Most comprehensive travel guides of China do not even mention Jinzhou. One that does is the DK Guide. It mentions exactly two tourist attractions near this city: the Wenyu Dinosaur Museum and Bi Jie Shan. So far we haven't been to see the Confuciusornis, but last weekend we went with a group of friends to Bi Jie Shan. Bi Jie Shan is twenty-five miles from Jinzhou, and it takes an hour to get there by slow bus. It is an island that becomes an isthmus at low tide. In China, as everywhere, there are two low tides every day. We wanted to plan our trip so that we would arrive a couple hours before low tide. Then we would be able to walk to the mountain, hike around a little bit, and still be able to walk back to dry land. It didn't work out that way. The schedule we were using was wrong. When we arrived at 11 a.m. the water was already covering the land bridge, and the tide was still coming in. We had to take a boat to the island, and then another boat back. We still had fun. Bi Jie Shan has several Buddhist temples. The biggest is six stories tall, and we climbed to the top via an outside staircase. There were thrity-seven statues in the temple. Most of them were fairly standard Buddhist and Daoist deities. They had round cheeks and peaceful expressions. There was even one laughing Buddha. At the very top, however, we found something entirely different: Behold Pan Gu, a deity from Chinese mythology who separated the Heavens from the Earth. Imagine encountering him at the top of a large, stone tower. He is eight feet tall when seated. He has a dragon for a mouth and two demons for a nose. He has crustaceans crawling around his face, and the sun and the moon cross his forehead. And what are his ears? Are they dogs? Are they more dragons? Here is the strangest thing about Pan Gu: He is well cared for. Unlike some other gods, he is not covered in a layer of dust. That yellow robe he is wearing is well laundered. The plastic flowers in his lap are obviously new. And there are cookies at his feet. The ants have not carried them off. Would you?