Linzi Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall

Linzi Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall

The Linzi Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Linzi Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall is located on the former site of the Xitian Temple at the ruins of the ancient Qi capital. To the north are the Huan Gong Terrace and the drainage outlet of the ancient Qi city, and not far to the east are the renowned Qi History Museum, the Eastern Zhou Sacrificial Horse Pits, and the site where Confucius heard the Shao music. Bustling roads connect a dense cluster of cultural heritage sites. Arranging a “One-Day Tour of the Ancient Qi Capital” within this area would offer visitors an upscale, enriching experience without excessive fatigue.

Xitian Temple was a famous ancient building in Linzi, also known as Sanyuan Pavilion. At its peak, the entire complex stretched about three Chinese miles from the stone Buddha in the north to the stone pagoda cluster in the south. Its main structures were built of brick and stone atop a high platform, featuring three halls, each with three bays, named “Tian Yuan,”

“Di Yuan,”

and “Ren Yuan.” This is the origin of the temple’s alternate name, Sanyuan Pavilion. There was a passageway beneath the pavilion. Nearby were a temple gate, monks’ quarters, and a bell tower, all integrated with the towering pavilion. A cast-iron bell over a person’s height hung inside the bell tower. At dawn, its deep toll echoed across the vast plains.

This gave rise to one of the “Eight Scenic Spots of Old Linzi County”: “Listening to the Morning Bell from the West Temple Tower.” The stone pagoda cluster served as the monks’ burial ground, among which two larger towers stood out—one called the “Liuhe Pagoda” and the other the “Thousand Buddha Pagoda.”

The Thousand Buddha Pagoda was engraved with one thousand vivid small Buddha statues, and its top housed a relic said to glow at night, believed to be the ashes of a high monk from the temple. Today, the stone pagoda cluster has vanished, leaving only the Northern Wei Dynasty stone Buddha. The stone carving art of the ancient capital Linzi rose and fell with the peaks and troughs of Buddhism, leaving historical imprints at Xitian Temple.

In 1985, while constructing the Qi History Museum’s cultural relics exhibition hall, the Linzi Stone Carving Art Exhibition Hall was newly built on the former site of Xitian Temple. Centered around the original Northern Wei Dynasty Great Buddha of Xitian Temple, the stone carving museum expanded outward, gathering over 100 stone carvings, Buddha statues, and steles of significant cultural and artistic value. These are now properly preserved, studied, and displayed here. The stone carving museum has become an important part of the Qi History Museum. The courtyard features ponds, rockeries, stele corridors, and a variety of exotic flowers, lush pines, and cypresses, making it a tourist attraction that combines stone carving art with sightseeing.

On either side of the museum’s entrance stand a pair of white marble stone lions, said to be relics of Xitian Temple. With tamed ribbons around their necks and paws playing with embroidered balls, their design shows distinct Yuan and Ming styles. Above the museum’s lintel hangs a gilded plaque inscribed by contemporary calligrapher Wang Xiaju.

Upon entering the courtyard, the first sight is two standing stone Buddhas aligned north-south. The southern one stands over 4 meters tall, weighs about 10 tons, and rests on a massive stone base carved with 212 small Buddha statues. The Buddha faces the museum entrance and stands barefoot. Its head is a later replacement, differing in style from the body. Originally located at Kangshan Temple in Zhujiazhong Village, Qiling Town, it was designated a municipal-level protected cultural relic in 1984 and relocated to the stone carving museum in 1985 using heavy lifting equipment for centralized preservation. The northern one is the famous Northern Wei Dynasty Great Stone Buddha, standing 5.6 meters tall, 1.8 meters wide, and 1 meter thick. With a plump face, spiral curls, bare feet, an exposed chest, and draped in a cross-collar kasaya, it stands on a lotus pedestal. Its carving style reflects the Northern Wei aesthetic. Years of weathering have eroded parts of its mouth and left hand.

In 1964, the Shandong Provincial Government allocated 3,000 yuan to build a protective structure, but the building has long since disappeared. According to the *Linzi County Annals* from the ninth year of the Republic of China, this Buddha was named “Amitayus Buddha” and originally resided in Xingguo Temple built by Shi Hu of the Later Zhao Dynasty. In the early Song Dynasty, Xingguo Temple was renamed Guanghua Temple, which was destroyed during the Yuan Dynasty’s Zhi Zheng era. It was rebuilt in the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty and renamed Xisi, or Xitian Temple. Xitian Temple has been in ruins for years, with only this weathered Buddha standing silently through the ages in a corner of the ancient Qi capital. Since its creation in the fourth century, the over 1,600-year-old Amitayus Buddha once sat in grand halls receiving endless incense offerings. Now exposed to the elements, the stone carving museum staff worry that without protection, it will deteriorate beyond recognition in just a few years. Only by building shelter can the civilization created by our ancestors endure.

Another highlight of the stone carving museum lies hidden in the 80-meter-long stone carving corridor in the western courtyard. It showcases a microcosm of Linzi’s stone carving art over nearly two millennia. The oldest piece is a Eastern Han Dynasty stone carving, measuring 1.3 meters in total length, 0.94 meters in diameter, and 0.8 meters in height. The carving adopts the structure of an ancient temple roof—front square, rear round, with a domed top and three rows of simulated roof tiles along the front eaves. The roof bears an inscription: “Cao Daifu and Jia Daifu.” Beneath the eaves is a stone niche carved with three images: two figures drinking together and one standing nearby.

