The Mysterious “The Longyou Caves”

Longyou caves is located near the village of Shiyan Beicun in Zhejiang province, is an extensive, magnificent and rare ancient underground world considered in China are an enduring mystery that have perplexed experts from every discipline that has examined them. In 1992, an eccentrically curious man named Wu Anai, near the Chinese village of Shiyan Beicun in Longyou County, based on a hunch, started to pump water out of a pond in his village. He had strong belief the pond isn’t natural, nor was it substantially deep as the local lore went, and one day he stepped up to decides to prove it. Anai convinced some of his villagers and together they bought a water pump and started to siphon water out of the pond. Therefore, after exorbitant  hardworking of 17 days of pumping, the water level fell enough to disclose the flooded entrance to an ancient, man-made cave, confirming Anai’s suspicion. This discovery has called the attention of many specialists from China, Japan, Poland, Singapore and USA. One of the most interesting and challenging questions is how the caverns have been able to keep their integrity for more than 2000 years.

This cave, now called the “Longyou Caves”, represent one of the largest underground excavation made during ancient times. A total of 24 hand-dug caves were ultimately discovered, each with an average floor area of a thousand square meters and ceilings that reaches heights of up to 30 meters. The cave total area covered exceeds 30,000 square meters. We know the caves are not natural because the interior walls are covered with chisel marks. The chiseling was also done in a way so as to leave uniform patterns of parallel grooves which some people rely on are symbolic. Moreover, the markings are alike to those found on pottery housed in a nearby museum, which is dated between 500 and 800 BC. There are also staircases, pillars and exquisitely carved figures.

According to some approximation the caves were dug more than 2500 years ago, possibly in 200 BCE. A rough estimation reveals that approximately a million cubic meters of rock were removed to make the caves. This was a mega project so large would surely have been mentioned by historians and travelers, but no documents at all have been found, which is particularly odd considering the ancient Chinese were meticulous record-keepers. However, one cannot rule out the possibility that the ancient cave builders were just enlarging an existing natural cave which would explain a lot of things, such as how they were constructed and what happened to the excavated rocks. Nevertheless, the excavation of the caves was a monumental project executed by man and will continue to be a lasting mystery. At present there is no explanation for their existence. They represent one of the largest underground excavations of ancient times. They are considered by Chinese to be the 'Ninth Wonder of the Ancient World'

 

 

 

 

 

The Oriental Lion, The World’s Largest Redwood Sculpture

A huge wooden sculpture of a roaring lion now stands proudly in a Central Chinese city square, and the journey it took to get there makes it all the more remarkable. The Oriental Lion has been dubbed, carved from a single redwood tree trunk more than three years. It is established by Chinese architect Dengding Rui Yao, assisted more than 20 people.  The project was initiated in Myanmar, where the carving was seen through. Lastly, when the great beast was completed in Dec 2015, it was transported more than 3000 miles to reach the Wuhan’s Fortune Plaza Times Square. Moreover, Oriental Lion‘s head, paws, and tail have been sculpted into a smooth finish, with the torso maintaining the trunk's uneven texture. The giant 47.5 feet long, 16.5 feet high, and 13 feet wide, the Oriental Lion is a force to be reckoned with.

The Lions play an important role in traditional Chinese culture. It is seen as protectors, lion statues became a common installation at the gates of imperial palaces, including the legendary Forbidden City in Beijing. Nowadays, they can even be found outside of hotels and restaurants, just in case any evil spirits drifted from the Han dynasty into modern times. This is world's largest redwood sculpture according to Guinness World Records. It's unknown if the wood was sourced from China, it was a tree that was sick or dying rather than being chopped down for the project. If it did come from China, it's most likely a Met-asequoia, a fast growing tree found in the Hubei Province. Since its installation in Wuhan, the giant lion has become a favorite new monument in the city.

