Ningbo, on the coast of the East China Sea in northern Zhejiang Province, is the terminus of the Xiaoshan-Ningbo Railway. Only 140 nautical miles from Shanghai and facing the Zhoushan Islands across the sea, it is a center of land and water communications. With a population of 740,000, it is ranked as the province's second largest city and has remained one of China's major foreign trade ports since the Tang Dynasty. Because of the city's long history, tourists flock to its temples, hills, and gardens.

Tiantong Temple

This huge, 1,600-year-old temple in the verdant Taibai Hills once had some 990 rooms. Rebuilt in 1980, it now has 730 rooms occupying 44,600 square meters. Venerable cypresses dating from the Tang Dynasty tower in the temple courtyards. If you stamp your foot on the Piba Stone in front of the temple gate, you will hear the sound resembling beads dropping on a jade plate. The Sutra Storage Tower (Cangjinglou) contains valuable Buddhist scriptures as well as book and paintings. There is an enormous cauldron in the temple said to be capable of cooking food for more than a thousand monks.

King Ayu Temple

Built on King Ayu Hill fifteen kilometers outside the city, this temple is said to house a piece pf Sakyamuni's parietal bone in its Buddhist Shrine Hall (Shilidian).Monk Jian Zhen, who made six attempts to sail to Japan t o preach Buddhism, once visited the temple.

Tianyi Tower

Built during the period from 1561 to 1566 in West Ningbo, Tianyi Tower is a famous old library which used to house an enormous collection of rare volumes, including block-printed and hand-copied books and manuscripts. Most of the original collection was lost, but a special agency has now been set up to take care of the books stored in the tower. Totaling 300,000 volumes, the current collection includes many of the original books, now rediscovered, and a great number donated by individuals.

(Source: china.org.cn / Photo: baidu.com)