Vacation in Luoyang China with Asian Vacations, Inc.

Luoyang Peony & Wangcheng Park
The Luoyang Peony is China's traditional and well-known flower. It always represents elegance and poise. With various varieties and marvelous colors, the Luoyang Peony enjoys the honor of "King of the Flower Kingdom" and "Luoyang Peony Ranking the First under Heaven". Throughout the city, you can see all kinds of peonies with colors ranging from red, pink and white to the rarest dark. When spring arrives, the whole city is soaked in the sweet smell of peony. In 1982, it was defined as the city flower of Luoyang and at the same time, a decision was made to hold an annual peony fair festival in Luoyang from April 15 to 25, concurrently with lantern shows and other forms of entertainment. During the festival, people from all corners meet in Luoyang to see the peonies and so the city livens up with a spectacle of seas of flowers and tides of people. In April, you can enjoy yourself in the streets, on Peony Square, in Peony Park and Xiyuan Park. But the most famous place to view and admire the Luoyang Peony is Wangcheng Park. Located on both banks of Jian River on the north side of the western reach of Zhongzhou Road, Wangcheng Park gains its name only because it is now on the relics of the Imperial City in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Covering an area of 67 hectares, it is the largest comprehensive park in Luoyang. There is a zoo, peony yards, swimming pools and an under-ground exhibition room of the Han Tomb. In the peony yards on both sides of Jian River, there are thousands of rare and precious peonies named ""Yellow yao "and "Purple wei". These two peony yards become the main spot of the annual peony fair. The ancient architectural complex in the western part of the park fully displays the lingering charm of the Zhou's architectural style. The tablet named Hetu and Luoshu is another attractive spot there. Hetu and Luoshu is a famous legend of ancient Chinese civilization. Some 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, a horse with a picture-scroll named Hetu on its back sprang out of the Yellow River, and an immortal turtle with a book named Luoshu on its back swam in the Luo River. Later, Fuxi, known as the ancestor of human beings, deducted the Eight Diagrams of Yin and yang (the positive and negative) and thus the universe was divided into two, the Heaven and the Earth. However, according to the doctrine of Luoshu, Dayu, the first king of the Chinese Nation, drew up a constitution named "Hong Fan Jiu Chou" to rule the country and from then on began the Chinese civilization. So during every Pure Brightness Festival-held in the 5th of the 24 solar terms, personages of various circles gather here to worship their common ancestors.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Longmen Grottoes
The Longmen Grottoes is the key tourist and scenic spot in Luoyang. Located in the southern out skirts of Luoyang, on both banks of the Yi River about 13km to the downtown of the city, the Longmen Grottoes is one of e three famous treasure houses of stone sculpture in China. Here two hills confront each other with the Yi River flowing between, just like a pair of Chinese gate towers; so it was called "Yi Que." (gate towers of the Yi River) in the Zhou Dynasty (1027 or 1022 - 221 BC) and Qin Dynasty. What's more, because it is located to the south of the Imperial City. Luoyang just like the gate to it, is also named "Longmen�. Spanning a length of over 1,000 m, the grottoes were chiseled on the cliffs of both banks of the Yi River. The scene of Longmen and its surroundings is very beautiful, because the "Longmen Mountain scene" ranks first place of the "Eight Scenic Spots of Luoyang". The grottoes were first sculptured and chiseled around the year when Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang in Northern Wei Dynasty. The entire construction of Longmen Grottoes lasted for over 400 years. Today, there are still 2,100 caves and niches, 100,000 Buddhist images, more than 3,600 inscribed tablets and 43 Buddhist pagodas remaining. Among the Buddhist images, the biggest stands 17.14 m high while the smallest only 2 cms. There are many caves and grottoes such as Qianxi Temple, Binyang Cave, Ten-thousand Buddhists Cave, Lotus Cave and Fengxian Temple, among which the Fengxian Temple is the most famous.. Located on the slope of the hill on the western bank of the Yi River with a horizontal depth of 38.7 m and a south-to-north width of 33.5 m, the Fengxian Temple is the largest one in the Longmen Grottoes. Sitting on the "Xumi" position, the chief statue Buddhist Lushena reaches a height of 17.14 m; the head is 4 m high and the ear, 1.9m. It wears a cheerful look with a shallow smile on its face. The whole statue is lively and vivid. As one of the three great Buddhist treasures, the Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes are exquisitely caved and beautifully shaped, all presenting a vivid appearance of a dignified manner and delicate look. The Buddhist statues in Longmen Grottoes are an embodiment of a peculiar and extraordinary style of sculpture of Buddhist. Statues of the Chinese people, which also occupied a very important place in the Chinese art of sculpture. What's more, with broad breadth of spirit, profound implication and beautiful workmanship, the Longmen Grottoes is a bright pearl in the artistic treasure house of sculpture of the world.

