February 4, 2014 is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, which is the folk custom of "Po Wu" and the "beginning of spring" solar term. In order to take advantage of the short-distance self-driving trip during the holidays and realize the long-cherished wish of my wife, son and girlfriend, I chose the famous "Songshan Shaolin" scenic spot in Dengfeng City, which none of them had ever visited. It is only 8 or 90 kilometers away from Zhengzhou City. Became a tour guide.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, after lunch, my son drove us. We started from the city, followed Zhongyuan West Road to the West Fourth Ring Expressway south, and went straight to the "Zheng Shao Expressway" toll station. When we arrived at the toll station, cars with less than 7 seats were released free of charge during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday. Therefore, the usual car blocking bar was lifted up into the air, making it unimpeded. Outside the window, the sky is gloomy, like the face of a child crying; the wind is cold, like a knife cutting; the road is flat, stretching from the horizon to the distant sky in the southwest; the car is light and fluttering, as if it is leaving a string. The arrow flies forward. I saw fields, trenches, trees, villages, low houses, tall buildings, bridges, tunnels, and distant mountains on both sides of the road, passing by from far to near one by one. In the car, I told the famous scenic spots and stories of Songshan Shaolin, in order to preemptively prepare for the next trip; my wife also talked about the Spring Festival greetings and anecdotes from relatives and friends, in order to liven up the atmosphere and cheer up my son while driving. .

At two o'clock, in a relaxed and happy atmosphere, we rushed to the "Dengfeng West" expressway exit. According to the scenic spot sign, we are still 19 kilometers away from the Shaolin Scenic Area. We got off the expressway, bypassed the Dengfeng Ring Road, and headed northwest along the wide Shaolin Avenue to the scenic spot. Along the way, there are rows of buildings of different heights on both sides. There are not only the world-famous "China Shaolin Temple Tagou Martial Arts Academy" that stands out, but also the martial arts schools named "Henan, Zhengzhou, and Dengfeng" one after another; There are viewing spots for "Shaolin Zen Music Ceremony", "Songshan Academy" and "Zhongyue Temple" scenic spots; there are a dazzling array of "farmhouse" restaurants and hotels, as well as clear close-up views of the dark distant mountains. Especially the closer you get to the Shaolin Scenic Area, the more you feel the traffic, tourists, and bustle. It’s so lively! At this time, in the sky, the long-awaited white snowflakes that have been missing for a winter are floating like goose feathers, falling leisurely on various buildings, the ground and the bodies of tourists. They melt in an instant, but It was so cold that people huddled up and began to look for clothes to protect themselves from the snow and cold, and put on rain gear.

When we arrived at the parking lot of the scenic spot, the cars were overcrowded, so we had to learn from others and carefully choose to park on the side of the road. When we got off the car, the wind was biting and the chill was biting. We braved the wind and snow. Following the flow of tourists, we quickly arrived at the Visitor Service Center in the square in front of the gate of the Shaolin Scenic Area. Here, we did not bother to browse the tall and grand scenic mountain gate, the majestic stone carvings and the colorful souvenirs. Instead, we first went to the promenade on the right to take shelter from the wind and snow, and then our son and girlfriend bought ear warmers for each of the four of us, and waited. Dress neatly, line up at the ticket office on the left promenade, and spend 100 yuan per person to buy a ticket to get the admission ticket.

After entering the scenic spot, while my son and the others were taking pictures at the mountain gate, I briefly browsed the tourist attraction route map of the Songshan Shaolin Scenic Area and read the introduction: The Songshan Shaolin Scenic Area is a world-famous tourist attraction. The National Tourism Administration The first batch of 5A-level scenic spots. The scenic area is rich in cultural landscapes and beautiful natural landscapes. It has Shaolin's "Zen, martial arts, and medicine" culture that has been passed down for thousands of years. The beautiful scenery like natural Chinese paintings and the rare geological landscapes and cultural landscapes of "five generations under one roof" are mainly concentrated in the core area. Within 2.18 square kilometers, there are Shaolin Temple, Pagoda Forest, Bodhidharma Cave, Chuzu Temple and other scenic spots; the natural landscape is concentrated in the Sanhuang Village of Shaoshi Mountain, where the famous "Songyang, Zhongyue, and Shaolin" in the Precambrian period are clearly displayed. The three major mountain-building and land-building movement sites silently bear witness to the antiquity of Songshan Mountain in Sinnoh, and are the best viewing spots in the Songshan Global Geopark. To be honest, although I have visited this place twice before, it was only in the 1980s and 1990s. Times have changed.

