A once famous martial artist who taught thousands of students now bides his time at a hilltop temple that dates back to the Ming Dynasty, writing poems by the kilo
Wu De Temple, Sichuan Province, ChinaThe hill was corduroyed in green hedgerows of. The sword belonged to Yu Chengzhang. Uncle Yu was a martial artist and poet who wrote poems by the kilo.The temple’s name was Wu De. Uncle Yu composed his stanzas there with a cheap pen on sheets of plain white paper. He stacked these papers in a dim hermit’s quarters. Altogether his poetry weighed, by his estimate, about a quarter of a ton.
Uncle Yu’s family lived in Ya’an. There was a grown son bored with his father’s ways. They didn’t visit the hilltop temple often. Uncle Yu’s smile grew wistful talking about it. She sent years cajoling the skeptical local farmers. Some donated only one yuan. Others volunteered to carry bricks.Every morning before dawn, I watched Yang rise from her pallet in the dark temple to light eight candles in the main shrine. She chanted along with the mantras recorded on her mobile phone. By sunup the immense hedgerows of tea were emblazoned with dew and confettied with workers. Yang was out there, red-cheeked and sturdy in the early cold, picking. She earned about $20 a day.
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