【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 ll are the only five types of herons ever seen in China. People choose to call them egrets (Bailu in Chinese) collectively because they, except the gray egrets, which have dark gray bodyfeathers, have beautiful snowwhite feathers. The small and midiumsized egrets are of the largest numbers and are seen morefrequently. On October 23 of 1986, at the 23rd Session of the Standing Committee of the 8th Municipal Peoples Congress it was decided that the egret be the City Bird of Xiamen. FlowerBougainvillea glabra 廈門市市花三角梅英文介紹The City Flower was decided by the Standing Committee of the Eighth Peoples Congress of Xiamen City on October 23, 1986 in its 20th conference. The scientific name of the flower is Bougain Villeasp. It is an evergreen clamber bush or a hanging down shrub, which belongs to the category of bougain of thebongainvillea family. It is a wood nature liana. The nature of its leaves has the luster. Its flower is small and blooms on the top. The flower usually grows inclusters in the bud plate. The three big bud plates are very distinctive, constructing a major object sight for enjoying. In ancient times, it was called Nine Layers of Vine. It is called Leaves Tiny Flower and Triangular Flower in North China and it was called Bougain as translated in sound from English in Hongkong. It was originally planted in Brazil of South America and it is a long time since it was imported and planted in China in 1972.It has a great number of varieties, and large amount of colors. It has the nurture color of red, orange, yellow, white and purple, and it has the shape of single petal flower, double petal flower and mottled plate flower etc. It couples hardness with softness, and it is simple and unadorned. It is easy to plant and possesses such variety of colors, so it can be used to make potted landscape. As a result, to use the Triangular Shaped Plum Blossom as the city flower, to plant it broadly and to take care of it will not only afforest and beautify Xiamen, but also better show the style and features of Xiamen, the character of Xiamen people and the rapid Development of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone.07. Nanputuo Temple廈門南普陀英文介紹Situated at the foot of Wulao Peak on the southern end of Xiamen is nanputuo Temple. The temples Heavenly King Hall, the main prayer hall, the Hall of Great Compassion and the Shrine of Buddhist Scriptures are all graced with painted brackets.The temple was first built during the Tang Dynasty (618907). And rebuilt during theQing Dynasty (16441911), it is now an imposing multilayered trapezoidal structure that overlooks the sea. The Shrine of Buddhist Scriptures houses a huge collection of Buddhist cultural relics, including a Burmese jade carving of the Buddha and many importantBuddhist literature. It is one of the sacred places of Buddhism in Southern Fujian. Inside the temple there are the Heaven Kings Hall, the Daxiong Hall, the Great Compassion Hall, all of which are built in an exquisite and grand style.Enshrined in these halls are the statues of Maitreya, Sanshi Reverend Buddha,Thousandhanded Guanyin (Bodhisattva), Four Kings of Heaven, and the eighteen arhats. Although all are serious and solemn in appearance, each is distinctly different fromanother. The temple attracts a large number of pilgrims at home and abroad. The excellent craftsmanship of the Thousandhanded Guanyin is marked by its thousand hands and thousand eyes and glistening golden color.As to the Pavilion where Buddhist scriptures are kept, it has a rich collection of thehistorical articles of Buddhism. such as classics, statues of Buddhas, bronze bells from the Song Dynasty, calligraphic works and paintings from the ancient times. Among them,Intriguing Lotus Scripture written in blood in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the statue of Guanyin in white porcelain, a masterpiece of He Chaosong, are most valuable.In the te