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A cluster of five temples at the foot of Daqingshan, 10 km northwest of Huhehaote City (Hohhot), Inner Mongolia. Ravaged during the cultural revolution, they are still in a dilapidated state. This 87 year old monk lives alone with two dogs in a small side building in one of the smaller temples. His talk is peppered with bitter mention of the cultural revolution, as if it just happened yesterday. An interesting phenomenon is this clustering of a number of temples at one site. Not sure why this was done?? But it is not the only temple complex like this in Inner Mongolia. All the temples are fully furnished but no they are devoid of life and no incense floats in the air. One temple is being repaired and painted rather garishly. The contrast between the old faded temples and the newly painted one....is striking. I prefer the honest poverty of the unpainted ones. On a small hill behind the temples is a stone ger with prayer flags flapping in the breeze. The mountains above are stripped of vegetation.

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