James Baquet WHEN I had arrived on Putuoshan Island two days earlier, I had been rushing to my hotel, and hadn’t had time to explore the area near the docks. So on my last afternoon I went back to see what I had missed. Near the docks are several grand gateways, and some wonderful statuary. My favorite was the statue of Shancai (Sanskrit: Sudhana), the male attendant to Guanyin. He is in a dynamic posture reminiscent of kung fu. Passing this and the others, I reached a small walkway with a bridge linking the main island to a much smaller one, merely a pile of boulders, really. Three of these boulders are positioned like the standing stones at Stonehenge — two upright, and one across the top — but on a much smaller scale, the opening between them being about one meter. This is the famous Nantianmen, Gate of the Southern Heaven, and it leads into the fore-courtyard of a very small temple, Daguanpeng Temple (the “guan” in the center is the same as in Guanyin). While the temple itself is charming, the real attraction is the dramatic way man-made construction is adapted to nature. Also, the rocks are covered with inscriptions, another interesting juxtaposition of nature and art. After watching the sunset over the mainland, I returned to my nearby hotel to fetch my bags. A quick shuttle to the ferry; a long, frantic cab ride across Zhoushan Island; another ferry (last of the night); and another cab took me to my friends’ house in Ningbo’s Beilun area, where we laid plans for tomorrow’s adventure. |