Over 700-Year-Old Trees Surrounding a Medicine Temple

On the afternoon of our last day in Hangzhou, we visit an excavation site of streets, building remnants, and canal systems from the Southern Song Dynasty era, where one can clearly see the construction of the roads of that time, built with bricks measuring 37 x 17 x 7 cm. The royal roads were 3 to 7 meters wide. The museum is located in two buildings separated by a street, which is why a tunnel under the road continues the tour. To conclude our Hangzhou vacation, we climb Wu Mountain and visit two temples. The Yao Wang Temple was founded by Zhang Sen, who with his medical skills spared the residents of the city from a wave of poisoning. His reputation as a medical temple allows him to honor the famous physician of traditional Chinese medicine, Bian Que (407 – 310 BC), and the renowned doctor of the Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao (who lived around 630). Bian Que was born in Renqiu in Cangzhou Prefecture, and I briefly introduced him on my website: Lion City Website. Incidentally, there is also a Yao Wang Temple in Renqi because of this. The camphor trees surrounding the temple here in Hangzhou are over 700 years old and perhaps cultivated for medicinal purposes. The second temple, Dong Yue, nearby is surrounded by camphor trees over 500 years old, and we reach it just before closing. It honors the deity of Mount Taishan, Dongyue Dazhang. The temple features prayer wheels, which confuses me, as it pertains to a Taoist deity and not a Buddhist reverence. Anyway, I'm not a religion expert, and I now use the temple only as a transition because through the sacred Taishan Mountain, which is only 200 km south of our home in Cangzhou, we will continue our journey back home by train from the East Station in Hangzhou the next day. The city has much more to offer than we could see in these 5 days of sightseeing. The details about the museum on Liangzhu culture I will provide later, probably from Germany. My hours-long stay at the museum still needs to be processed. I would have liked to visit a bamboo forest and a tofu village as well. Where did I get these travel tips? The native Rostocker Sven Tetzlaff lives and works in Hangzhou. Besides a regular podcast, he also publishes beautiful travel videos on his Youtube channel. So, anyone wanting to stay a bit longer in Hangzhou can do so through this link: China Diary.