Lina in China

The earthquacke of Mai 2008 in the Sichuan province of China also partly destroyed the famous Qiqushan-Temple on the Qiqushan mountain in Zitong, Sichuan, China.

The temple of Zitong is in the official list of China’s historical monuments in Sichuan. During the earthquacke in Mai 2008 in the Mianyang are of the Sichuan province of China Zitong was badly hit by the earthquacke. Some halls of the Qiqushan-Temple got partly destroyed by the earthquacke.

In September 2008 when I visited the temple on Mt. Qiqu (Qiqushan) much repair was taking place. But in some halls rubble of ancient stones from collapsed ancient stone walls could still be seen.

Wooden hall of the Kuixing God, not destroyed

The Hall of the Kuixing God is very famous and ancient. It is three stories high and was build on 46 wooden pillars. It is 33 meters high.

The Kuixing god is the god of students and pupils in the Buddhist belief. Even today school students still go to pray in the Hall of the Kuixing God before exams. This historic room was luckily survived the earthquake almost undamaged. This is probably due to the fact that it was build in the historical way as a wooden structure. Wood proved to be more flexible when hit by an earthquake then stone.

Zitong temple earthquacke destruction

The Qiqushan-Temple lies in an ancient Cypress wood containing more then 20 000 ancient cypresses. The temple was build during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. It contains 23 halls covering more then 13 000 square meters.

1996 the Qiqushan-Temple was asses to the list of Chinese national important historical sites.

During the earthquake several of the halls got partly destroyed. When we visited the temple repair had began but in places walls had collapsed stone railings broken and only the most ancient wooden halls had survived almost undamaged.

In the evening after eating interesting Sichuan food (made me cry) we decided (they decided and I accepted whatever the plan is) to take a walk and then go to disco. In the Centre of Mianyang there is a large place with a small temple or large shrine (not sure some said it was a temple, some said it was not).

On the place a western standard rhythms were played and the Chinese, mostly senior citizens, some younger and some children danced a mixture of western standard and Chinese Folk-dances.

There were several women, each owning a Hocker offering massage for 6 Yuan (60 eurocents!!). The massage takes about half an hour. Now you can guess what they are earning.

I was invited by my laughing Chinese friends for such a massage. As all Chinese massages it was quite tough – almost brutal. Chinese massage takes you to the border. The massage goes on until you think you can take it no more and usually the masseur is skilful enough to stop in just that moment. If not better stop them.

Wellness in China is not comparable to wellness in Germany. Chinese wellness is massage and massage is brutal.

She started by massaging my head and face. She was very gentle with my eyes but the rest was tough! She banged my head in massaging until I wondered weather this will improve my ability to think or the opposite.

She massaged my back, my arms, my hands and fingers. She was pulling and twisting each finger until they cracked. The Chinese woman pulled and twisted my arms, massaged my shoulders until I had to shout. Chinese Wellness… She banged on my back until I almost tipped over. She massaged my legs, my feet.

All the while a Chinese Group of spectators (mostly farmers visiting Mianyang Centre) gathered watching me watching them. Of course they are used to seeing Chinese Massage. But they are not used to seeing it performed on a western girl. Yes they had never seen a western woman (or man) before I was told.

The Chinese Wellness feeling of my massage was a little spoiled by the fact that I began to feel like a zoo animal as more and more people gathered to watch me. My Chinese friends all the while almost laughed tears and took pictures. Luckily the Chinese Sichuan Farmers owned neither cameras nor cell phones with camera and so they took no pictures…

In the end I was happy when the public wellness massage was over…