For any history enthusiast, Luoyang is a must-see destination. The city has been changing places as the capital for over 1000 years with modern day Xi’an. The city represented morality, while Xi’an represented brute force, so often emperors would switch the capital to Luoyang to signify to their people that they plan to be a benevolent ruler. Xi’an has become the first imperial capital of China, but Chinese history is very unkind to China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The dominant ideology of his rule was legalism – the idea that good is whatever the law says. Qin Shi Huang has persecuted every other competing ideology, including Confucianism, which will later become the dominant ideology of the Chinese empire. No wonder Confucian scholars, who had the monopoly on writing history, portrayed Qin Shi Huang in a very negative light. Luoyang, on the other hand, was the capital of the famous Zhou dynasty (8th-3rd century BC), whose kings (they were not emperors) had modeled themselves on moral rulers whose good behavior will be transmitted onto the populace. So Luoyang became synonymous with benevolent rulers, while Xi’an came to represent brute force, which the Confucian scholars always resented.

The city has lost much of its splendor in the last 1000 years: it is nowhere near one of the biggest and most prosperous cities of modern China. But look on the bright side, it is not Kaifeng. I was still deeply impacted by how low my previous destination, Kaifeng, the biggest city in the world from 10th-13th century, has fallen, so Luoyang looked quite respectable. 

I have arrived to the city in early afternoon and as soon as I left my bags in my hostel, I went straight to one of the highlights of Luoyang – the White Horse Temple, one of the birthplaces of Chinese version of Buddhism. Buddhism entered China at the time when Luoyang and Dai’chang (modern day X’ian) were the two political, economic and cultural centres of the Chinese world, so naturally many of the first Buddhist monks ended up there. The temple got its name for a white horse that was carrying the first holy Buddhist scriptures to China.

First, I struggled to find the ticket office. It was easy to find the entry point but no ticket office. After looking around for a few minutes I saw a line with people buying tickets across the street. I came back to enter the temple and the guy told me this is not the ticket for the temple. Great, I have no idea what I bought the tickets for: apparently for something across the street. He pointed me out to a QR code posted on the wall next to the entry point. Crap, it only accepts WeChat, not Alipay.

China is almost entirely a cashless economy, but foreign credit cards do not work. Instead, almost everything is paid through two mobile apps – WeChat (more popular among the Chinese) and Alipay (more popular among foreigners). WeChat does not work for me. Whenever I try to pay something, I end up getting a message that I need to upload my documents to the application, which I tried doing but without success. Another super, super shitty thing about WeChat is that it is not translatable into English. It is all in Chinese. So I use Alipay, which is also in Chinese but it has a translate option. 

I have tried to buy the ticket through WeChat a few times without success. Since it is all in Chinese, I don’t even understand what I am doing wrong. I just got a message in Chinese, which I managed to copy into my translator, which said that payment is declined. So after almost a month in China, it happened: I lost my shit for the first time! Luckily no one could understand me swearing at all kinds of deities. 

When the Chinese system turns on you, your best bet is to ask tour guides for help. They are more likely to speak English, even if their tours are in Chinese, and they know the place better than the locals. I saw a tour guide nearby and asked her to try to buy the ticket for me. Apparently, I had to put my name and passport number so this is why the payment was declined. I did that and then I got the message that I need to upload my documents. This is not going to work… In these situations you should ask locals to transfer money to their accounts via Alipay and they can buy the tickets for you using their WeChat. China can be very complicated. But I am finally inside the temple and this is all that matters.

One of the first things you see in the temple complex is the statue of the famed white horse. Surprisingly, there was no line to take photos with it. The temple got its name from the white horse that carried the holy Buddhist scrolls to Luoyang from Tibet. It is a big complex with many temples and supporting houses and after one month in China and many, many temples explored, I did not find anything to be special about this temple complex.

Separated, but in the same complex, is the proof of how different culturally Chinese are from Europeans. Chinese have gotten the idea to build, right next to a historical monument, replicas of Buddhist temples Indian, Thai and Myanmar style – the kinds of Buddhist temples you will never see in China. But they are shinny and “pretty”, so I guess it is ok. I am just thinking what would happen in Europe if someone had the idea of building replicas of Christian churches from Orthodox or Protestant traditions in Rome, right next to St Peter’s Basilica.

 Is this more Disneyland or Las Vegas?

After I was finished with the White Horse Temple, I decided to use my ticket for the flower park, which I have mistakenly bought. It was a nice walk and it gave me another insight into how much Chinese love kitsch: the Golden Tree!

In the evening, I took a walk to the Mingtang Hall and Tiantang Tower, which was very close to my hostel. This venue is basically “replicas” of structures that existed during the Tang Dynasty, some 1500 years ago. As an idea, this sounds interesting, the archeologists have found stone structures and have matched them to historical records and description of vast palace built by the one and only Empress of China, Wu Zetien. If you want to know more about her, you need to wait for my blog on Xi’an. But again, the execution is… I will be polite and not finish that sentence.

