Putuoshan is a small island in the East China Sea (2 hours boat off Shanghai). It's possible to walk from one end to the other in an hour or two but you could also spend days here relaxing and visiting some of the many temples. The island has about 3000 residents and about a third of these are monks.

In 916AD a Japanese monk tried to take a statue of the Mercy Buddha Guanyin from the China mainland back to Japan. They got as far as Putuoshan where fierce storms prevented them from going any further. Guanyin came to the monk in a dream and told him that if he would leave her here on Putuoshan, she would let him return home. The monk agreed and the weather cleared up and Putuoshan has been her home since then.