For years now, the charm of Xiao Shan seems to have been obscured by that of nearby Hangzhou, however, the town is refusing to remain silent.

Traveling to the Oriental Cultural Park and the Villages, people will see that the "paradise" Hangzhou has expanded to another corner.

Oriental Cultural Park

Surrounded by mountains, this park, the special creation of an architect, aims to gather together the cultures of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism inside its spacious area. So far, only the Buddhist area has been completed, while the Daoist area is starting to take shape.

Protecting tourists from rain, a special zig-zagging 2,728-metre-long corridor reaches almost every part of the park.

Adorning the roof and eaves of the corridor are 10,000 drawings reflecting the natural scenery of the country, as well as legendary folk stories.

Travelling along the corridor to the Buddhism area, our eyes were blinded by an underground palace with thousands of gold sculptured Buddhas.

Attention! The Buddha sculptures and even the bricks on the ground are carved with real gold. A total of 347 kilograms of gold has been used to create these adornments.

The image of the Buddha was also utilized in the layout of the underground palace. The area takes the shape of this religious figure, only revealing a part of its crest above the ground.

Visitors must don a pair of plastic sheathes over their shoes to walk down along the magnificent passageway travelling 19 metres under the ground to the central part of the palace.

Our eyes bulged in astonishment, as we absorbed the inner sanctum of the palace. Numerous tiny gold sculptures of the Buddha were inlaid on the arch walls; circle after circle. I felt vertiginous just looking up at the ceiling.

Initially, the designers faced a dilemma trying to device a method to increase the amount of light inside the palace. However, the reflections from the gold ended up providing sufficient illumination - only one row of lights were necessary.

The palace also houses some precious antiques from the Forbidden City Museum. It is said that the Buddha sculptures of the museum displayed here, are so intricately designed they have the entire human bowel system.

A 3.5-metre-long ivory is another treasure blessing the palace, on which is carved a subminiature sutra of 82,000 characters and pictures of 500 arhats.

Exiting the structure, visitors are awed by a 6-metre-long 16-ton reclining Buddha carved from a whole piece of Burma jade, which stands in front of the palace.

Standing on top of a nearby mountain at the Sanjiang Baota (Three River Pagoda), where one can see the crossing of three rivers - the Qiantang, Fuchun and Puyang rivers.

Along the path going up to the pagoda are a row of small bells. Travellers who desire their wishes blessed by the Buddha can knock these little bells one by one as they ascend the hill.

Although, the Daoism area is still under construction, a strange phenomenon found on the square is already attracting attention.

If two people stand at two spots of the Eight Diagrams on the ground, they will be able to hear the echo of each other's voices first. This accidental discover has yet to be explained.

Although the park is a new creation, as opposed to a historical site - it is definitely worth visiting.

The villages

This area is actually a resort constructed from the old cottages of a local family surnamed Han.

Some cottages have been decorated in a traditional agricultural style, displaying the tools of native farmers. Others stand as witnesses to the times of the past, displaying walls of black bricks and housing older residents who still follow the ancient ways.

These locals still use water fetched from a well reputed to be hundreds of years old.

A tall and flourishing camphor tree of 500 years old is believed to bless the village. Thousands of egrets visit the village every day.

You can spend one or two days here living in the villas on the mountains, which, unfortunately, are modernly designed.

Travellers can have meals together with farmers for about 10 yuan each. These meals serve up the freshest vegetables picked from the field.

Travel tip

A four hour ride will take you to Xianshan, with trains departing from Shanghai at various times during the day. The No. 6 bus in Xiaoshan City reaches the two places. The whole trip costs about 400 yuan ($48) per person.

( China Daily March 28, 2002)