was put on a list of candidates for UNESCO world heritage classification. Of the 3,700square kilometer core road area, more than 2,000 sits in Guangyuan.
It needs to be said that this climb is not for the faint hearted, and dexterity with both hands and feet is needed in climbing some sections of the road because some inclines are nearly vertical, and the rough-hewn steps are very high, necessitating the help of iron chains on the side that you can grasp.
Even today, certain parts of the road can only be mounted aided by manual effort. A middle-aged man hiking along with us carried a big bamboo-braided basket of sand on his back.
“It’s 100 kilograms a basket and I get paid 40 yuan ($6) a time,” the man says, taking a break to catch his breath. The sand was intended for building work in elevated areas, he says.
As we continued our ascent, historic buildings began to appear. One of these is a lookout tower that has been rebuilt several times, most recently after the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008.
Countless stone steps lead up to the tower, making it an impressive sight. The original tower used to serve as a fortress guarding the Shu area (ancient Sichuan).
After leaving the tower we were treated to the sight of statues and wall sculptures featuring elements from the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-280), scattered throughout the lush green forests.
The local government is now developing hiking routes along the Shu Road to promote tourism and increase local residents’ income, says Fan Xuechen, deputy mayor of Guangyuan.
“Hiking tourism can help protect ecology and culture along the road,” Fan says.
The city is endowed with resources perfect for hiking. Blue rivers and lounging mountains make up much of Guangyuan’s landscape, and weather shifts very quickly, shrouding the city in mist, giving the city a fairy-tale touch.
Besides Jianmen Pass, Cuiyun Corridor, less than an hour’s drive away, offers a majestic sightseeing route that runs for 150 kilometers.
It was also part of the ancient Shu Road, which is shielded by towering cypress trees with corpulent roots and branches decorated with wild flowers.
Some of the cypresses are more than 2,000 years old, standing side by side along the tortuous path. Just walking in their shade soothes the mind.
Indeed, if a relaxing holiday is what you are after, and scaling mountains is too strenuous for you, Guangyuan has two other attractions to appeal to the more cerebral.
The county lays claim to being the birthplace of China’s only empress, Wu Zetian (AD 624-705), and offers sites to explore stories behind the great woman.
Huangze Temple, sitting on the waist of a mountain, houses the only gold-plated statue of Wu Zetian in China. The statue is 1.8 meters high and carved out of monolithic sandstone, and is more than 1,300 years old.
A Buddha cave on top of the temple area is an eye-opener. The horseshoe-shaped cave is about 7 meters high and houses several tall-standing Buddha figures. They are sculptures from the early Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
If you make it to the temple, be sure to drop by the Thousand-Buddha cliff, which is about 10 minutes drive away.
It features the biggest grotto cluster in Sichuan and has more than 400 grottoes in all shapes and sizes, with more than 7,000 Buddha figures in them.
The cluster was built during the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 386-557). You can give your imagination free re in as you walk down the trestle road along the cliff with a green river running down the other side.
In addition to hiking and longdistance running, the Guangyuan authorities are planning cycling and self-drive events along the Jianmen section of the Shu Road.
International shadowboxing and canoeing competitions are also planned, and a great deal of efforts is being put into tapping local culture with various festivals and rural celebrations.
Plans are in motion to increase the number of flights to Guangzhou and Shenzhen inGuang dong provinceover the next five years, and daily flights will connect Shenzhen, Guangyuan and Lanzhou in Gansu province.
Hiking tourism can help protect ecology and culture along the road.”