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Tianjin's Mazu Temple Fair Mazu, also known as Tianhou (Heavenly Mother), was a real woman who was born in 96O in Fujian's Meizhou Bay, near present-day Meizhou Island. At an early age she began to exhibit a religious disposition, and was thus given secret teachings by a Taoist priest. Using her magical powers, she often helped those in distress, in particular sailors and fishermen, and when she died she became known as the Goddess of the Sea. Mazu's main temple is located on Meizhou Island, where temple fairs are held in her honour every year. However, throughout China there are many other Mazu temples and Mazu temple fairs, the oldest such fair being held on Changdao Island in Shandong Province. The city of Tianjin, also on the coast, has its own Mazu Temple (called Tianhou Temple), and was once the location of the largest and grandest Mazu Temple Fair in all the land.
The History of Tianjin's Imperial Fair After Emperor Kublai Khan (r. l27l-l294) of the Yuan Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, the population of the city grew and it became necessary to import great quantities of grain from southern China. The cheapest way to transport the grain was by sea or by canal, but the Grand Canal had been silted up and had fallen into disuse during the |
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| Song Dynasty. The sea thus became the only transportation route, and as Tianjin was both on the coast and near the capital, it soon became a crucial port and transportation hub. And yet the sea was full of dangers such as typhoons, billows and reefs. In order to avoid shipwrecks, people built larger ships and improved seafaring techniques, while at the same time seeking divine protection from the gods. Mazu, of course, was a natural choice, and before long Mazu temples were being built at ports, near wharfs and in fishing villages. As Tianjin was the largest port in the north, the city's Mazu Temple was the largest, and so were the temple fairs. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi (r. l662-l722) made a tour to Tianjin and planned a visit to the Mazu Temple. The local officials saw this as a good opportunity to please the emperor, and spent a great amount of silver to stage a variety of spectacular shows. As a result, they received high praise from the emperor, and afterwards the temple fair in Tianjin became known as the Imperial Fair.
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On a later occasion, Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-1795) stopped at Sanchakou Port in Tianjin on his way to tour the area south of theYangtse River, and happened to see the temple fair. He too greatly enjoyed the entertainment, and his lavish praise brought yet greaterfame to Tianjin's Tianhou Temple. The two most important days for Mazu worship - and therefore for holding temple fairs - are her birthday (the 23rd day of the third lunar month) and the day of her ascension to Heaven (the ninth day of the ninth lunar month). Of the two, her birthday is the occasion of the grandest celebration, thus Tianjin's Imperial Fair was at its most spectacular on that date every year.
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Zhou Enlai and Deng Yingchao Memorial Hall Covering an area of 6,600 square metres, the memorial hall by the north side of Water Park was opened on March 5, 1998 to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the late Premier Zhou Enlai. Included in the building are an entrance-hall, exhibition rooms that illustrate Zhou's life with historical photographs, his correspondences and personal collection, a video show room, a multi-purpose hall, distinguished guests' lounge, a library of archives. Situated in the entrance-hall are the white jade sitting statues of Zhou and his wife, Deng Yingchao. Covering the walls are the bas-reliefs of landscapes and the revolutionary masses.
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1.Zhou Enlai's Early Revolutionary Activities Museum
2.Juewu Society Memorial Hall
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Natural Scenery in Mount Panshan Located 12 kilometres northwest of Jixian and about 100 kilometres from the city centre of Tianjin, Mt. Panshan is covered with exuberant forests and rich in historical and scenic spots. It has been recognized as one of the 15 greatest scenic spots of China and known as "The First Mountain East of Beijing". Mount Panshan is on the edge of the North China Plain. Less than a thousand metres above sea level, the granite peaks rise abruptly, featured by the many sheer precipices and grotesquely shaped rocks and boulders. Its main peak, Guayue (Moon Hanging) Peak, though only 864 metres above sea level, rises precipitously, which makes it look impressively tall. From the summit tourists can view the Great Wall to the north and the Taihang Mountains to the west. Six streams running in the valleys around Mount Panshan flow to the surrounding plains. The scenery along the banks of the streams is very beautiful. For instance, a stream on the south side is flanked with green trees and there are many rocks of various shapes and sizes in the valley. In the central Panshan area, there is a stone bridge, on which many tourists like to sit to listen to the splashing of the stream against the rocks. |
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Among the more than 32O kinds of trees and shrubs found in the vicinity, pines are the most numerous. There are vast dense stretches of old pine trees around the Wansong (Ten Thousand-Pine) Temple and the Songshu (Pine Tree) Ridge. The pine trees here have wistfully bent trunks and coiled branches. This is because they grow on slopes with a thin and poor layer of soil. In spite of these austere condition, coupled with the harsh climate characterized by strong winds and frost and snow, these pine trees indomitably adapt themselves to the circumstances by growing close to the ground and stretching their branches horizontally to reduce the pressure of the strong winds and to avoid rubbing against each other. This accounts for the different shapes of the trees and those of the same species growing on plains. |
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Dabei Zen Temple This famous temple consists of two parts: the old Temple in the west courtyard and the New Temple in the east courtyard. The former was built in l669 during the Qing Dynasty and the latter was built in l940. In the New Temple are a series of halls, such as the Heavenly King'S Hall, the Great Buddha's Hall, the Lecture Hall and the memorial hall of a Tang-dynasty monk, Xuan Zhuang. Housed in the old Temple are several hundreds of Buddhist statutes. These state treasures, made of bronze, iron, stone or wood, are from various dynasties.
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