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Machu people were fishing and hunting ethnic minority with long history. In AD 1635, one of the most important ethnic minorites in China-Manchu was originated in northeastern of the country. The first emperor of Manchu set up the " Eight Banners " system including some other ethnic minorites such as Nvzhen, Mongo, Korean, Han, etc. It was this minority that ruled the last feudal dynasty in Chinese history for 267 years.
Taking a walk inside the Manchu Historical and Cultural Corridor would definitely bring you back to the old times, experiencing the highs and lows of this faraway dynasty through the construction and drawings on the wall. It is built with the typical construction style of Qing dynasty, with red-painted pillars and lifelike carvings on it.
There is a giant fresco telling the story of Manchu. It is about 540 meters long and is filled with the Manchu legend stories and how their ancestors established the dynasty. You could find every important phase on the wall and would be amazed by the exquisite craftmanship of the painters.
Heading east from the corridor and getting over the outer city wall, a business street with rich Qing style comes into sight. It is Haocheng Lake Shangjia Street. This is where you can get some cool stuff of Manchu and take some memories with you. They have everything in Manchu style like clothes, food, small ornaments, decorations, souvenir and such. The categories and amount are absolutely more than enough to shimmer your eyes. I pick some interesting stuff for my friends.
They also have some local special cultural performance. My personal favorite would be Shadow Play. Craftsman cut hardboard into human and animal figures and wax them to make them look transparent, connect them with threads , and move them through pull some strings under the light, performing different interesting stories. I don’t expect to see them here. But this bring me back to my remote childhood memory, that’s why I like travel, you never know what you would see on the journey.
In Ksitigarbha Temple, people worship different buddhas. And Ksitigarbha is the most important of them all. He got the name because he is calm and patient like the earth, deep and quiet like the treasure. He saved his mother that was once suffering in hell a few times. As we all know, Qing dynasty was established through tons of fierce battles and hundreds of thousands people died from the war. So the emperor of Qing dynasty built the temple, hoping to wash off some sins and make people have faith in something.