Luoyang

From Shanghai we flew to Chengdu in southwestern China, where my friend's wife and kids went on to a flight to Nepal, while the two of us took a flight to Zhengzhou to the north. From Zhengzhou we took a bus to Luoyang, one of the oldest capitals of China, a city famous for its peonies. However there isn't much ancient architecture remaining in the city, and the industrial pollution there is horrendous. We went south to the nearby Longmen Grottoes, a series of Buddhist imagery dating back to the 5th century, when Buddhism enjoyed its major growth period in China. Along the Yi river on a rocky bluff, the giant Buddha images were carved into the solid rock and were well preserved. Although no paint remained on the images, the sculptural artistry were evidently very refined, with a hint of Greco-Indian styles that were spread into China. Just walking along the Yi River was an evocative experience, my thoughts went to the 3000 years old poems that were written about this river, where wise men lived and recorded their thoughts about the cosmos. The day was very hot and humid, surprising me for it was only June, this was north-central China, seems I already forgot that China's summers come early unlike the US west coast.