My View of Qingzhou

(Museums and food will be shared separately) My first impression of Qingzhou is the Zhaode Ancient Street at night. It’s dark with hardly any streetlights, and through the weathered red wooden doors, a faint light of life occasionally shines through. The full moon on the fifteenth night illuminates the bluestone pavement, as if freezing time, transporting me back to childhood nights—so quiet that not even a cat’s meow can be heard, the world sleeping in a dream of the past. Qingzhou Ancient City is an interesting place to explore old shopfronts and archways amidst the semi-commercialized trends. Next to shops that have already closed for the day are old residences with wooden doors tightly locked. People come and go, but some never return. The advantage of wandering a semi-commercialized ancient city is that there are still some delicious foods to try and, if thirsty, you can easily grab a cup of Mixue Ice City. Qingzhou Museum is a legendary and highly reputed museum. When I stood in front of the Buddhist relics excavated from Longxing Temple on the fourth floor, tears flowed uncontrollably. Being only a few centimeters away from the Wei and Jin dynasty statues without any glass barrier, I could feel the breath of artifacts from 1,500 years ago. I felt like a speck of dust, fortunate to cross time and have a conversation with them. Guangfu Temple was my biggest surprise. It’s an ancient temple in the mountains south of Qingzhou, reachable by taxi to the entrance. Passing through the archway, I saw magpies carrying ripe persimmons, and a kitten hiding in the bamboo grove looking annoyed. Walking another fifty meters up the mountain path behind the temple, I reached the Guangfu Temple tomb pagoda forest. Few people come here; I stood alone beside the pagodas, listening to the pine forest wind. Looking up at the inscriptions from the Ming dynasty and touching the weathered Buddhist niches, it’s incredible that history is presented right within reach. Inside the temple, a cat basking in the sun pretended to be asleep, unwilling to open its eyes no matter how I petted or touched its leg.