On the right side of the niche is an inscription reading “The 24th day of the third month in the sixth year of Guanghe, Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty” (183 AD), making it the earliest surviving stone carving relic in Linzi. Three Buddha statues from Xingfu Temple stand side by side, seated in lotus position on a half-meter-high splayed base. With spiral curls, kasayas draped over their shoulders, and right arms exposed, the three Buddhas are all 1.77 meters tall, with slightly damaged faces. The old county annals record that Xingfu Temple was located outside the west gate of Xiangjiazhuang, with three statues made in the second year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty. In the spring of 1985, the three stone Buddhas were moved to the stone carving museum.

Steles are another highlight of the museum’s stele corridor. During the Yuan Dynasty, Darughachi Li Zhongming built the Linzi County seat at the southeastern corner of the ancient Qi capital. In the second year of the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty (1466 AD), watchtowers were constructed at the four city gates. By the 24th year of the Wanli era (1596 AD), when renovations were made, the earthen walls were reinforced with bricks and stones. Four stone horizontal plaques were embedded in the city gates: “Zi Flow Embracing Slantwise” (east), “Foolish Ridge Windings Remote” (west), “Ox Peak Verdant Mist” (south), and “Mianchi Ribbon Adorned” (north). “Zi Flow” refers to the Zi River winding northward along the eastern wall of the ancient city; “Foolish Ridge” is the Mount Yugong 25 li west of the city; “Ox Peak” is Mount Niu 12 li south of the city; and “Mianchi Ribbon Adorned” describes how the nearby Mian River and Shen Pond embrace Linzi like a sash. These four plaques reveal the city’s geographical location and scenic surroundings, showcasing the designer’s unique ingenuity.

In the 1960s, the city gates were demolished, but the four plaques were preserved at the Linzi County Cultural Center

and are now embedded in the southern section of the stone carving museum’s stele corridor for public viewing. Other treasures include imperial-inscribed steles from Longquan Temple and poems by Cao Zhi, rare gems for calligraphy enthusiasts. The imperial stele comes from Longquan Temple in Xilongchi Village, north of Qiling Town, a renowned temple in Linzi once adorned with grand halls, standing stone Buddhas, numerous steles, and a famous spring called “Dragon Pool.” One of Linzi’s “Eight Scenic Spots,” “Autumn Moon over Dragon Pool,” refers to this site.

Zhao Mingcheng, the renowned epigrapher and husband of the lyrical poet Li Qingzhao, who served as Prefect of Zizhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, composed a poem inspired by the scenery: “The spring water flows turbid, the green bamboo rustles.” The imperial stele was created in the 45th year of the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty (1706 AD), measuring 2.2 meters in height, 0.87 meters in width, and 0.23 meters in thickness. It bears an inscription of a poem by Li Bai bestowed upon Longquan Temple by Emperor Shengzu: “The Heavenly Gate splits the Chu River wide, / Green waters eastward surge and glide. / Twin cliffs face each other, bold and bright, / While a lone sail glides into sunlight.” Cao Zhi, an outstanding representative of Jian’an literature, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Linzi in the 19th year of the Jian’an era of the Eastern Han Dynasty (214 AD) and became the ruler of Linzi in the third year of the Huangchu era of the Wei Dynasty (220 AD), later reassigned as Marquis of Juancheng in 221 AD. Around the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, locals in Linzi commemorated Cao Zhi’s virtue and talent by carving his poems into stone. The stele has a circular base and square foundation, standing 48 cm tall, 31 cm wide, and 11 cm thick. The front features clerical script, though some characters are damaged, while the back bears an image of Confucius. The Cao Zhi Poem Stele was previously housed at Xiguan Primary School and the district cultural center before being moved to the stone carving museum’s stele corridor.

The stele corridor also displays a kneeling stone sheep, a relic of Yuanhe Temple in Wangjiazhuang, Sunlou Township. Measuring 136 cm in length, 63 cm in width, and 106 cm in height, it is unremarkable in appearance. However, a moving legend about “Plowing Evil Monks” adds intrigue. According to the *Linzi Cultural Relics Annals*, Yuanhe Temple was once a grand complex with hundreds of monks who seized land, bullied locals, and frequently abducted women. By the early Ming Dynasty, fed-up villagers petitioned the court. The emperor, sympathetic to their plight, ordered the temple’s destruction. While all monks were punished, one tearfully begged for mercy. The emperor responded with “Let it be,” intending to punish the wicked but spare the good.

However, the official misinterpreted this as ordering the “plow execution”—binding the monks in a field, burying them up to their necks, and using iron plows to kill them, then reclaiming the temple land. No trace of Yuanhe Temple remains, except for a gentle, kind-looking stone sheep preserved from the site. Collected in 1986, it now stands among similar figures in the stele corridor’s “sheep formation.”

Against the eastern wall of the stone carving museum courtyard, atop a rockery, lies an unassuming reddish-brown boulder. Said to be a meteorite from Louzi Village in Linzi District, it reportedly flew from the heavens to the ancient Qi land and was considered the village’s treasure. Upon closer inspection, several ancient characters resembling large seal script are visible, seemingly man-made but of unknown origin or dynasty. This “masterpiece defying nature” adds a touch of cosmic mystery to the culturally rich Linzi Stone Carving Museum.