Apr 7, 2008 - A Crossing

A good twenty hours of traveling by train and bus brought me from the arid Yellow River down into the Yangtze basin. Here rises the northernmost of Anhui's great peaks, Jiuhua Shan (Nine Lotus Mountain), the earthly residence of Dizang, the Buddhist protector of the deceased and guide to the beyond. ... Jiuhua Shan was much different from Tai Shan; pilgrims here carried wicker baskets filled with incense and candles, jars filled with tea, and occasionally miniature stereo systems that emanated the soft droning of chanting monks. ... (I did not meet one person carrying a dictionary.A good twenty hours of traveling by train and bus brought me from the arid Yellow River down into the Yangtze basin. Here rises the northernmost of Anhui's great peaks, Jiuhua Shan (Nine Lotus Mountain), the earthly residence of Dizang, the Buddhist protector of the deceased and guide to the beyond. ... Jiuhua Shan was much different from Tai Shan; pilgrims here carried wicker baskets filled with incense and candles, jars filled with tea, and occasionally miniature stereo systems that emanated the soft droning of chanting monks. ... (I did not meet one person carrying a dictionary....