Scenes: Vegas Tower

This tower is one of two that overlook the city. I affectionately call this Vegas Tower. At night, two strobe lights flash over the tower onto the city, just like you see in Las Vegas.

A thirty-minute slightly-strenuous hike (by my standards, and remember that I run) gets you to the top of the mountain. It sits on one of the taller mountains in the city, perfect for an overlook.

Many people climb up to this tower daily as a spiritual practice or an exercise venture. Early in the morning, a few men scramble to the top and yell at the top of their lungs at 6 a.m. I’m sure that is a very pleasant alarm clock for those who live near the tower. I don’t know much more than that. It’s just something people do.

The tower is Buddhist in nature. Before the tower itself, there is a small shrine where people honor lost loved ones and some element of Buddhism. Erase any conception you have of religion, for that does not exist in China. Officially, the Chinese government does not accept formal religion, and speaking of Tibetan Buddhism is a no-no, but “Buddhist-like” elements are still woven into the culture and daily life of the people. (Many minority groups also continue to practice their faiths, under the radar, so to speak.)

If you want to read something interesting about Buddhism in China, check out this story in yesterday’s Huffington Post.

Back to those strobe lights. The collision of the old (tower) and the new (strobe lights) is very, very common in China. That tower is a couple of hundred years old, and the city of Tongren is thousands of years old. The strobe lights? One year.