Xiangcheng Qianming Temple

Xiangcheng Qianming Temple

Xiangcheng Qianming Temple is a national AA-level tourist attraction and a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

Qianming Temple is located in Xiangcheng County, Xuchang City, Henan Province, and has been designated as part of the seventh batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council. Traditional culture associates the eight trigrams with the eight cardinal directions, with the northwest corresponding to Qian (Heaven), hence the name "Qianming Temple." Built during the Wude era of the Tang Dynasty, it underwent several expansions over time, covering hundreds of acres with a rigorously arranged layout and a majestic atmosphere. It lies to the south of Shoushan Mountain, faces the Ru River to the north, borders an ancient road to the west, and at its peak, was surrounded by towering ancient ginkgo and cypress trees both inside and out, lush and verdant. The temple featured tier upon tier of lofty pavilions and resplendent halls stretching from the mountain foot to the summit. The echoing temple bells and curling incense, along with the large monastic community, inspired awe among literati and poets throughout the ages, many of whom left poetic verses in tribute. There was also the miraculous "Qianming Dawn Bell," which reportedly rang on its own. On the 15th day of the second lunar month each year, the temple hosts an ancient temple fair themed around kites, drawing crowds of visitors who come to enjoy the spring scenery or compete in kite flying, creating a lively and joyful atmosphere.

Qianming Temple is situated 1.5 kilometers south of Xiangcheng County, on the northern side of Shoushan Mountain, hence it is also known as the Back-Facing Temple. It was first established during the Wude era of the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of the Qingtai era of the Later Tang (934 AD), Monk Shengnian, a Chan master, renovated and revived the temple. It was repaired and maintained through the Ming and Qing dynasties, growing into a grand complex with main structures covering 150,000 square meters, earning the reputation of "the foremost Zen forest in Central China." The surviving buildings include a screen wall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Middle Buddha Hall, the meditation hall, the abbot’s quarters, and 58 other rooms. Most of the architecture reflects characteristics of the late Yuan and early Ming periods. To the west of the temple lie the ruins of 72 pagodas (brick towers) built during the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The screen wall outside the mountain gate was constructed in the 30th year of the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty (1551 AD), measuring 12.93 meters in length, 4.66 meters in height, and 0.73 meters in thickness. It features blue brick reliefs: the front depicts the Yellow Emperor collecting copper, while the back shows the Seven Sages lost in the mountain path. The carvings are quaint, vividly rustic, with lively and lifelike figures and landscapes, and are hailed as the finest screen wall in the world.

Qianming Temple is located about three li south of Xiangcheng County, facing the Ru River from atop Shoushan Mountain, with a nearby national highway to the west. It boasts beautiful scenery and convenient transportation. Originally built in the early Sui Dynasty, it flourished during the Tang and Song dynasties but was damaged by fire in the early Yuan Dynasty before being restored in the Ming Dynasty. In 1963, it was listed as a provincial cultural relic protection unit by the People’s Government of Henan Province.

The founding patriarch of this temple was Master Zhizhe, the Tiantai School’s National Preceptor of the Sui Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui, over 3,000 mu of land were granted to the temple. Inscriptions record that the temple’s jurisdiction extended from the summit of Shoushan Mountain in the south to the banks of the Ru River in the north, from Guanyin Temple Gully in the west to Yaozhuang Road in the east. The main buildings covered over 150 mu, with more than 150 major halls and a total of over 900 rooms including living quarters and auxiliary structures. Nine tiers of resplendent halls stretched over three li.

