City showcases Yangtze Delta cultural features, aesthetic quality

Xiangshan Park stands as the city's highest point at 137 meters.

The Jiyanghu Ecological Zone in Zhangjiagang.

(Clockwise, from top) Yongqing is one of southern China's most ancient temples of its kind. Five hundred arhats are rendered in clay in Yongqing. The Buddhist Culture Garden contains statues of various styles, including cute kids practicing kung fu.

Zhangjiagang is a young city, but it has a long history dating back about 6,000 years. Archaeologists excavating the area have found Stone Age ruins in Dongshan village at the foot of Xiangshan Hill. The area also has an ancient river port called Huangsipu from where the monk Jianzhen left for Japan during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) to propagate Buddhism.

The city now has a large museum which shows how the area, which was called Shazhou county before 1986, evolved from several fishing villages into the modern city it is today.

Xiangshan Hill

This area, which was a quarry in the 1950s, is now a popular sightseeing destination.

It is famous for its picturesque landscape and long history as a regional center for Taoism and Buddhism.

The hill, which stands at 136.6 meters and covers an area of 4.37 square kilometers, provides a bird's-eye view of the city and the Yangtze River.

The forest cover in the area is 87 percent, and the most common trees are masson pine, metasequoia and moso bamboo. The hill is filled with wild herbs.

In 1995, the government spent more than 60 million yuan ($9.45 million) rebuilding the Xiangshan temple on the main peak. In 2013, the government spent 80 million yuan turning the quarry pit into a lake and planting trees around it. This year the government is spending nearly 300 million yuan on roads, afforestation and a sports park in the area, and about 247 million yuan on the Dongshan village ruins museum.

Huangsipu

This was formerly a busy river port leading to the Yangtze River. But the area is now a public park through which a small creek runs.

The port was famous because the monk Jianzhen finally made it to Japan from there in 753 after failing to make the journey on five previous occasions.

The monk, whose unsuccessful attempts included voyages from Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangsu provinces, lost almost all his disciples in the process. He even lost his sight because of illness after one of his journeys to Southeast Asia.

In Japan, he spread Buddhism and shared his knowledge of things such as construction and agriculture.

There is a temple and a museum in Huangsipu, partially funded by the Japanese, in memory of his work.

In 1963, the local government built a stone structure to commemorate Jianzhen's 1,200th death anniversary. It was dumped into the creek during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) to prevent its destruction. It was salvaged in 1978. It now stands in the center of the park.

(China Daily European Weekly 10/22/2015 page8)