Yisu'an

Yisu'an

Yisu'an

Yisu'an is located at the west end of Changhong Bridge. Originally named Yisu'an, it is said that a high monk from the Tang Dynasty, while traveling across the land on his way to the South China Sea, once stayed here for one night. It is also said that Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty once stayed here overnight, after which the temple was renamed Yisu'an. The exact time of its original construction is unknown. It was destroyed during the military conflicts of the Xianfeng reign in the Qing Dynasty, rebuilt in the Tongzhi reign, and then reconstructed again during the Guangxu reign with more than 4,200 taels of silver raised, along with structures such as Wugui Pavilion and Wanxia Pavilion. During the Cultural Revolution, the entire site was destroyed. The ancient poem “I often visit the smoke and clouds of the celestial garden; is the high monk who stayed just one night still here? A solitary tree sways for eight hundred years—whose home has its sudden clear shadow fallen upon?” is an accurate depiction of its past. The front hall of the present-day Yisu'an houses the Four Heavenly Kings and a stone stele documenting the construction of the temple (the stele identifies it as the Temple of the Celestial City God; the inscriptions were all destroyed during the Cultural Revolution). The main hall is the Mahavira Hall, above whose lintel hangs an ancient mirror from the original Yisu'an. Through this mirror, one can see pedestrians on Changhong Bridge, making it a treasured artifact of the temple. In the center of the main hall stands a 6-meter-tall statue of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin, with a total of 1,068 arms. The statue is resplendent and majestic. Another treasure of the temple is an ancient ginkgo tree on the right side of the main hall, said to have grown from a seed left by a Tang Dynasty high monk, which bears many fruits each year. To the south of the main hall is the Hall of the Celestial City God, which houses statues of the City God, his wife, the prince, and Guan Yu. To the north of the main hall is the Changhong Chan Temple, rebuilt in 2000, which features a 7-meter-tall statue of Sakyamuni Buddha and serves as a key location for Buddhist ceremonies in the Jiaxing-Shengze area.

Wangjiangjing Town: Wangjiangjing Town is located in the northern part of Zhejiang’s coastal region, within a one-hour drive of three major cities—Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou—as well as Zhapu Port. To the south, it connects with downtown Jiaxing, and to the north, it is linked to Shengze in Jiangsu by a single bridge. The town features Provincial Highway 07, the Zhapu-Jiaxing-Suzhou Expressway, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, all contributing vibrancy to this important town in northern Zhejiang. It covers an area of 127.3 square kilometers, with 103,800 mu of cultivated land and a population of 85,700. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Wangjiangjing has been a silk trading hub at the border of two provinces. Within a radius of several dozen miles, it produced tens of thousands of bolts of silk per day. The town is filled with shops and bustling markets, earning it the reputation of “clothing the world…” More details about Wangjiangjing Town ++