Three ornamental archways stand before the mountain gate. The first is located northeast of modern Jialou Village, built of bluestone with four pillars and three gates, higher in the center and lower on the sides, featuring nine ridge roofs, double eaves, bracket sets, and upturned corners. It stands three zhang tall and three zhang wide, with an inscription reading "Sacred Site of the Buddhist Realm." A pair of two-meter-tall stone lions stands in front, and two nine-meter-tall, eight-meter-circumference stone pagodas stand behind. A ten-meter-wide tree-lined avenue leads directly to the mountain gate. The second archway, located southeast of Jialou, is three zhang three chi tall with the same structure and bears the inscription "Long Live the True Dharma." Outside the mountain gate stands a screen wall with a red stone base and bluestone body, the front depicting the "Yellow Emperor Collecting Copper" and the back showing the "Seven Sages Lost in the Mountain Path." Its carvings are unique, exquisitely shaped, with smooth lines and vividly lifelike figures and landscapes, earning it the title of the Finest Screen Wall Under Heaven. The Hengha Guardians outside the gate stand over eight chi tall, solemn and imposing. The three large characters "Qianming Temple" above the gate were personally inscribed by Emperor Yang of Sui. Inside the gate is the Heavenly King Hall, inscribed with "Central China’s Foremost Zen Forest," flanked by matching bell and drum towers, each eight meters tall and five meters wide, housing a self-ringing bell weighing over a ton. Over ten ancient poems remain, with "Qianming Dawn Bell" ranked first among Xiangcheng’s Eight Scenic Spots. Other halls include the Sangharama Hall and the Kṣitigarbha Hall, positioned correspondingly.

Within the courtyard stand two glazed treasure pagodas, nine meters tall and two meters wide, radiating brilliance and vividly colorful. There are also two bluestone pagodas, five meters tall and one and a half meters wide. Further back lies the Mahavira Hall, spanning five bays and three zhang three chi deep, a double-eaved, eight-slope, thirteen-ridge structure. This hall, with its carved beams and painted rafters and walls covered in murals, serves as the temple’s main hall. Truly, "stone steps ascend through layers to reveal the Buddhist palace." Behind the hall is the Arhat Hall, a unique nine-slope, eight-ridge, hip-and-gable roof building, the only one of its kind in the province, enshrining Sakyamuni Buddha and the Eighteen Arhats.

Additionally, Qian represents Gan Luo, Kun represents Han Xin, Gen represents Luo Cheng, and Xun represents Zhou Yu—the Four Young Guardian Deities of China. The four walls depict the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars. Behind the hall lies the Maitreya Hall, spanning five bays, with a six-foot-tall, six-foot-wide, thousand-jin Maitreya bronze statue in purple-gold seated within. Stone stelae densely fill the courtyard, gathering calligraphic treasures from masterful hands across dynasties. The middle courtyard is divided into eastern and western sections. The western courtyard’s main hall spans five bays, enshrining the Three Saints of the West, all intricately carved from sandalwood, radiating solemnity and auspiciousness that inspire reverence and the urge to worship. The east and west wings include the Ordination Hall and the Meditation Hall, respectively. The eastern courtyard’s Abbot’s Pavilion has five visible and seven hidden rooms, along with guest rooms and initiation halls, serving as the temple’s preaching grounds.

Ascending thirty-three steps leads to the Thousand Buddha Pavilion, over five zhang tall and wide, enshrining a Thousand-Armed Guanyin crafted from an ancient ginkgo tree, described poetically as: "The Dharma body is a graceful tree born of nature, the precious throne a lotus emerging from the earth." Dubbed the Great Tree Guanyin, it is a rare sight in the world. Behind the pavilion lies the Patriarch Hall, spanning five bays, enshrining Nagarjuna Bodhisattva, Masters Huìsī and Huìwén, followed by Master Shengnian and successive temple patriarchs, with a reverse-facing Guanyin at the back. A two-mu patch of evergreen, noble bamboo grows behind the hall, symbolizing integrity and humility, beside which a clear spring offers sweet, refreshing water that invigorates the spirit.

Further back lies the Southern Heavenly Gate. Passing through it and ascending the steps leads to the Immortal Pavilion. Beyond the pavilion, a cliffside cave measures one zhang two chi tall, two zhang wide, and over ten zhang deep, with six additional winding caves of various shapes. All objects within the caves are carved from red stone, a true marvel of craftsmanship, described poetically as: "By what hand did the divine chisel cleave? Xiangshan becomes a Buddhist home; cave art reveals sun and moon, forest treasures embrace mist and rosy clouds." This cave served as the refuge of Patriarch Huìsī in his early years and as a meditation retreat for successive patriarchs.

At the mountaintop stands the Wenfeng Pagoda, an octagonal thirteen-story structure fifty-two meters tall, a stunning sight visible from miles away, dubbed Xiangcheng’s wonder. Behind the pagoda lies a vast flat area with over two hundred rooms, alongside a spring whose waters overflow, crystal clear to the bottom. Flanking the Maitreya Hall and the Three Saints Hall are two large courtyards each containing over two hundred rooms—the left called the Ten Directions Courtyard, the right the Lay Buddhists’ Grove.