The White Horse Temple
The First Buddhist Temple in China: The Baima Temple in Luoyang, Henan Province, was the first Buddhist Temple in China. It is said that one night in the year 64 AD, Emperor Mingdi of the Eastern Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) (25 - 220) dreamed of a golden man 12 ft high, and the light from the man's head illuminated the hall where he stood. In the morning, the emperor told his officials what he had seen, and one of them, named Fu Yi, said the emperor had dreamed of the Buddha, a god of the West. Then the emperor sent Cai Yin, Qin Jing, and others to Tianzhu (now India) for Buddhist scriptures. The shrine in the Hall of the Heavenly King A jade statue of Sakyamuni, the Buddha, in the Hall of the Jade Buddha. The Buddha stands 5 m high and weighs eight tons A statue of a heavenly general in the Mahavira Hall. When Cai, Qin, and their group arrived in what is now Afghanistan, they met Kasyapamatanga and Dharmaranya, two eminent Indian monks, who were preaching Buddhism there. In 67 AD, they loaded Buddhist scriptures written in Sanskrit and a portrait on white felt of Sakyamuni, the Buddha, onto a white horse and returned to Luoyang with the two Indian monks. The emperor lodged the monks at the Honglu Temple, which had a guesthouse for foreign emissaries. When living quarters for the monks were built in the temple the following year, the temple was renamed Baima (White Horse) Temple so people could remember the white horse that carried back the Buddhist scriptures and the portrait of Sakyamuni. The Baima Temple has been through many changes. What we see today is a rectangular courtyard complex facing south, reconstructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), with an area of 40,000 sq. m and a roofed entrance arch with three doorways. The entrance is built of blue stones, including several pieces from the Eastern Han Dynasty. Shi Shaofan, the abbot of the Baima Temple. Shi is now 80 years old. Wuguan Hall, or the Hall of Abstinence is arranged along a central axis that extends northward inside the entrance are the Hall of the Heavenly King, the Mahavira Hall, the Receiving and Directing to Paradise Hall, the Vairocana Pavilion, and the majestic Hall of the Giant Buddha, with its upturned eaves and painted brackets. On the east side of the halls and the pavilion are the Guest Hall, the Hall of Prayer, the Hall of Abstinence, and the living chambers of the monks. On the west are the Hall of the Founder of Buddhism, the Hall of Meditation, and the Preaching Hall. There are two opposite courtyards, and the complex as a whole is well proportioned. It has the flavor of traditional Chinese architecture and shows a distinction between more important and less important structures. All the halls housing statues of Sakyamuni, Maitreya, Amitabha, the Buddha of Medicine, and various bodhisattvas are built on the central axis following the terrain, and each hall stands higher than the one in front. The Vairocana Pavilion on Qingliang Terrace stands especially prominent and magnificent. The Qiyun Pagoda was built after the temple was renamed Baima Temple and is known as the first pagoda in China. Originally, it was a pavilion-like wooden structure with paintings depicting Buddhist scriptures. It burned down toward the end of the Northern Sung Dynasty (960 - 1127) and was rebuilt in 1175 as a 13-story square brick structure with closely arranged eaves. It is 25 m in height and 7.8 m on each side at the bottom. The eaves are built with small, exquisite overlapping bricks. When one claps one's hands 20 m away from the pagoda, the echo reflected from the eaves sounds like frogs croaking.

