Putuo Mountain

Putuo Mountain, one of the Four Holy Buddhist Mountains(the other three are Wutai Mountain in Shanxi Province, Emei Mountain in Sichuan Province and Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui Province), is located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and covers an area of 12.5 square kilometers.

The highest peak, the Fudingshan Mountain is 300 meters high above the sea level. Temples, monasteries, nunneries are spread all over  the  mountain. According  to  the  annals  of  Putuo Mountain, after the construction of "Unwilling-to-go" Guanyin Temple, people began to build up temples in large scales. The remained ten ancient architecture complex and historical sights were built in Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. Putuo Mountain once had 82 temples, 128 huts, accommodating 4,000 monk and nuns at its heyday. When you walk on the paths, you probably can come across monks in kasaya. The glorious sceneries as well as the glamour concerned with Buddhism make it a sacred mountain.  

Puji Temple, Fayu Temple, and Huiji Temple are the three largest in the twenty temples in Putuo. Puji Temple, covering 11,000 square meters, was first built in Song Dynasty, and is the main temple devoted to the Goddess of Guanxin. Fayu Temple was first built in Ming. It sits along the mountain with different layers on it. Numerous large trees stand in the mountain, qualify the temple for a quiet and deep place. Huiji Temple is on the Foding Peak, so gets a name after that, Foding Peak Temple.

Bizarre rocks and queer cliffs can be seen everywhere. The most famous twenty are Qingtuo Rock, Rock of Two Tortoises Listening to Preaching, Rock of Buddhist Heaven on Sea, etc. Along the line where the mountain connects with the sea, many spectacular caves are very attractive. Chaoyin Cave and Fanyin Cave are the two top ones.