Huishan Qingshan Temple

Huishan Qingshan Temple

Huishan Qingshan Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Wuxi’s Qingshan Temple is located in Qingshan Bay at the foot of Huishan Mountain, west of Wuxi City. It lies to the north against the Second Peak of Huishan, borders the First Peak of Huishan to the east, connects to the mountain ridge linking Huishan and Zhangshan to the west, and faces Chan Mountain to the south. Once one of the "Four Hundred and Eighty Temples of the Southern Dynasties," historical records from Wu Di Ji state that Qingshan Temple was first built during the Datong era of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties period (535–545 AD). Emperor Wu of Liang had the Liangxi River dredged, hence the river became known as Liangxi. Facing the Liangxi River, local villagers built a temple here to honor two water management heroes. As recorded in the Wuxi County Annals: “Qingshan Temple was originally dedicated to the Water God.” The temple enjoyed enduring popularity. Over time, the Qingshan shrine expanded, and by the Southern Song Dynasty, it had developed into a full-fledged monastery. During the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, a Hall of Five Hundred Arhats was added. Around 1860, during the Xianfeng era, the entire temple complex was destroyed amid the chaos of the Taiping Rebellion. In the Republican era, local gentry and industrialists funded its reconstruction, also building a pavilion nearby for pilgrims and visitors to rest and enjoy the view.

In the 1940s, the famous domestic film Burning of the Red Lotus Temple was shot here, so those keen to see the old look of Qingshan Temple might want to track down that black-and-white movie. In the 1950s, Qingshan Temple still had 38 buildings. In the 1960s, the revolutionary film Flames in Northern Wuxi also filmed on location here. Starting in the 1970s, the temple gradually fell into disuse due to the Cultural Revolution. By the 1980s, only a few dilapidated meditation rooms remained.

In 1988, with an investment of over 3 million yuan from the Wuxi Municipal Government and the former suburban government, Qingshan Park was constructed around Qingshan Temple, the Nine Dragons Manor was built on the site of the original temple, and in 1996, part of Qingshan Temple was rebuilt east of Nine Dragons Manor. Starting in 2003, Qingshan Temple underwent large-scale reconstruction, with three main halls and two side halls built on the slope below the original temple site. It was still under construction when I left the country, but now it has been fully completed.