Xiaoshan Longxing Temple

Xiaoshan Longxing Temple

Xiaoshan Longxing Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Xiaoshan’s Longxing Temple is located at the northern foot of Xishan Mountain, adjacent to Jingtu Temple. It was built by Jin Dynasty General Longji, hence the name “Longxing.”

It was later renamed as the Reception Monastery, and in the fifth year of the Qiandao era (1169) during the Southern Song Dynasty, it was renamed again as Longxing Temple.

The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. In the early years of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, the Guanyin Hall and storage rooms were built; in the seventh year of the Guangxu reign (1881), the Zen Hall was built, in the eighth year, the Cloud-Sleeping Hall, and in the tenth year, the Main Hall, Mountain Gate, and Dining Hall were added. The Scripture Depository was built in the seventeenth year. In the seventeenth year of Guangxu (1891), the Scripture Depository of Longxing Temple was reconstructed.

Later, Monk Lianxi went to the capital to obtain scriptures, which were then stored in this depository. Today, the depository is gone, and the scriptures have been lost.

By the time of the Republic of China, Longxing Temple had reached a considerable scale. Along the central axis ascending along the mountain slope were: the Mountain Gate, Vajra Hall, Mahavira Hall, Dining Hall, Ancestral Hall, and Scripture Depository, presenting an truly magnificent sight. There is a pool inside the Mountain Gate that never dries up;

To the left of the Abbot’s Quarters is the Ancestral Hall, behind which a dragon head is carved into the cliff face. Water drips continuously from the dragon’s mouth into a square stone pool carved below. Over time, due to neglect, many parts of the temple collapsed. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it was repurposed as a grain storage facility. In 1955, the Main Hall was demolished, but some ruins remain.

Poets of various dynasties have also left verses for posterity:

Meng Haoran (689–740), a renowned landscape and pastoral poet of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, once visited here and wrote the poem “Ascending the Tower of Longxing Temple”: “Heard you ride the wind and rise, open the window to gaze far and wide; winding reveals the river’s might, guests arrive and turn back time and tide. Why so crowded this group appears, and yonder hills—how many more beside? Deep greens show the trees and grasses rise, towers and terraces everywhere abide. A sudden rain disperses the sun’s bright rays, ships come sailing from the four seas’ maze; birds return as my lingering thoughts take flight, I stroll around, loath to leave this place.” Also, “Lodging at Longxing Temple” by Qiumu Qian of the Tang Dynasty, “Lodging at Longxing Temple” by Wang Renqi of the Qing Dynasty, and “Longxing Temple” by Tao Yuanzao.