Shen Zhou Xinglong Temple (Guanyin Chan Monastery)

Shen Zhou Xinglong Temple (Guanyin Chan Monastery)

Shen Zhou Xinglong Temple (Guanyin Chan Monastery) is a cultural tourism attraction.

It is said that Xinglong Temple was built by Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty. If calculated to today, it has a history of over 1,980 years. It is the oldest and largest temple in Shen Zhou. After its construction, the temple enjoyed great prosperity and fame far and wide. Through maintenance and expansions over the dynasties, its scale grew larger and larger. Starting from the mountain gate, along the central axis from south to north, there are a total of five buildings, the fourth being the largest — this is the Mahavira Hall. It is about 20 meters wide and 7–8 meters deep, with green glazed tiles on the roof and column bases with a diameter of about 75 centimeters. The ruins of the Mahavira Hall are piled up as high as a three-story building, which shows that Xinglong Temple must have been majestic and magnificent. Based on these findings, the Mahavira Hall may have exceeded 20 meters in height, equivalent to a six- or seven-story building.

In front of Xinglong Temple, there was an east-west official grain transport road (from Dezhou to Zhengding), with a lot of traffic. All passing vehicles had to stop here and scrape a little oil from the axles, then smear it into the mouths of the stone lions; otherwise, they would overturn. This custom continued until just before the War of Resistance against Japan.

Xinglong Temple was burned down in 1853 by the troops of the Taiping Rebellion. The Taiping army stationed in Shen Zhou for half a month and indeed harassed Qinghuitou and Dasizhuang Village. When they arrived at Xinglong Temple, they first toppled the two stone stelae in front of the gate, then rushed into the courtyard, killed the monks, burned the halls, and melted the copper Buddha statues. The sound of the copper statues being smashed could be heard clearly even in the village, and the flames lit up the sky. The villagers, desperate and helpless, dared not approach. And so, Xinglong Temple was destroyed.

Now, in 2010, Qinghuitou Village began the reconstruction of Xinglong Temple. The main Buddha statue has now been completed, with a symmetrical white marble Guanyin statue erected. The statue is about 3 meters tall, the base is also about 3 meters tall, making the total height approximately 6 meters.

Transportation Guide

Attraction Address: Qinghuitou Village, Dong’an Zhuang Township, Shen Zhou, Hengshui, Hebei Province

Transportation Options: Take a taxi within Shen Zhou City to reach Qinghuitou.