Two temples, only 15min drive on a dirt road between them.

We had driven through Mianzhu, a small city near Chengdu into the village Zundao. We were carrying three truckloads of relief supplies; rice, oil, potatoes, watermelon, soap, tooth brush and toothpaste, cold medicines, mosquito repellent, green pepper and beans, combs, cards, lighters….

Ji Xiangzhu temple

We arrived at the remains of the Ji Xiangzhu temple in the early afternoon. Sixty to seventy monks lived here and they housed and fed orphans and the disabled. Somehow, only eight people died in the earthquake: five monks and five residents. On the top of a hill stood the remains of the main temple, piles of rubble covered the hill for three hundred meters around. It had been a huge complex.

A path through the ruins

One of the monks led us up a path made of fallen clay tiles, broken and flattened. He told us that May 12, the day of the earthquake was Buddha’s birthday; that is, Buddha’s birthday is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth month of the Chinese lunar calendar which this year fell on May 12. “We were mostly outside praying,” he told us, “that is why we were so lucky. All the temple collapsed around us, but the Buddha’s statue remained.” He pointed at the gold statue far across a landscape of rubble.

The golden Buddha

At the top of the hill, the walls of the central temple still stood, but the roof had collapsed inward. Outside a huge bell had collapsed and the giant iron trough that should be filled with burning incence had toppled over. Nothing was left untouched.

Beautiful, intricately embroidered silk banner hung torn and crooked from the beams. Statues lay broken amidst broken beams.

The entrance to the temple

Inside

When we finished, the monk escorted us away. He looked a little sad but primarily he seemed resigned to his new reality. I took his picture when we arrived back down at the road.

Monk

Back in the car we followed our guide down roads lined with rice paddies and spotted with tents. No most than twenty minutes later, we arrived at another temple. This one untouched.

Standing Temple

It seemed to be made of stone or cement, while the other seemed to have been mostly wood. Still, there is a terrifying randomness about this destruction. Not even the shingles on the roof were out of place at the second temple.

Brilliantly colored temple

Stone sculptures still mounted on the temple’s tile roof

Banners to earthquake victims at the entrance to the temple

Outside the temple, tents lined the streets. To enter the temple, you cross and heavy stone bridge over a small stream. People have taken to dropping their trash in the stream outside the temple. Yet I am impressed; you often see worse than in many parts of rural China outside this disaster area. Given the number of people living near the temple, it could be much worse. Or perhaps someone cleans up?

New garbage dump