Altar for worshipping
inscribed tablet in QingYang Daoist Temple
Contentment is munching bamboo
Vegetables
One can find the most creative & excellent culinary expertise here. It's not only economical (by foreigner's standard) but also easy to order (there is pictorial menu & English translation!).
Best for dinner. These are what I had during lunch:
Yeh cai ba.
Yu Mi Gao.
Xiao Tang Yuan.
Huang Jing Gao.
Many types of local dim sum can be ordered here though I much prefer the night dishes. They are amazing yummy!
Behind the Hall of Liu Bei is the Kongming Hall, the main attraction of the complex, where Zhuge Liang is honoured (Kongming is another name for Zhuge Liang). Zhuge Liang rose from humble birth in Shandong province to be one of the greatest Chinese statesmen of all time, unencumbered by the trappings of the imperial court and scrupulously honest. He was a military genius and captured one of his enemies, Meng Hou, no less than seven times, each time releasing the deeply embarrassed opponent. For more than two decades he was at the centre of things in the Shu-Han court, proving himself no less able a civilian administrator.
Behind the Kongming Hall is a hall commemorating Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, the fearless and loyal generals of Liu Bei, but after the Kingming Hall it all seems a bit of an anti-climax.
The western part of the shrine consists of a small museum that presents an excellent bite-size overview of the life and times of the Han Dynasty. It is amusing, for me, to see a number of (presumably replica) Wei-Jin tomb bricks from the Jiayuguan tombs in Gansu. These are used to illustrate daily life in those times; it is slightly odd because the very different climate in the two areas means that one cannot draw realistic conclusions about life in Sichuan from social commentary from western Gansu!
Just past the museum is the entrance to the mausoleum of Liu Bei, a large circular mound surrounded by a path. There is a legend that three grave-robbers dug into the tomb one night only to discover Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu alive and well, playing chess and drinking wine. The three offered the would-be robbers some wine and a jade belt each, and sent them on their way. As they emerged from the hole, the robbers discovered that the jade belt was a writhing mass of poisonous snakes and the wine had turned into lacquer, sealing their lips shut. Since then, there have been no attempts to break into the tomb, and, I understand, even archaeologists are reluctant to disturb the site.
This Catholic Church was built in 1904 and features a very distinct Byzantine facade. It covers an area of 16,566 square meters with a floor space of 8,508 square meters and contains the main church, a small chapel and the Bishop's Office. The main entrance is through a series of courtyards and wooden temple buildings unlike any church complex I've ever seen. There's some nice gardens within the courtyards and I sat in one whilst some Chinese women were practicing hymns from a book.
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