A listening presence across the sea
Why Guanyin became closely associated with Putuo Island, and how compassion gives the island’s sacred landscape its meaning.
At Zhejiang’s eastern edge, Zhoushan is a prefecture-level city spread across an archipelago in the East China Sea. Its name belongs to a whole island region, not to Putuo Island alone. Here the sea is both horizon and working space: islands face one another across channels, while ports and neighbourhoods make everyday city life on the shore. Putuo Island is one distinct island within this wider geography. Its temples and Guanyin traditions form one strand of Zhoushan, alongside fishing communities, other islands and the city’s maritime life.
