Ancient Ghost Town of China

During our Yangtze River cruise tour on board the Century Diamond, we stopped by a place called the Ghost Town (Fongtou Gosht Town) built many years ago. This town was built with the sole purpose to remind people to do good and shunt evil. As the name suggests, this town depicts life in hell for evil doers of the world.

In Chinese legends, there were 18 levels in hell for all kinds of criminals who committed hideous crimes against their fellow human beings while they were on earth. Depending on the severity of their crime, they were dispatched to different levels in hell when they died. Obviously their bodies and souls were tormented to different degrees at various levels in hell. The most serious cases were found at the 18th level in hell where there was no chance to escape punishment. We often heard people curing their enemies to die and be cast to the 18th level in hell where there is no escape and forgiveness.

There were various prison guards in hell to administer the punishments such as cutting off the tongues (for those who speak evil things against others), chopping of hands (for those who steal from others) and sending the bodies to a huge grinder or to boiling oil. All these scenes are vividly presented in clay figurines that really looked awesome and the life in hell was really terrifying. You may wonder how this can be of any good to visitors. Actually, the designers of this town wanted to use the terrifying scenes of bodies and souls being tortured in hell to educate people that this was going to happen to anyone who did evils against others after they died. Life in hell was made so real that people were frightened and scared of hell. To avoid being sent to hell, they will think thrice before committing any crime against their fellow human beings. If you were there and saw the horrible scenes of bodies and souls being subjected to the most hideous way of torturing in hell, you would probably agree that the building of the ghost town had serve its purpose, not to commit crimes if one does not want the kind of torturing in hell one would suffer upon one's death. The ancient people did have a point to bring this message across to the masses. For those who have eyes and let them see, crime does not pay.

Entrance to the ghost town

Signage of the ghost town

Drunken Ghost

                                              A video item on a strong man lifting a weight

Wall Writings

Wall Writings 2

This reminds me also of similar things back home in Singapore. The Haw Par villa in Pasir Panjang also has the same theme. There were so many scenes that depict life in hell where bodies and soul were subjected to all kinds of torture one could imagine. If you are in Singapore, bring your kids to visit the Haw Par villa and enjoy a remarkable educational tour. Enlarge to read the writings on photos on left and right, it is interesting!