The Guan Yu Forest
The Guan Yu Forest is actually the memorial temple and the tomb for Guan Yu. It is called "Forest" merely because there are many ancient pine and cypress trees surrounding the area, which is located right in Guanlin Town, south of Luoyang City. Guan Yu (160 - 219 AD) who originally came from Shanxi province and was also called Guan Yunchang, was a famous general of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdom Period (220-581 AD). Legend has it that Guan Yu's head was buried here after he was captured and decapitated. General Guan Yu, well-known for his loyalty, faithfulness, boldness and power, had been regarded as the peerless hero and raised to the level of quasi-religion and therefore worshiped as a Buddha from the Three Kingdoms period to the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD). The main entrance is a 5-room-wide tower with three doorways leading to the inside. Each door of the gate tower, red in color, is inlaid with 81 golden rivets, the treatment reserved only for Chinese kings and emperors. The halls behind the gate tower are magnificent and full of power and grandeur. Inside the first hall there is the statue of General Guan Yu in a sitting position wearing an imperial crown and robe with the design of the dragon on it, which is the attire only for a Chinese king or emperor. On both sides of the statue of Guan Yu, are two standing statues: On the left, Guan Pin, Guan Yu's son , holding a large seal and on the right, Zhou Cang, Guan's disciple, , holding a big saber. The second hall is the Hall of Warriors. On both sides of this hall are two accompanying halls-- the Hall of Zhang Fei and the Hall of Five Brave Generals. Behind the second hall is the third hall, the Hall of Spring and Autumn in which stand two statues of Guan Yu, one in the sitting and the other in the supine position, both reading a history book " Spring and Autumn", by candlelight. On the surrounding walls, are drawings depicting stories of Guan Yu, like "Three Generals fighting Lu Bu", "To Capture Jingzhou", "A Battle at Changsha" and so on. At the rear is a backyard in which there is a pavilion called "Dragon Tablet Pavilion", established in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD). On the pavilion there is horizontal plaque and inside a big tablet with the inscription commemorating Guan Yu.

The Luoyang Museum

The Luoyang Museum is located at the north side of Mid Zhongzhou Road, built in 1985. It is a comprehensive history museum combined with collection, preservation, scientific research and exhibition. It displays various kinds of precious cultural relics, many of which are the essence of the state treasure house of cultural relics, from over 500,000 years ago to the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

The Studio of Thousand Tang Tablets

Located in Tiemen Town, Xin'an County 50km west of Luoyang City. It is the greatest collection of epitaphs and stone sculptures with over 1,400 tablets, of which 1,185 were inscribed in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD); hence, the name. This entire collection of inscribed tablets can be regarded as the "sculptural history book" of the Tang Dynasty.

Luoyang Ancient Tomb Museum

The Luoyang Ancient Tomb Museum is located on top of Mangshan Hill to the north of Luoyang City. It is a museum of ancient tomb forms of different dynasties. Its floor area is 8,200 sq.m. It has collected and restored 25 typical tombs from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) to the Northern Sung Dynasty. Therefore, it is the only ancient tomb museum in China.

Luoyang Folklore Museum

Located on the west bank of the Nanya River on Dongguan Xin Street in Luoyang, the museum was built up in 1744, the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD). It includes the Cunwu Tower, the Great Hall, the back hall, two accessory halls in the east and west and the Bell and Drum Tower in which exhibitions on folk beliefs, weddings, birthday celebrations and folk art are shown with objects. During the occasion of the flower fair every year, a temple fair is held to exhibit Luoyang's folk culture. In the west chamber, you will view scenes of family reunion, a birthday celebration for children and other customs of ancient times and local operas. This museum is located in the Duke Zhou Monastery on the eastern side of Dinging Road. It is a museum for a special subject displaying the style and historical cities through big san beds, models and cultural relics as the main purpose and revealing Duke Zhou's deeds and the He-Luo Culture as the assistant.

The Shang Imperial City Museum

Located in the urban area of Yanshi City, 30km to the cast of Luoyang City, the museum was built on the site of the imperial of land with a collection of 1,000 pieces of cultural relics from the Shang Dynasty (1600-1027 or 1766-1122 BC) such as bronze, jade and earthen wares. The site of the Shang Imperial City is the earliest and largest unearthed. It is also under the best preservation.

