Luoyang is not only one of China's ancient capitals, but also one of the famous historical cities in the world. There are large numbers of cultural relics and historical sites in the city. Among the most notable are the Longmen Grottoes, a World Cultural Heritage site and one of China's four major treasures of grotto art, and the Baima (White Horse) Monastery, the first Buddhist shrine built in China. In addition, the city is the home of the mudan peony, the national flower of China.

A Celestial Beauty

Beautiful and fragrant, the mudan peony is a symbol of happiness and prosperity in China, as well as the country's national flower.

Peony cultivation in China goes back about 1,500 years. Luoyang residents have been enthusiastic peony lovers and cultivators since ancient times. According to historical records, the cultivation of peonies first appeared in the city during the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and flourished during the Tang Dynasty. During the Northern Song Period (960-1127), the Luoyang variety earned the reputation of being the most beautiful peony in the country. In the past years, thanks to the improvement of the technology of peony cultivation, the species of the flower in Luoyang have multiplied from the previous 100 to more than 500 today. Since 1983, Luoyang has held the Peony Fair, which includes lantern shows and other forms of entertainment, between April 15 and 25 every year. The fair provides visitors from China and abroad a better opportunity to admire the flower, and has become a regular international gathering.

There are many stories about the peony, and one of them tells of the peony's defiance of the rich and powerful, and its refusal to yield to brute force. One snowy day in 691, Empress Wu Zetian issued an edict on a whim: Tomorrow I shall walk about my garden and bid all the flowers bloom in the night. And sure enough, awed by the power of the empress, all the plants in her garden began to bud and bloom that night. The peony, though, too proud to flatter the empress, remained bare and did not put forth even a single leaf. The next morning, when she got to the garden, the empress flew into a rage and had all the peonies in the Tang capital of Chang'an "banished" to Luoyang. However, the peonies took root in Luoyang and even larger and more beautiful flowers were produced. Since then, Luoyang has been the Home of Peonies.

A Sacred Place of Buddhism

Luoyang occupies an important place in the development of Buddhism in China, and it once had more than 1,300 temples. Today, the city conserves much of the heritage of Buddhist art.

The Longmen Grottoes are one of the four treasures of grotto art in China, the other three being the Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province, the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi Province, and the Dazu Grottoes in the Chongqing Municipality. The grottoes are located on the banks of Yihe River, 13 kilometers south of Luoyang.

Work on the Longmen Grottoes began in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) and continued for more than 400 years during the succeeding dynasties. On a 1,000-meter stretch of cliff face, 2,345 grottoes were hollowed. On the cliff face and inside the grottoes and niches, 70 pagodas were built or carved in relief and 100,000 Buddhist statues were carved. The grottoes present a magnificent scene.

The largest of the grottoes is the Fengxian (Ancestor Worshiping) Temple, built in 675. The sculptures in the temple are vivid, lifelike, and aesthetically arranged, and represent a major achievement in the art of sculpture during the Tang Dynasty. In the middle of the temple is the principal statue of Vairocana with a plump, kindly face. He is 17 meters in height, and his head alone is over 4 meters tall, while his ears are 1.9 meters long.

Although the sculptures in the Longmen Grottoes are Buddhist, the talented artists of ancient China cast off the yoke of religion and took their inspiration from everyday life. As a result, they created lifelike images, of which no two are alike. The Longmen Grottoes provide important references for the study of ancient sculpture and Buddhism. In 2000, the grottoes were included on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list.

Twelve kilometers east of Luoyang is the Baima (White Horse) Monastery, the first Buddhist temple to be established in China. It is said that one night in the year A.D. 64, Emperor Ming Di of the Eastern Han Dynasty dreamed of a golden man. In the morning, the emperor told his officials what he had seen, and one of the officials said the emperor had dreamed of the Buddha, a god of the West. Then the emperor sent 18 envoys to Tianzhu (now India) for Buddhist scriptures. In the year A.D. 67, they loaded Buddhist scriptures written in Sanskrit and a portrait of the Buddha Sakyamuni onto a white horse and returned to Luoyang with two Indian monks. When living quarters for them were built in the temple the following year, the temple was renamed Baima (White Horse) Monastery.

Covering an area of 40,000 square meters, the Baima Monastery contains the Hall of the Heavenly King, the Hall of the Giant Buddha, the Mahavira (Great Hero) Hall, the Receiving and Directing to Paradise Hall, the Vairocana Pavilion, and the Qingliang Terrace. The Mahavira Hall is the most magnificent among the halls. Inside the hall, there are lifelike sculptures carved in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), including the Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future (Kasyapa, Sakyamuni, and Maitreya), two Heavenly Kings, and 18 arhats (enlightened saintly men). The Baima Monastery has also conserved more than 40 stone tablets carved in the past dynasties. The most precious tablet is the one that carries the story about the construction of the monastery.

Distinctive Delicacies

In addition to peonies and grottoes, Luoyang has long been famous for its Shui Xi (Water Feast). The feast includes 24 dishes that are served one after another, wave upon wave, like flowing water. Each of these dishes is stewed with water, hence the name, Water Feast.

In the Tang Dynasty, temples in Luoyang received many worshipers every day. In order to entertain them, monks created the Shui Xi of stewed vegetables.

The dishes eaten during Shui Xi are rated according to the quality of the materials and cooking skills, instead of the rarity and high cost of the materials. The high-grade feast includes delicacies from land and sea, while the ordinary feast consists mainly of two chickens.

(China Pictorial April 11, 2003)