Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave

Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave

The Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave

Date: Song Dynasty

The Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave are located in the southern cave of Hongxing Natural Village, Jinxianyan Village, Zhangtan Subdistrict. The entrance of Xianyan Cave is 25 meters wide, 22.3 meters deep, and 5 meters high, with a total interior area of about 390 square meters. The cave walls feature over 50 cliff inscriptions, 39 of which still retain legible text.

Among these 39 inscriptions, 29 can be dated accurately, spanning the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, with the largest number from the Southern Song Dynasty’s Shaoxing era. The inscriptions display a variety of calligraphic styles, including regular script, running script, cursive script, clerical script, and seal script.

According to the Republican-era "Qu County Annals" under the section on temples: “The resident monks used the cave as a temple, and later expanded the meditation halls outside the back cave, naming it Xianyan Temple, formerly known as Rock Monastery. Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty (Zhao Xu) bestowed the plaque ‘Shousheng Xianyan Yuan’ in the first year of the Xining reign.” From the stone inscriptions, most date to the Song Dynasty, reflecting the unprecedented prosperity of Buddhist culture during China’s Song era, the large number of monks at Xianyan Cave, and the thriving incense offerings—all closely tied to the historical context of the time.

The inscriptions are rich in content, mostly written by contemporary officials and renowned literati. Among them, the most precious are those documenting the Northern Song imperial troops suppressing the peasant uprising led by Fang La. The Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave are densely distributed, numerous, feature a complete range of scripts, span a long period, and most have accurate dating, giving them significant historical and artistic value.

On October 7, 2019, the Cliff Inscriptions at Xianyan Cave were included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Source: Zhejiang Cultural Relics Network

Jinxianyan Village: Overview of Jinxianyan Village

Jinxianyan Village is located 1.5 kilometers south of the Qujiang District government, bordering Nanshan Di Village to the east, the old G320 National Road to the north, and the Qujiang Economic Development Zone to the south and west. The village covers an area of 1.94 square kilometers, with a built-up area of 0.3 square kilometers. It has 336 households, a population of 1,104, 10 villager groups, 4 natural villages, 9 members of the village committee, 44 Party members (including 1 probationary member), 5 prospective Party members, and 50 villager representatives. A large portion of our village’s land has been requisitioned due to the construction of the Qujiang New District and the Qujiang Economic Development Zone... More details on Jinxianyan Village++

Further reading:

· Third Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units