By SUSAN TRIMBLE.

"Returned to Light."

During 1999, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the PRC, the Beijing History Museum mounted an exhibition of the Buddhist statuary discovered at the Longxing Temple site in Qingzhou, Shandong province. "Returned to Light" was highlighted again at Beijing's Millennium Monument in 2002.

These exhibitions were stunning! The condition of the statues and fragments on display was remarkable. The carving is extremely detailed, those colors that remain are glorious, the style is bold in its gentleness.

The magnificence of these statues and fragments has remained vivid in my mind. Over the past year, I have been intrigued with the thought of going to Qingzhou to see the museum and the site where the Qingzhou Buddhas were discovered. Finally I bought an overnight train ticket -- destination -- Qingzhou!

Tuoshan Grottos.

Qingzhou was only just waking up as I walked out of the train station onto a sunny city square. No hustling taxi drivers, no pushy peddlers, - in fact, no one seemed at all interested in a lone foreign traveler arriving in town. Or so I thought! I walked into the square and surveyed the area. Across the way was a hotel that had "coffee shop" written on the window. That sounded too good to be true, but did indicate to me that the hotel might have a city map and perhaps a travel desk. City map? --Yes, they had one; no, I couldn't buy it. And the travel desk was not open of course. And coffee, well they had Nescafe that tasted great even without milk and sugar. So good that I decided to check in!

Qingzhou is a county seat about two hours drive from Jinan, the capital city of Shandong. Surrounded by mountains, with a river running through it, Qingzhou city history dates from 1,400 years ago when it was called Nanyang. Today the city is a small one with wide tree--lined streets, clean and almost empty of traffic.

The Qingzhou Municipal Museum is situated at the eastern edge of the ancient city. The river skirts it to the north bordering the lovely Fangongting Park. The museum location was chosen because it was thought to be close to the site of the one-thousand-year-old Longxing Temple.

Reproducing relics.

In 1996 the sports field to the south of the museum was being prepared for resurfacing as a basketball court. Strange looking limestone pieces were turning up during plowing - strange enough that the workers alerted the museum authorities. The legendary Longxing Temple had been found! Little did the museum staff expect to also find a hoard of Buddhist statuary, neatly arranged, some wrapped in protective matting and layered three deep. Smaller pieces were placed under hollowed areas of larger statues. All indications were that this stash was hidden in Longxing Temple for protection...but from what?

The museum is designed in a traditional palace style with three two-storey halls, each displaying small but fine collections. All signs are in Chinese and English. The "in-house" collection of the Qingzhou Buddhas is about 50 pieces and dates from Northern Wei and Qi, (386 to 577), with most pieces between 500 to 550. They are beautifully mounted, cleverly lit and very well labeled. This small part of the Longxing temple find whets your appetite for more. But alas, seeing the rest will not be so easy. About one third of the collection forms a traveling exhibition, currently in Jinan-Based Provincial Museum and scheduled to go to America in 2004. If you ever have the chance to see this exhibition, don't miss it! The collection "Returned to Light" is remarkable for its unique style, for its splendid detail and for the mystery surrounding it.

Clean and colorful Qingzhou city street.

Just outside of Qingzhou, about fifteen minutes from the museum, I climbed Yunmen Mountain -- a 40 minute "slog" up hundreds of natural stone steps. The view from the top is spectacular and situated on the south-facing mountainside are a set of Buddhist grottos from the Sui Dynasty. Sadly they have been badly damaged by modern plunderers cashing in on the renewed interest in Buddhist art.

Tuoshan is another mountain in the immediate vicinity of Qingzhou. To the west of Yunmenshan, Tuoshan also has auspicious views and a lovely set of grottos. Unfortunately they too have felt the chisel of thieves and thus many statue heads have been lost forever. Right on the mountaintop is Haotian Palace. Complete with humpback bridge and one Daoist monk, this peaceful retreat is difficult to leave. But dusk does fall on the mountain and that's not the time to start down a mountain's winding stairway.

Haotiangong - Retreat on Tuoshan.

Some other treasures in this area of Shandong are:

* Yangtian Temple site (currently under rejuvenation) with a fine collection of steles;

* one of China's three remaining Yuan Dynasty Zhen temples;

* the Ming Dynasty stone gates of Henggong;

* one of the few preserved rockeries from the Kangxi period;

* Fangong Pavilion, a tribute to a Song Dynasty poet; and

* the ancient seven arch Wannian bridge

A land of fruit and flowers, lovely people, many places to explore and treasures, treasures, treasures galore -- that is Shandong, Qingzhou!

I'm going back on the next train out! And by the way, those lovely people all noticed I was there.