homecoming

Here I am, my homeland, China. It’s been almost a year since the last time I left this nation and what on earth could be better than going backing home?

Sichuan is not the place where I group up but it’s fantastic here. On July 6th we went on a climbing tour of Emei Mountain that is famous for its Emei Kungfu and Buddhism.  At least that's what I had heard previously. There were cable cars on Emei, but the whole team chose to climb it up step by step. The stairs seemed infinitely long, as we didn’t know how many stairs were still remaining.  We started to breathe harder as the altitude increased. But, the feeling of accomplishment when we finally reach the Golden Peak made us feel that the pain was worth of it. 

Today, we visited the Leshan Big Buddha. Leshan appears to be a small hill compared to Emei Mountain. As we went over the large crowd, as you typically would see in every tour sites in China, the huge Buddha sitting next to the river appeared in front of us. The erosion caused by acid rain seemed obvious all over the Buddha’s face.  It is said that there used to be gold and jade covering its body, but they have vanished for some reason you might or might not know. 

Everything in Sichuan is fresh to me and I look forward to the future trips.

Shawn Cheng is an upcoming junior at University of Michigan, majoring in Industrial and Operations Engineering. He grew up in China and went to USA for college. He enjoys tennis and working out (beginner) in his leisure time.

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