Shaolin Temple, a Sacred Place of Wushu and Chan Buddhism
The Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng County, Henan Province, is known in and outside of China for Shaolin wushu (martial arts). The temple was built in 495, the 19th year of the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and was named Shaolin because it is at the northern foot of Shaoshi Mountain and surrounded by densely growing trees (lin means forest). In 527, the Indian monk Bodhidharma came to China and settled at Shaolin Temple, where he began to preach Chan (Zen), a form of Buddhism originating in India. This was the beginning of Chan Buddhism in China, with Bodhidharma as the first teacher and Shaolin as the first temple. Later, during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), Chan became the most influential branch of Buddhism in China. Bodhidharma advocated self-cultivation through sitting meditation and held that meditation is of primary importance to the attainment of Buddhahood. He set an example by sitting with his face to the wall in a rock cave northwest of the Shaolin Temple for nine years, and his shadow became engraved deep into the rock face. The rock is now in Baiyi Hall at Shaolin Temple, and the cave is now known as Bodhidharma Cave. In 1125, the Temple of the Founder of Chan was built on the road to Bodhidharma Cave. The main hall, though not large, is a treasure house of sculptures. Carved on the 12 octagonal stone columns of the hall are colored designs of female musicians, children, birds, pomegranates, peony flowers, and grass. There are another four stone columns featuring bas-reliefs of heavenly guardians, auspicious clouds, and coiling dragons. The sculptures on both sets of columns have bold lines and imposing colors, and the human figures are simple and unsophisticated. The stone slabs in the eastern, western, and northern halls bear carved designs of officials worshiping Buddha and of arhats (saints) watching the sea, as well as dragons, Chinese unicorns, sea turtles, elephants, and deer. The designs are vivid and lifelike. The sumeru pedestal of the divine platform in the main hall is covered with designs of mountains, trees, a temple, a pagoda, crop fields, a tiny bridge over a stream, wandering monks, a farmer with his donkey, and people waiting to be ferried across a river. The luxuriant cypress in front of the main hall is 4 m around. It is said that Hui Neng, the sixth abbot of the Shaolin Temple, took a cypress sapling in his alms bowl from Guangdong Province and planted it in front of the main hall of the Temple of the Founder of Chan when he returned to the Shaolin Temple to pay homage to Buddha. The tree is over 1,200 years old. Bodhidharma was the first to practice what is now known as Shaolin martial arts. His limbs had become stiff from the long periods of sitting still and facing the cave wall, and he felt great discomfort. He also noticed that the monks were falling asleep during meditation and that their health was deteriorating, so he invented an exercise of eighteen movements, now known as the Eighteen Routines of Shaolin Martial Arts, imitating the pounce of the tiger, the climb of the monkey, and the jump of the leopard. He also taught the monks the regimen of limbering up and cleaning the bone marrow and internal organs. Limbering up consists of stretching the muscles through exercise and improving circulation. Cleaning the bone morrow and internal organs consists of removing internal stagnant substances through deep breathing exercise. The regimen, also called wushuchan (martial arts and meditation), combines movement with stillness and meditation with martial arts. Later, monks at the temple enriched and improved Shaolin martial arts by drawing on the strong points of the martial-arts traditions. There is a mural entitled Thirteen Shaolin Cudgeling Monks Rescue the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty on the walls of Baiyi Hall. It depicts the fight for power toward the end of Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) between Prince Qin (599 - 649) and General Wang Shichong (?-621). At the crucial moment, monks from the Shaolin Temple came to help Prince Qin attack Wang Shichong's army from behind and win victory. When Prince Qin came to power as Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, he conferred titles on the monks, granted land to the Shaolin Temple, and issued a special edict that allowed the monks to eat meat and drink wine. Later, the Shaolin Temple was made an imperial temple governing other Buddhist temples in the area. To defend the temple, the imperial court gave permission to the Shaolin Temple to organize a troop of monk-soldiers and sent army officers highly skilled in military arts to teach them how to use the broad sword, the spear, the two-edged sword, and other weapons, thus forming the complete system of Shaolin martial arts. In return, the monk-soldiers performed meritorious deeds in defense of the royal court. About 300 m west of the Shaolin Temple is the Pagoda Forest. In accordance with the Buddhist system, pagodas were built there to keep the remains of the deceased abbots and other eminent monks, and stone table inscribed with the merits and virtues of the dead were erected. The Pagoda Forest has 231 pagodas built during the 1,200 years after 791, the eleventh year of the reign (780-805) of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty. The form and size of the pagodas bear the influences of the times and show the ranks of the dead during their lifetimes and the economic situation at the temple. The pagodas vary in appearance and are from one to seven stories high, the highest being 15m. Some of them have closely-placed eaves, some look like pavilions, and some have a sumeru pedestal. The pagoda foundations are square, rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, or round. Most of the pagodas are carved with inscriptions of the occupants' ranks, religious names, and meritorious services. The inscriptions are useful materials for the examination of the history, religious practices, and economy of the Shaolin Temple and a treasure house for the study of the pagoda architecture, calligraphy, and sculpture of ancient times.