I have been to many imperial residences – Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven etc, which were built over 1000 years later and by the highest building standards aimed to house the Son of Heaven and they did not have marble floors or the marble was nowhere of the quality used to “recreate” a palace built 1500 years ago. Master Kong would not approve. Confucian aesthetics is quite elitist and would certainly not look kindly to this massification of culture – “look at how bright and shiny it is!”. Confucian moral teaching is steeped in tradition. We are a product of our culture and people that came before us. This is a blatant falsification of Chinese history and a living proof how modern China has drifted from its Confucian roots. Through conversations with ordinary Chinese I meet on this trip, I get a clear impression that modern Chinese people do not care about history.

On the outskirts of Luoyang lie Longmen Grottes – another testament of the crucial role this city has played in developing Chinese Buddhism. The site contains 2300 caves and niches filled with inscriptions and statues. The majority of the site was built from 5^th to 8^th century AD, during the Northern Wei dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. Some of the statues are modest in size but some are real giants. The largest statue of Buddha is 17m high.

You can see the caves on foot or take the boat trip. I was walking. It is a very nice walk as the cave complex is next to a river. The biggest problem is the crowd. You have to queue up to see the best caves and statues. On the other hand, it is easy to locate the best sites. With 110 000 stone statues, 60 stupas and 2800 inscriptions on steles, you need someone to point you the best ones.

I have left the best activity for my last day in Luoyang – Shaolin temple and Song Mountain. Song Mountain is one of Five Great Mountains and I have made it my mission to climb all five of them! It is a large natural scenic area since Song Mountain has two peaks: Taishi and Shaoshi mountains. The entrances to these two natural scenic areas are not very close – it is a 15 minute taxi ride so plan well. 

Taishi is historically more important, it is the place where many important temples are located and the path to the top is paved with stone stairs, as this is the path taken by the emperors of China. Shaoshi is better known for its natural beauty and for the famous Shaolin temple, which lies at the foot of the mountain. 

As I am a history freak I was combining Shaolin Monastery (Shaoshi Mountain) with hiking to Taishi mountain top. This means paying double entrance fee and losing money getting from one scenic area to another.

I have started at Shaolin Monastery. It is a 1:30 hour bus ride or 60 minute taxi to the temple. As my plan was to catch the afternoon train to Xi’an, I took the quicker option. Taxis are quite cheap so I got very spoiled in China. I paid around 13 euros for a one-hour ride.

Shaolin temple is a beautiful temple complex made famous by its kung-fu practicing monks. It is a part of Chinese Chan Buddhism, which is equivalent to Zen Buddhism in Japan, but very different from Tibetan Lamaism. It can trace its history to the 4^th century AD, so roughly the same period as the famous White Horse Temple is Luoyang.

The highlight of the visit to the temple is the kung-fu demonstration. They have performances on specific times: 9:30, 10:30 and 11:30 in the morning session and 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 in the afternoon session. You are strongly advised to get in line very early so you can get the best seats. The kung-fu performances are held in a theatre-like hall with places to sit on the lower floor and in the gallery. I did not get a place to sit but had to stand on the lower floor.

The show was done by kids and teenagers. I was a bit disappointed that I did not see the adult monks using their pinky finger to lift 500 kilos or whatever they do. But still it was fascinating to see these youngsters displaying their strength and agility. It brought back sweat memories of my childhood – I grew up idolizing Bruce Lee, like 95% of the boys my generation.

After my kung-fu adventure, it was time to start hiking. 15-minute taxi ride, another ticket and I was ready for the climb. The scenery is similar to Taishan Mountain – my first of the Five Great Mountains hike. You start easy – 5 steps, 5 meters straight… and then you progress so 100 steps, a turn and again 100 steps. Songshan is not as famous or popular as Taishan, so there were fewer people and fewer stalls selling food, water and souvenirs. On your way you pass a number of nice temples before you reach the top.

The mountain peak is more than underwhelming, I must say. The Chinese have turned the peak into a construction site. I have no idea what they are building here, but it is going to make the mountain uglier, for sure.

Overall, Songshan turned out to be the least beautiful of the Five Great Mountains, by a long shot. There are some nice views, but that is it. It was hot, it took me around 2:30 hours to reach the top and even though I am glad I did it, I do not plan to go back to Taishi.

I would advise you to try hiking up Shaoshi top. It is in the same scenic area as Shaolin so it is easier, cheaper and quicker.

Before I leave Luoyang, I must share the best soup I had in China. I was returning from the gym and was feeling very hungry so I stumbled upon a line of restaurants where one was super full, while all others were half-full. So I went to the full one and ordered their soup, which is more or less the only thing they sell at that joint. I had returned to eat there for lunch and dinner, every day while staying in Luoyang. Bon apetit!