Temple of the Goddess Bixia Yuanjun

Temple of the Goddess Bixia Yuanjun

The Temple of the Goddess Bixia Yuanjun is a cultural tourism attraction.

Temple of the Goddess Bixia Yuanjun

Atop Siding Mountain, the main peak of Bagong Mountain, there once stood the Temple of the Goddess Bixia Yuanjun. Since the temple was located on the summit of Siding Mountain, it was also known as the Temple of Granny Siding. It is one of the historical attractions of Bagong Mountain. The temple originally enshrined the divine goddess Bixia Yuanjun, hence its name; many locals from Shoufeng also referred to the goddess as “Granny Siding,” so the temple was more commonly known as the Temple of Granny Siding, while fewer people called it the Temple of Bixia Yuanjun. The Ming Dynasty’s Li Yonglu, in the Jiajing-era “Shouzhou Annals,” referred to it as the “Dongyue Shrine,” while the Qing Dynasty’s Li Shi Yuan, in the Gengshen-era “Fengtai County Annals,” called it the “Yuanjun Temple.”

The year of establishment of the Yuanjun Temple (Temple of Granny Siding) is unknown. According to the “Fengtai County Annals,” during the Jiaqing era, a local resident named Wu Fangchun funded repairs to the temple. The “Fengtai County Annals” recorded: “In the eighth month of the 19th year of Jiaqing, the Bixia Yuanjun Pilgrimage Palace on Beishan Mountain was constructed. A brief inscription on the newly built stele reads: ‘The divine goddess Bixia Yuanjun of Mount Tai, having a pilgrimage palace, was enshrined on this mountain; the sacred palace had stood for years, but its beams and pillars had decayed. Li, a man from Wujin, spent five years building the palace, during which years the harvests were plentiful and the people free of plague. Wu Fangchun, a local resident, used his own funds, chose an auspicious date, and hired workers to renovate the site. A stone tablet was erected to record this.’”

Little is known about Wu, the man behind the funding. In addition to enshrining the statue of the goddess, the temple also once housed statues of Guanyin and the Eighteen Arhats. During the Republican era, the temple was damaged by fire, and during the Cultural Revolution, it was almost completely destroyed. Today, the temple buildings have vanished without a trace, leaving only ruins quietly situated among the hills. Only on the 15th day of the third lunar month each year do people visit the site.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relics Protection Units in Handan City