Sichuan: Emeishan and Leshan
Beyond pandas to Buddhist enlightenment
Chengdu and its giant pandas are often the only stop for visitors to sichuan, but on its doorstep are sacred
mountains and a giant Buddha
By Francesca Triggs
Perspectives from within chinaOuTsiDein
F
or many, Chengdu is a must-see des-
tination for one reason: pandas. I can
confirm that they are adorable, espe-
cially when rolling around in the short gaps
between bamboo binges and naps. But if you
have a few days at hand there, venture slightly
farther afield to two bastions of Buddhism,
namely, Emeishan, a UNESCO World Heri-
tage Site since 1996, and the nearby Leshan
Giant Buddha Scenic Area.
We had four days to play with, as our night
train from Xi’an drew into Chengdu station.
After compulsory visits to the Panda Research
Centre, as well as to the beautiful Jinli Old
Street where you can find China’s famous “ear
ticklers” (people who will clean out your ears
with terrifying equipment), we made our way
to Emeishan town. There we spent the night,
rising early the next morning to catch the first
mountain transfer bus at 6am amid a crowd
of serious-looking, polyester-clad hikers. On
the bus we were handed plastic bags, and we
soon understood why as we began the windy
ascent towards the mountain base, and a soft
chorus of retching erupted around us.
When we finally arrived, we joined a
mass of hikers on the stone staircase leading
up through the lush forest, on a path lined
with stalls selling Buddhist memorabilia and
steamed buns. As with most mountains in
China, the whole way to the peak consists of
thousands upon thousands of stone steps, so
we decided to escape the crush and head to
the cable car. This dropped us less than a ki-
lometre from Jinding, or the “Golden Sum-
mit,” which sits at 3,077m above sea level.
One of the four sacred mountains of Bud-
dhism, Emeishan is said to be the place of
enlightenment of the bodhisattva Samantab-
hadra, who is commemorated by an enor-
mous golden statue here at the peak.
Unfortunately, the deep spirituality of the
location somewhat eluded us, largely be-
cause of the substantial construction project
underway at the peak. It looked as though
they were building another one of the new
“ancient temples” that you can spot around
the place, mixed in among the genuine ar-ticles. I was also troubled by the stream of ex-
hausted manual workers, most of them older
men and women, struggling up the moun-
tain with sacks of concrete and huge coils of
steel cable, their backs stooped low under the
weight of their load. The contrast between
these people and the well-dressed “pilgrims,”
wielding selfie sticks and iPhones, was bru-
tally ironic.
All in all, the “Golden Summit” was slight-
ly underwhelming spiritually and visually
speaking. We hoped that the Wanfu Summit,
which could be seen shrouded in mist in the
distance and which, at 3,099m, is the high-
est peak of the mountain, would be more
impressive. Undeterred by warnings that the
peak had been closed and was now very hard
to access, we headed off on a search which
led us through narrow, litter-strewn alleys to
an abandoned monorail station. Formerly
the gateway to the peak, its windows were
smashed, the wooden platform splintering,
and the yellowing train within it lay dormant.
Given the circumstances, the solid path-