Ruins of Longhua Temple

Ruins of Longhua Temple

The ruins of Longhua Temple are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The ruins of Longhua Temple are located southeast of Chenhu Town in the northeastern part of Boxing County, Shandong Province, situated among the three villages of Fengwu, Chongde, and Zhaolou.

Longhua Temple was first built during the middle to late Northern Wei Dynasty. During the Northern Wei to Northern Qi periods, the temple was highly active in religious worship. It underwent roughly three major renovations: the first during the Sui Dynasty. After the Sui unified the country, Buddhism was revered as the state religion. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, Longhua Temple was renovated, the Longhua Pagoda was built, and a stele was erected to commemorate the completion of the pagoda. The second was during the Tang Dynasty. In the late Sui Dynasty, during the uprising led by Wang Bo, Longhua Temple became a target of public backlash against Buddhism and was attacked by rebel forces, suffering severe damage. In the early Tang Dynasty, devotees renovated the temple again, but it was already far less magnificent than before. The third was during the Qing Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, when the Jin army invaded the Central Plains, Longhua Temple was destroyed in the warfare. It wasn’t until the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty that, following renovations, the temple regained some vitality. It is said that the temple complex was majestic and dignified in style, with its main gate facing south, divided into front and rear courtyards. The courtyards housed a Grand Main Hall, East and West Wing Rooms, and Bell and Drum Towers, among other structures. During the Republican era, the Main Hall collapsed due to years of neglect. In 1948, after years of continuous warfare and unavoidable natural disasters, Longhua Temple was reduced to rubble, leaving only ruins that remain to this day.

The temple faced south, with front and rear courtyards, and included a Grand Main Hall, Bell and Drum Towers, and more. It was renovated during the Sui Dynasty, but from then on, it was frequently abandoned and rebuilt. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, it had become very small in scale and was eventually abandoned. In 1926, the Sui Dynasty's "Longhua Stele" commissioned in the third year of the Renshou era (603 AD) was unearthed at the site. It stands 1.45 meters tall and 1.06 meters wide, containing 25 lines of inscription with 50 characters per line, written in regular script with remnants of the Northern Wei stele style.

The site stretches 2000 meters from east to west and 1500 meters from north to south, covering an area of about 3 million square meters, with a cultural layer about 1 meter thick. Exposed remains include brick wall foundations and ash pits. It is currently the largest Northern Dynasties site discovered in Shandong Province. Over 200 relics have been excavated here, including fragmentary steles and broken tablets from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, especially from the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, and Sui periods, as well as metal and bronze Buddhist statues, stone carvings, plain white-glazed ceramic Buddha figures, and a large number of pottery and porcelain artifacts such as dark-glazed jars, bottles, bowls, pots, plates, cups, gray clay roof tiles, drip tiles, flat tiles, cylindrical tiles, bricks, and copper coins from the Northern Qi and Sui periods. The discovery of these precious relics holds significant historical value for the study of China’s history, calligraphy, Buddhism, literature, and art. Among the most notable finds are three major discoveries: the first was a large number of stone-carved Buddhist statues unearthed in 1976, the second was the “Venus of the Orient”—a limestone round sculpture of a standing bodhisattva—unearthed in 1978, and the third was the discovery of nearly a hundred bronze and gold Buddhist statues in 1983. In addition, a number of plain white-glazed ceramic Buddha figures were also excavated.

In 1976, 72 stone carvings were unearthed at the former site of Longhua Temple in Zhangguan Village, Boxing County. These included statue steles, Buddha figures, Buddha heads, and pedestals. Dated statues include two from the Eastern Wei and seven from the Northern Qi, all considered fine examples of Northern Dynasties art. The subjects of the carvings include the Buddha, bodhisattvas, a Buddha flanked by two bodhisattvas, Maitreya Buddha, the Prince (Siddhartha) statue, and Vairocana Buddha. Individual Buddha and bodhisattva figures are mostly standing. The Buddhas feature high ushnishas or spiral hair buns, slender eyebrows, long eyes, thin lips, short necks, and straight bodies. They wear either shawl robes, exposed right shoulders, or wide-sleeved robes with broad sashes. The drapery is simple yet smooth. Their hands form gestures of fearlessness or granting wishes. The white jade statues were originally adorned with gold, much of which has worn off, while the bluestone statues were painted. Bodhisattva figures wear triple crowns or buddha-crowned headdresses (such as Guanyin). They are depicted with cascading colorful hair, necklaces and dangling bells, intersecting necklaces across the chest, a central bead, and flowing scarves draping from their shoulders to their sides. Some bodhisattvas are made of molded plain white-glazed ceramics. One white-glazed bodhisattva is bare-chested, wears a diagonal shawl, and a long skirt with crossed sashes hanging down. Her hands hold a jewel in front of her chest. She has a halo and sits cross-legged on a stepped, waist-high square pedestal.

In 1983, 94 gilded bronze Buddhist statues were unearthed at the Longhua Temple ruins, 39 of which bear inscriptions. The earliest five date back to the Taihe era of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Spanning from the second year of the Taihe era of the Northern Wei to the third year of the Renshou era of the Sui Dynasty, these statues cover four dynasties over a period of 125 years—an extremely rare find in China. Experts both domestically and internationally refer to them as “the benchmark for dating small gilded bronze Buddhist statues of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in China.”

In 2006, the Longhua Temple ruins, as an ancient site from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty, were included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units