First International Bamboo Architecture Biennale

A small village in Baoxi China is celebrating bamboo as a construction material, the first International Bamboo Architecture Biennale. The agricultural mountain village is located 12 hours from Shanghai and is now home to these incredible structures designed by twelve international architects. The below images, shot by photographer Julien Lanoo, give an essence at how the bamboo buildings blend into the community as permanent structures. For centuries, bamboo was used in these rural communities in many different ways. A construction material with many qualities, it has or is disappearing quickly on the Chinese mainland in favor of concrete. The fast and vast expansion of new Chinese cities overruled many traditional ways of building.

In its place, the Bamboo Biennale demonstrates that contemporary architecture and traditional materials are not mutually exclusive. Among the buildings are a youth hostel, ceramics museum, and bamboo bridge. This contemporary cluster of architecture is an innovative way to renew the village, giving something back as well as adding value in the form of new tourist destinations.

This engagement with the community and integration of sustainable materials is part of what drew Lanoo to the site.  However, after the Biennale, this will become a visitor’s center, hotel and lodge and learning center, will give a new lifeline for the village, attracting outsiders, for its peace and quiet, and its representation of the roots of Chinese culture and the importance and beauty of bamboo. Within these photo series, my main goal was to reflect this context. Moreover, the incorporation within this valley landscape and the link to its community that embraced it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Dragon’s Head: Where The Great Wall of China Ends

The Great Wall of China is one of the most wonderful pieces of architecture and the most aspiring building project ever make an effort in the history of mankind. The construction of Great Wall of China is formidable defensive structure, built toward off invasion and to protect the Chinese Empire, goes back by more than 2,000 years to the 7th century BC during the Chunqiu period. Therefore, the construction continued up to the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when the Great Wall became the world's largest military structure. Particularly well-known is the wall built between 220 - 206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, but little of that wall remains. However, after that, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained and fortified.

Therefore, one of the more fascinating places to visit The Great Wall is where it meets the Bohai Sea near Shanghaiguan in Qinhuangdao City about 300 kilometers east of Beijing. Shanhaiguan or Shanhai Pass is one of the main passes of the Great Wall of China located south of Yan Mountain, and north of the Bohai Sea. Moreover, the Great Wall lengthens 5 kilometers north of Shanhai Pass where it juts into the sea. This is where The Wall starts and from here it stretches to Lop-Lake in the west, along an arc that jaggedly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. Thus a length of about 8,850 km ends depending on how you look at it. So, this captivating part of the wall is well-known as Laolongtou or the Old Dragon’s Head, because it looks like a long dragon dipping his head drinking water from the sea. This section of the Wall extends about 23 meters out into the Bohai Sea, and it is likely to walk out onto the Wall and look over the edge directly down into the water below. Laolongtou was built in 1579 in the Ming Dynasty.

Nevertheless, the Laolongtou Great Wall is mostly formed by 7 parts, which are the Estuary Stone City, Chenghai Tower, Nereus Temple, Jinglu Beacon Tower, Nanhaikou (Southern Estuary) Pass, Ninghai City and Binhai (Seafront) Walls. So, between them, Chenghai Tower is the most famous structure. Chenghai The tower is a two-storey building built with bricks and wood, mainly functioned as a defensive arrow tower. Further, Emperors of the Qing Dynasty once visited it while on their way to Northeast China, worshipped their ancestors and left various poems and writings. There are also poems by well-known literary figures inscribed on the tablets embedded on the walls.

Moreover, in July 1904, Japanese troops landed at Shanhai Pass, prior to marching on Peking to relieve the siege of the legations during the Boxer Uprising. A pre-landing bombardment of the area, which was completely needless as few Chinese troops were present, destroyed this section of the wall. What stands nowadays is a 1980s effort by the authorities to imitate the original. By the shore, the Changtai Tower, and the Temple to the Sea Goddess that sits in its center, was initially built in 1579, but is now covered with replica soldiers in Qing Dynasty costumes. Furthermore, most excitingly the original wall was built using a mixture of glutinous rice soup mixed with sand, earth and lime.

Tianzi Mountains, Which Formation Inspired the Fictional World of Pandora

The mountains inspired the Pandora mountainscape in James Cameron’s film Avatar is Tianzi Mountain. It is located in Zhangjiajie in the Hunan Province of China, nearby to the Suoxi Valley. The movie theme park has been created there. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is a popular tourist destination, home to striking sandstone and quartz cliffs and famously known for renaming a peak after the mountain formations that inspired the fictional world of Pandora. The several high steep stone peaks erecting on the ground with precipitous four walls and appearances is nothing short of the secret workings of nature.