In my memory, I only have a vague impression of "Shaolin Temple and Pagoda Forest". The scenery is not as beautiful as the scenery I saw in front of me. I thought: This time I must look at it carefully, remember it carefully, and focus on the trip, and write it down when I get home. I wrote this travelogue to make up for my shortcomings over the years.

It is with such good wishes that my family and I joined the crowd. According to the tourist attraction route diagram, we walked on the wide, beautiful and clear bluestone slabs and rushed to the first scenic spot. ——"Martial Arts Hall". This hall is about 400 meters away from the mountain gate. It has a modern architectural style. As you go up the stairs, you will see a tall circular martial arts hall in the middle with dozens of wing rooms on both sides. The first room on the right is the Shaolin prayer bell, which is about 4 meters high and about 3 meters in diameter. It is suspended in the sky. A wooden stake is suspended next to it. It is tied with a red silk scarf. There are more than a dozen people standing below it. Visitors who came to pray for blessings lined up like a stream of water and went up one by one to ring the bell three times. As the bell sounded "dang-dang-dang-", its sound lingered inside and outside the martial arts hall and echoed in the ancient temple in the valley. The sky above indicates that the person who rings the bell will have good luck in the coming year, peace and happiness! While waiting for the opening of the martial arts hall, in order to bring good luck to the New Year, I joined the bell-ringers and tasted the joy after praying.

At 2:55, the martial arts hall’s second martial arts performance in the afternoon officially opened. Admission is by ticket. Tourists who had been waiting for a long time poured into the martial arts performance hall like a tide and entered the circular seats from three sides. Since our family arrived late, the seats were full and we could only stand in the front row at the entrance. When I stood still and took a look, there was a stage in the middle, about 80 square meters, with a wall behind it and a round door in the middle for the actors to enter and exit. Its top is arched, about ten meters high, and the remaining three sides are stands, divided into upper and lower floors, which can accommodate about 800 spectators. The lights in the museum are bright, the people are bustling, and the atmosphere is warm. At 3 o'clock sharp, under the spotlight, the young and beautiful female host walked to the center of the stage, holding a wireless microphone, and announced with her crisp, beautiful and magnetic voice that the 30-minute wonderful martial arts performance would now begin.

The first program was Shaolin Boxing. At this time, the whole audience fell silent, and everyone concentrated on watching the performance. As the host explained one by one, six Shaolin disciples wearing apricot cassocks took the stage one after another and performed monkey boxing, cockroach boxing, frog boxing, tiger boxing, leopard boxing and eagle boxing respectively. The youngest of them was only 7 or 8 years old. The oldest ones are only 15 or 6 years old. They all leap, move, flip and roll, and every move is like thunder; everyone squats, jumps, bends and stretches, and imitates each punch and kick realistically. In order to enliven the viewing atmosphere and encourage audience participation, the host also selected three boys from the audience who volunteered to appear on stage. They imitated their respective boxing moves to the three actors who had just performed tiger, leopard and cockroach boxing. Who could imitate them best? Like, whoever gets the most applause from the audience will win the prize. The prize is a CD of Shaolin Kung Fu that can play for more than 70 minutes. While awarding prizes to the winners on stage, the host also took the opportunity to sensationalize the CDs for 10 yuan each. Four girls who presented CDs immediately walked out from the audience, and within a short time, more than 10 live audience members were vying to buy them. Those who were too late could go backstage to buy more. This shows that the thousand-year-old temple is also advancing with the times and has a strong sense of cultural management.

Then, the second program performed was Shaolin's ultimate martial arts. Again, Shaolin disciples performed the performance and the host explained it at the same time. look! There are those who use the power of the top of their head to suddenly hit the top with a 1-meter steel plate and are broken without any damage, there are those who use the power of their fingers to pop colorful balloons through the glass, and there are those who use the soft power to bend the body more than 360 degrees with different shapes, and even more There are cross-legged movements that look like lotus flowers, leaping, rolling, squatting, jumping, flexing and stretching freely, and are performed by a collective martial arts team. I was stunned and amazed by these wonderful shows! The last program is a group performance of 18 Shaolin martial arts: Shaolin disciples take turns to perform, either dancing swords and guns, fencing and halberds, whipping whips and shaking ropes, swinging sticks and playing sticks, everything is thrilling; or shooting arrows against the sun, or Monkeys fishing for the moon, punching and kicking, grappling and fighting, all of them are exciting. This scene was really dazzling and dizzying. This passionate performance came to an end with thunderous applause from the audience!