The Guanyin Temple
The Guanyin (the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy) Temple was built in the period of Qingli of the Sung Dynasty (1041 - 1048), located in Wangtai Village 15km southeast of Ruyang County, Luoyang. The temple, facing south, covers an area of about 14,000 sq.m. With a magnificent look, it stands in tasteful solitude. It is one of the most attractive tourist spots in Western Henan Province.

The Han-Wei Imperial City
The location of Han-Wei Imperial City of Luoyang is about 15km east of Luoyang. It backs on to the Mangshan Hill and faces the Luo River in the south. It was created as the capital for the Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin and the Northern Wei dynasties for 334 years. Today, part of the ancient city wall can still be seen on the Yi River plain where one can imagine the magnificence of that prior city.

The Hangu Pass of the Han Dynasty
The Hangu Pass of the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) is located 500 m east of the downtown of Xin'an County, Luoyang. It was built by General Yang Shi in the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty. The pass platform is 9 m high, 25 m wide and 20 m deep. On the platform, there is an arched pass of 7 m high and 4 m wide. Here was the key pass to Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in ancient times.

The Mausoleum of Emperor Guangwudi of the Han Dynasty
Located in Baihe Township, Mengjin County 20km north of Luoyang, the mausoleum is a tomb for Emperor Liu Xiu, the first Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It consists of the mausoleum yard and a memorial monastery covering an area of 66,000 sq.m. The mausoleum lies in the middle of the yard, 290 m high and 50 m in perimeter. Besides, there are five tablets inscribed respectively in the Sung, Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD), Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) and Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) period. As the cypress smell of apricot, so they are called apricot-cypresses, which are the only trees of their kind existing in China today.

The Baiyuan Garden
The Baiyuan Garden is located on the northern slope of Xiangshan Hill to the south of Luoyang. It is built in honor of the Tang poet Bai Juyi. The garden, including Bai's tomb, combines the charm of different gardens in both the north and China and is a typical representation of horticulture in this region.

The Tomb of Fan Zhongyan
The tomb of Fan is located on the slope of Wan'Anshan Hill, Pengpo Township, Yichuan County to the southeast of Luoyang. Fan Zhongyan was a well-known politician, militarist and a man of letters of the Northern Sung Dynasty. The tomb yard consists of Fan's own tomb and several other tombs for family, his mother, his sons and grandsons. It occupies about 4 hectares of land with over a thousand age-old cypress trees planted. The large scale of Fan's tomb is quite rare in history.

Nativity of Xuanzang
The Nativity of Xuanzang is in Chenhe Village of Gousi Town, Yanshi County, Henan Province. As a famous monk of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) Dynasty, Xuanzang was a great traveler, translator and Buddhist as well as a cultural notable in world history.

Baiyunshan State-level Forest Park
Baiyunshan, the summer resort in Central China, is situated in Songxian County south of Luoyang, covering an area of about 2,677 hectares. It is a virgin forest. With clouds above and mist all around, it shrouds the towering. marvelous peaks like a fairyland in the human world. There stand 37 peaks of over 1,500 m above sea level, of which the highest peak is Yuhuang Peak, 2,211.6 m above sea level, known as the top in China's Central Plain.

The Longyu Bay
The Longyu Bay, known as Long Yu Wan in Chinese, is located in Luanchuan County 160km south of Luoyang. Legend says that it was named from the Chinese name Long Yu. It is a state-level forest park approved by the Ministry of Forestry. With splendid views and joyful scenarios, 12 tourist zones containing over 100 scenic spots have already been exploited in the park.

The Jiguan Cave
The Jiguan Cave, located in Luanchuan County, was discovered for the first time in the reign of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD). According to History of the County: "There are four halls looking like the caves of the dragon or snake". Mr. Zhu Xuewen, the president of the cave research society of the Chinese Geology Academy wrote with pleasure: "With magnificent spectacles and special cause of formation, it is worthy of #1 of its kind in North China and is the first dragon palace ever found in our country.", upon visiting Jiguan Cave.

Luoyang Water Banquet
Luoyang Water Banquet, also called soup banquet, is a well-known cuisine in China and has a history of more than 1,000 years. The food is noted for its various soups with sour and spicy flavors. The different dishes are served continuously like the flow of water; hence the name "Water Banquet". There are 24 courses in the banquet The first course named "Luoyang Swallow Dish" is made of turnip shreds, chicken shreds, minded pork and other vegetables simmered in soup. Legend has it that Empress Wu Zetian was full of praise after she tried it.