Mahavira Hall

Mahavira Hall

Mahavira Hall is a cultural tourism attraction.

Mahavira Hall was a private Buddhist nunnery of the Chiang family. It was so named because Chiang 0, also known as the Elder Mahavira, was a Buddhist devotee. The hall enshrines the ancestral tablet of the Chiang family, and Mao Fumei, the birth mother of Chiang Ching-kuo, is also buried here. Constructed in 1931 with funds donated by Mao Fumei, Chiang Ching-kuo’s mother, it served as a place for her and other female members of the Chiang family to worship and chant scriptures.

Jiang Zongba, the Elder Mahavira, was a man of the Later Liang dynasty during the Five Dynasties period. A devout Buddhist, he became a disciple of the Laughing Buddha Qieci from Yuelin Temple in Fenghua, often chanting “Maha Prajna Paramita.” He referred to himself as the “Mahavira Layman,” and locals in Xikou respectfully called him the “Elder Mahavira.” In his later years, he founded Mituo Temple on Xiaopan Mountain in eastern Ningbo, where he was buried beside the temple after his death. A stupa tomb was erected there, and Chiang Kai-shek visited several times to pay his respects.

The Mahavira Hall faces west and is built with yellow walls and blue tiles, white plastered walls, and vermilion corridors. There are 11 rooms on each side wing. The courtyard behind the hall has a pebble-paved ground and was restored in 1989. Beside the hall stand three ancient camphor trees. Inside the main hall, a standing statue of Jiang Zongba is enshrined at the front, while photos depicting the history of the Mahavira Hall and images of Chiang Kai-shek paying homage at ancestral graves are hung on the side walls. In an east-side single-story building, photographs of Mao Fumei and the Chiang family’s daily life are displayed.

The open space to the east of Mahavira Hall is the burial site of Mao Fumei. Mao Fumei (1882–1939) was from Yantou Village in Fenghua. In 1901, she married Chiang Kai-shek, who was 14 years old at the time. Throughout her life, she was hardworking, virtuous, and diligent in managing the household, supporting Chiang Kai-shek in his studies and military career. She gave birth to Chiang Ching-kuo in 1910 and divorced Chiang Kai-shek in 1921. On December 12, 1939, Mao Fumei tragically died in a Japanese air raid bombing. She was killed outside Fenghao House, the Chiang family residence in Xikou Town, Fenghua County.