Miscellaneous
Pilgrims’ progress
The wind outside was probably gentle, but from inside the cable car, we couldn’t tell. Each time the car approached a tower, a grating noise—like rocks rolling downhill would—be produced.Manish Gautam
The wind outside was probably gentle, but from inside the cable car, we couldn’t tell. Each time the car approached a tower, a grating noise—like rocks rolling downhill would—be produced. That was usually followed by a mild swaying of the car. And every time the sequence occurred, a chill ran down my spine.
The cable car was lifting us to the top of Huashan Mountain, in Shaannxi Province, China. These rugged mountains are located some 120 kilometres from Xian, the historic capital of the province. The mountains in the range here have a harsh façade, their treacherous surface covered with patches of green shrubs, like they were ancient leaves covering a stony skeleton. Mount Huashan is considered one of the five most sacred Taoist mountains in China, and Huashan’s peak and the surrounding outcrops thus prove a huge draw for tourists—both Chinese and foreigners—who visit Shaanxi.
After we got off the cable car, I slowly inched up towards the top of the mountain, together with a small group of visitors; we soon came across an area that had long metallic chains covered in rows of locks. The locks had been placed there because there is a belief, especially among lovers, that installing such locks helps create an everlasting bond between them. Perhaps the charm really did work, I thought, as I watched an elderly couple, who were trudging slowly ahead of me, approach a particular lock in the chain and beam at each other. I surmised that they had probably left that lock there many years ago, and that the climb up the peak was as much a religious pilgrimage as that of love.
The trail that pilgrims have to take is anything but easy. The sides of the cliffs drop away almost vertically. For the braver souls, there are walkways nailed to the sides of the mountains. These paths have been cobbled out of wooden planks, and the pilgrims who want to go the route can hang on to dear life by reaching for the chains that are attached to the cliff-face. There are apparently quite a bit of these brave pilgrims. I saw clusters of people taking small strides as they climbed up the terrifying route.
Because the mountains are so sacred, the Chinese government has made it accessible for the general visitors as well; and thus the cable cars. Each year, thousands of people make their way up these mountains, which have been declared by the government as a “top ten tourist destination in China”.
As I was climbing up the mountain, I thought about how Nepal too had so many holy spots scattered across the country—and in settings that were perhaps no less spectacular. The Chinese tourist industry has grown by leaps and bounds in this new era of the country’s prosperity. The Chinese government has helped prop up the sector by ensuring that places such as Huashan Mountain are easily accessible from cultural hotspots like the city of Xian. To be sure, we in Nepal do not have the deep public coffers that our neighbour to the north has; but we could perhaps come up with innovative models (private-public partnerships?) to turn our holy sites into top draws too.