Putuoshan Travel Guide
Putuoshan is a small mountain-cum-island in the East China Sea. It is not far from Shanghai or Ningbo and is a popular daytrip for many tourists.
It is a very small island and it is possible to walk from one end to the other in just over an hour. Despite its small size, it is still home to about 3,000 people, a third of whom are monks.
There are many temples on the island and it is a very spiritual place which is home to an impressive statue of the Mercy Buddha Guanyin. This statue was once found on mainland China, but a Japanese monk tried to take it from China to Japan, only getting as far as Putuoshan before fierce storms were seen. Guanyin apparently appeared in the Japanese monk’s dream and told him that if he left her be she would let him return home. Within an instant, the weather cleared up and she has remained on Putuoshan ever since.
Other sights on the island include two beautiful beaches: Hundred Step Beach and Thousand Step Beach, and one of the largest Buddhist schools in China.