Return to Shanxi (Part 4)
On the way back from Ruicheng to Yuncheng, to satisfy the two ladies' longing for snow, our driver, Mr. Fan, specially found a wheat field covered in thick snow and let them romp around on it. The two little sweethearts stepped on the snow footloose, their joy even greater than winning the lottery. They grabbed handfuls of snow and made snowballs. What pure delight!
Yuncheng was known in ancient times as Hedong, meaning "east of the Yellow River", right where the river takes its final bend in the shape of a reversed L. With the Taihang Mountains at its back to the northwest and the Yellow River curving around to the southeast, embracing a fertile basin at its heart, it holds the key to entering or leaving Taiyuan. Drinking from the Yellow River, this land could use its waterways to link the Guanzhong plain and Luoyang, while its natural moat kept western tribes at bay — a strategic spot fiercely contested throughout history. Across the Yellow River lies Tongguan Pass, the stage for countless battles down the ages. Stretching along the banks, there are many famous ferry crossings, the most renowned being Fenglingdu. In Jin Yong's novel *The Return of the Condor Heroes*, it was at Fenglingdu that Guo Xiang first laid eyes on Yang Guo, which gave rise to the immortal line: "First meeting at the Fengling Ferry, a single glance at Yang Guo enchanted the rest of her life."
We passed by another crossing — Dayu Ferry. The driver, Mr. Fan, pulled over so his daughter could see for herself the true colour of the Yellow River. Here, the river sprawls wide and flows slow and steady. On the opposite bank in Henan stretches an endless expanse of flat plains.
Back in Yuncheng, the sky was ablaze with sunset, the weather remarkably fine. So we took the chance to make an extra stop at the Pagoda of the Chan Master Fanzhou. This is a rare surviving example of a round pagoda from the Tang Dynasty. Originally built inside Baoguo Temple to commemorate the Chan Master Fanzhou, after a millennium the pagoda remains while the temple has vanished. Chan Master Fanzhou was born into the royal Li family of the Tang Dynasty — a grandson of Emperor Gaozong, Li Zhi. Bright from a young age and devoted to Buddhism, he entered monastic life at the age of twenty. He was accomplished in both poetry and painting, especially renowned for his depictions of arhats. His work *The Sixteen Arhats* became the model for later generations to copy and sculpt arhat statues. This means that most of the post-Tang arhat images we see in temples across China today trace their origins back to the creative artistry of Chan Master Fanzhou.
