After taking our final exam for Chinese 201 in the morning, I went with some fellow students to see the Temple of Mystery (玄妙观; Xuanmiao Guan), a Daoist temple located in the (almost) center of Guanqian Jie, the busiest strip mall-esque side streets Suzhou has to offer (and not a bad selection of restaurants/brand stores either).
Once inside the cool darkness of the temple, if you don't know Daoism or a good bit of Chinese history, the you'll probably think you understand why the temple got its name:
Aside from three statues at the entrance (above), the walls are lined with a multitude of other statues (more Daoist deities) (below) which aren't really explained:
After a very interesting look around, we realized it was time to head back to school to meet up with our teachers for the final dinner and certificate ceremony (in China, official certificates are required to be with a resume when you submit it for a job -- with a photograph and everything -- in order for full consideration, which keeps away fakers I suppose).
No comments:
Post a Comment