By Choe Chong-dae
I recently took a fabulous trip to Luoyang, China, and the neighboring city, Zhengzhou. While there I was fortunate to experience many diverse cultural aspects.
Many Koreans are familiar with Luoyang because it was the site of the Korean version of a popular historical novel about the Three Kingdoms of ancient China. The Han Dynasty lasted from 202 B.C. to A.D. 220 (having been restored by Emperor Guangwu in Luoyang in A.D. 25 after a brief civil war). It followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms. The Han Dynasty is considered to be one of the greatest and most glorious periods in the entire history of China.
Situated in western Henan Province, bordering the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east on the central plain of China, Luoyang was one of the country’s four great ancient capitals along with Beijing, Nanjing and Chang'an.
It is a significant historical city, having been the capital of 13 dynasties, from the Eastern Zhou (770 B.C.) to the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 923-936). Thus the city is fairly celebrated as one of the cradles of ancient Chinese civilization. There are numerous cultural heritages and scenic spots in the area of Luoyang and Zhengzhou.
Although I also visited other historical remains, including museums, temples, and fortresses, in Luoyang, my visit to the Longmen Grottoes was the most inspiring cultural experience. Buddhism was in full bloom in China at the time the grottoes were carved from limestone hills. This took many centuries beginning with the reign of pious Emperor Xiaowen (A.D. 471-499) of the Northern Wei dynasty (A.D. 386-534) and continuing through the Tang Dynasty in 10th century. The Longmen Grottoes, sculptures and niches are entirely devoted to the Buddhist religion and represent an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity.
Nestled on high hills between Mount Xiang (East Hill) and Mount Longmen (West Hill), and facing the Yi River, the Longmen Grottoes are a great masterpiece and one of the most famous ancient sculptural sites of China that were designated a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. The whole magnificent complex of grottoes boasts tablets with Buddhist inscriptions (on both the walls and the faces of the caves), 40 pagodas, approximately 100,000 sculptured Buddhist figures and 2,345 grotto niches that include 1,352 caves.
The highlight of my exploration was the grand Vairocana Buddha at the Fengxian Temple. The Vairocana Buddha is the primordial Cosmic Buddha illuminating the universe. This remarkable Vairocana is more than 17 meters tall and has a proud and sophisticated character with an animated face. It is surrounded by two other statues of his disciples, Kasyapa and Ananda. There are also statues of Bodhisattvas with crowns and devas.
The majestic image of guardians (heavenly kings), temple guards, flying devas and numerous other figures, as well as for its structure and arrangement of Buddhist images, reminded me of Seokguram Grotto in Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Shilla Kingdom. Moreover, noble and dignified in appearance and dressed in smoothly flowing garments, the plump figure had a strong artistic appeal.
Offering respects to Vairocana and the other Buddha images in Fengxian Temple, I was inspired and felt close to the fabulous old glory days of the Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties (A.D. 316-907).
In addition, I visited the Henan Provincial Museum and Yuntai Mountain National Geological Park in Zhenzhou. To my surprise, the museum requested that I to write down my passport and visa number. Furthermore, the officials had a machine which recorded our fingerprints at the entrance to the park.
The visitors found all this to be awkward. However the security policy is understandable when considering the efforts being made to keep the precious cultural heritage and beautiful natural resources in pristine condition.
Unlike other popular cities abroad, I did not see any Korean tourists in the Luoyang area. However, it is definitely worth visiting to see this city's unique charms.
Choe Chong-dae is a guest columnist of The Korea Times and the president of Dae-kwang International, as well as a director of the Korean-Swedish Association. He can be reached at dkic98@chol.com.