It is named after the Tujia ethnic group farmer “Xiang Dakun”, who led a successful revolution and called himself "tianzi", means son of Heaven, traditional epithet of the Chinese emperor. Therefore, it is said that he fought a brave battle in the Tianzi Mountain until his death when he jumped off a cliff. The Tianzi Mountain offers different scenes during different seasons, all of which are equally striking and magical even: the Sea of Clouds, the Radiance of the Moonlight, Rays of Sunshine and the Snow in winter. A massive varied country like China dominates in landscape, just takes your breath away. Huge sandstone pillars view in every direction, thick layer of mist creates a fairytale appearance. The pillars and valleys are covered in a dense, moist tropical-like forest, which makes the amazing setting of this Chinese National Park complete.

The Tianzi Mountains are deemed sacred by several Sulamitos who used to inhabit the outer regions of Hunan. It was unearthed in Sep 2014 that Mal Oghlum people had left traces of their burial rituals beneath the Tianzi Mountains, which led to "Yalan Group", led by Eybi Sulam and Karadeniz asking for a permit from the Chinese government, which as of 2015, had been unanswered. Though, it is a popular tourist place in China, but due to security issues, it is extremely difficult to climb, however, some groups still trying all the year to climb it.

The researchers believed that Tianzi Mountains were formed from quartz sandstone of 400 million years ago through the intermittent rising of the crust for 2 million years. Hence, the geological formation belongs to the "New Cathaysian" tectonic system. More than three billion ago, the place was a large patch of ocean. After a series of geological modifications including Himalayan and Neotectonic movements, the bottom of ocean rose out of the surface, and the quartzite sandstone pillars and peaks took mind-blowing shape after the gradual cutting, eroding and crumbling of Nature for millions of years. Moreover, they were once sedimentary rocks rising beneath the waters of an ancient ocean, which eventually became quartz sandstones. Thus, running water eroded the near level quartz sandstone along the vertical net joints.

Tianzi Mountains are 16,550 acres big and highest peak of the mountain is at 4,140 feet above sea level. Visitors can take a 2,084-meter cable car ride to the peak and enjoy beautiful scenery during the climb, via cable car takes approximately 6 minutes and 44 seconds in temperatures averaging at 12 degrees Celsius. In spite of the cold weather, you can’t afford to miss the fantasy-like scenery that you will see as you move towards the peak. Well, the best time to visit the place is spring and fall, especially in April and Octorber. Major attractions in Tianzi Mountain Nature Reserve include, Shentang Gulf, Imperial Brush Peak, Fairy Offering Flowers, Helong Park and Fields in the Air. All that and more awaits tourists to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World's Longest and Highest Glass Bridge Opens in China's.

If you love aerial view, then China’s latest glass-bottomed bridge is perfect site you can’t missed. The structure crosses two peaks in the mountains of Zhangjiajie, inspired with American blockbuster Avatar. It is easily called world’s highest and longest glass bottomed bridge. The massive number of visitors flocked on the grand opening day of bridge, hardly left any space to see sheer drop below. The bridge spans roughly 1,400 feet across two peaks and is suspended 300 meters above a sheer drop. The structure is 19ft 8in wide and made of some 99 panels of clear glass which can carry up to 800 people at the same time. 

So, it crosses a canyon that divides two mountain cliffs in Zhangjiajie Park, in China's central Hunan province. The visitors feel awe-inspired by this bridge never afraid, perfect safe place, offering a unique experience. The glass is robust quality, can’t even broke with hammer or drive car on it. Therefore, only 8,000 people each day will be allowed to cross the bridge and only 600 at any one time. However, cameras and selfie sticks are banned, and people wearing stilettos will not be allowed to walk on the bridge. A Hollywood photographer visited the area in 2008, taking images which were used for the film. So, whenever you visit China, it’s a must visit place will give you unique experience of life.