A bridge to a longer life

Somewhere in the world there is a swinging jungle bridge with the unique power to give those who walk over it a longer happy life. Behind this, there is a Chinese myth about a God who has the power to keep the death away. The bridge is situated about 40 km west of Sanya, and I am going there together with my wife, Solveig.

The concept of Longevity can be explained as follows: A long, long life in harmony with good health, nature and living myths. Another word for the same is quality of life. This is celebrated every year in Dongtian Park, a large culture park in the nature of Nashan. The celebrations are focussed on persons older than 80 years. There are many of them in Hainan. They are coming in buses standing up for photos, proud of being old and honoured.

We asked the taxi driver to take another way to a point from where we could see Buddha with his head 108 meters above the sea. That is great. You can find this statue in Buddha land. It was built in 2005. We both remember an earlier visit there as a very, very interesting travel in the conception of the Chinese Buddhism and architecture. We will go back to that unforgettable place another day.

Now to the remarkable bridge. We are both old people, and the visit is hence very important to us.

Dongtian Park, classical Chinese myths are living up. We meet The Dragon King of the South Sea, the most important God here. He is the protector of the vital necessity of nature, men and animals. You can find him in the taoistic mythology. He is sitting with a sword in his left hand, a ruler on his throne. Chinese people stand in queue to give him flowers and fruits. It is like worship, I think.
  
We went further along small paths through jungle vegetation. They lead to a top located high above the surrounding landscape. We have got to know that during last Longevity Festival, a 100 years old man climbed up there to look at the wonderful views, sea and beaches, green mountains and miles of close forests.

Suddenly we stop.The bridge! We walk over it thinking: How much longer will we live now? Back and forward once again. Now we have added some more years, Solveig says. Maybe we now can reach 105 years.

Reborn, we start climbing up to the top, drinking a lot of water this hot day in November. We are talking: Not long ago the culture revolution was in harnesk against old traditions, myths, Buddhism and the classic history of China. Today traditions are rehabilitated. We have seen the evidences in Nanshan Culture and Nature Reservant in Nanshan, The End of the world and Buddha land.

Something very interesting is also the ecological purpose: "We promise to take the harmonious co-existence of humans and nature as our cardinal principle... To protect the balance of the ecological system of the tropical rainforest in Nanshan Ridge..."