Yanfu Temple

Yanfu Temple

Yanfu Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Located in Minyi Township in the western part of Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, it is a sacred site of Tibetan Buddhism in our county. Surrounding attractions centered around it include: the Twin Pagodas and Screen Wall, Xinxin Lake, Yulin Park, the Yin-Yang Boundary (Sancha River), the ancient sites of Jinzhaizhou and Shixing Cities, beacon towers, ancient caves, the Baijinbao Cultural Ruins, Huanghou Dian (Tashihai Ancient City), and more. It is a religious culture–oriented tourism development zone.

The Yanfu Temple Twin Pagodas and Screen Wall are situated on the west side of Damiao Village, Minyi Township, Zhaoyuan County, Heilongjiang Province. To the south, just an arrow’s flight away, flows the surging Nenjiang River eastward; to the west lies the vast and picturesque Xinxin Lake. Embraced by this river and lake, there rises a prominent terrace, atop which the Yanfu Temple Twin Pagodas and Screen Wall stand majestically, shaded by over a thousand ancient elm trees.

The Yanfu Temple Twin Pagodas are of the stupa style, built from blue bricks. The two pagodas are 32 meters apart, each standing 15 meters tall, and consist of three parts: the base, the body, and the finial. The twin pagodas are arranged east-west and face south. The base is divided into a pedestal platform and a pedestal proper. The bottom part is the pedestal platform, with sides eight meters long and a height of over three meters, forming a square-colored foundation. The entire base is simple, dignified, solid, and smooth. Above the base is the pedestal, styled as a square Sumeru pedestal, supported by square corner pillars at each corner. The four sides of the pedestal are carved with colorful patterns including lions, treasure basins, and jewels, while the edges are decorated with lotus petals and other ornamental designs. The central part between the twin pagodas is the body of the pagodas, whose bottoms are stepped platforms about two meters high. The eastern pagoda’s platform has three circular levels, while the western one has four square levels. The sides of the platforms are inscribed with Sanskrit characters—the famous Buddhist “Om Mani Padme Hum” six-syllable mantra. Some experts interpret it as “good fortune, happiness, and longevity,” while others understand it as “may you be like a deity upon a lotus.” Either way, it conveys auspicious and beautiful wishes.

Above the platform is the white stupa-shaped body of the pagoda, about four meters tall, adorned with eight unicorns, each holding a colored tassel in its mouth. On the southern side of each pagoda body is a niche, with the eastern pagoda’s niche surrounded by carvings of dancing dragons, and the western one encircled by floral patterns. It is said that each niche houses a small, exquisitely crafted gilded copper model of its respective pagoda, over a foot tall. In the early years after liberation, they were stolen by someone who climbed the pagoda. The upper parts of the pagodas are the finials, standing over five meters tall. The finial shafts are white, tapered from bottom to top in a conical shape, with thirteen layers of discs, each engraved with the same five Sanskrit characters on the north and south sides. The base of the finial shafts converges downward to connect to the pedestal. At the top of the finial shafts is a golden spire composed of a jewel, the sun, a crescent moon, and a lotus petal umbrella (also called a precious canopy). It is intricately carved, and when the river wind blows, it emits a delightful humming sound, truly marvelous and breathtaking. Later, the canopy went missing at some point, but a new pair was added during renovation in 1978. From top to bottom on both sides of the finial shafts are wooden pillars, carved with openwork vine patterns, serving as decorative elements of the finial.

The screen wall of the mountain gate is about 27 meters from the twin pagodas. The screen wall is 16 meters long, five meters tall, and about one meter wide, entirely constructed from finely jointed blue bricks. The lower part of the screen wall is a waist-tightened Sumeru pedestal, atop which is the wall body. The middle section of the screen wall features carved and painted vine patterns at the corners of its central pool, with a circular design in the center—on the southern side is “Sea Horse Facing the Clouds,” and on the northern side is “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl.” The eaves section directly extends six-sided heads to support the overhanging eaves, with eave rafters and flying rafters above, and the roof is of the flush-gable style, covered with cylindrical tiles. At the ends of the straight east-west ridges sit dragon-shaped ridge ornaments, believed to be the second son of the dragon, fond of gazing into the distance. Thus, they are decorated on the eaves, looking afar and also toward the future.

The exquisite architecture of the Yanfu Temple Twin Pagodas and Screen Wall showcases the artistic style of Chinese religious buildings. It shares many similarities with the stupas of Tibet, the white marble pagoda of Yanshou Temple in Hohhot, the enamel pagodas of the Outer Eight Temples in Chengde, and the White Dagoba in Beijing’s Beihai Park. In recent years, with improved transportation and upgraded highway construction, more and more tourists have visited here. It is said that the magnetic field here is highly active, and spending one hour each morning and evening can prolong life. In fact, the incidence and mortality rates in Damiao Village are very low, and now there are about fifty elderly villagers over eighty years old. Perhaps this validates the claim. The Yanfu Temple Twin Pagodas and Screen Wall bear witness to the rise and fall of dynasties, marking the trials and tribulations of history.