Southwest of the Ten Directions Courtyard lies the Stupa Forest, home to 365 stupas of diverse designs, arranged in a captivating layout, embodying the essence of Buddhist stupas and hailed as China’s Finest Stupa Forest. In its heyday, towering ancient ginkgo and cypress trees created a lush, dense canopy; temple bells echoed softly, monks thronged the grounds, and pilgrims gathered in multitudes. On the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, seventeen halls would simultaneously hold services, filling the air with resonant chants as devotees flocked to worship.

Over its millennia-long history, Qianming Temple has experienced multiple cycles of prosperity and decline, particularly during the Cultural Revolution, which was deeply painful. Since the reform and opening-up, the Party’s religious policies have been implemented, and the leadership of Xiangcheng County Party Committee and County Government have placed great emphasis on the temple’s development. Special funds were allocated to build a new asphalt road and construct a solemn, classic-style mountain gate. Temple development was included in the official agenda, with efforts to attract investment intensified and ambitious development plans formulated. The project also gained the attention of the Provincial Buddhist Association, which appointed Master Gangyuan as the temple’s abbot to promote the Dharma. Since Master Gangyuan’s arrival, the temple’s construction and development have reached a new level. New residences for lay Buddhists have been built, the Three Saints Hall and Maitreya Hall have been renovated, the Abbot’s Pavilion and over thirty monk rooms have been repaired, all original walls have been reinforced and heightened, temple roads have been paved and refurbished, and garbage structures have been demolished and cleared. Over a thousand pine and cypress trees and two hundred square meters of flowers and plants have been planted. Six high-quality Buddha statues have been brought back, and a specially crafted grand precious cauldron now stands in the temple, giving the entire complex a completely renewed look. The new county leadership is even more confident about the temple’s future, planning to build a 25-meter-wide commercial boulevard from the temple to the South Ring Road, a large parking lot in front of the temple, and to restore all ancient structures, the Stupa Forest, the Thousand Buddha Pavilion, the Immortal Cave, and the Wenfeng Pagoda. The entire Shoushan Mountain will be afforested, and in the near future, visitors will once again experience the legend of the Seven Sages lost in Shoushan. With Qianming Temple at its core, the county’s other cultural sites—including Bangnin Ridge, Taigong Mausoleum, Gexian Temple, Laojun Cave, Yaowang City, Gongming Cave, and Ziyun Academy—will be interconnected, driving comprehensive economic development through eco-tourism and restoring the historical city of Golden Xiang County to its former glory, so more people can come to know, appreciate, love, and help build it.

Known as "Central China’s Foremost Zen Forest"

According to the Xiangcheng County Annals, Qianming Temple was first built during the Wude era of the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of the Qingtai era of the Later Tang (934 AD), the eminent monk Shengnian rebuilt the temple on the northern foothills of Shoushan Mountain. In the early Yuan Dynasty, the temple was burned down, with most structures destroyed. By the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty (1465–1479), Chief Monk Shenbieyuan spent 14 years fundraising through alms to successfully rebuild Qianming Temple. The main structures cover over 150 mu, arranged from north to south with a screen wall, mountain gate, Heavenly King Hall, Middle Buddha Hall, and Maitreya Hall, followed by the rear courtyard’s Three Buddha Hall, meditation halls, dining hall, abbot’s quarters, and guest rooms. Originally, over 370 brick pagodas stood to the west of the temple, arranged in a picturesque layout rivaling the Pagoda Forest of Shaolin Temple, but they were later destroyed due to various historical reasons. The ancient architectural complex of Qianming Temple features simple, traditional designs with strong local characteristics, providing valuable insights into central plains regional architecture. Above the front lintel of the Heavenly King Hall hangs a bluestone plaque inscribed with "Central China’s Foremost Zen Forest." It is said that in its heyday, the temple housed numerous monks, with halls and pagodas densely packed from the mountain foot to the central peak, incense smoke lingering in the air, and the sounds of bells, drums, fish, and chimes never ceasing. Its scale made it the largest in the Central Plains region, earning it the title "Central China’s Foremost Zen Forest." The Middle Buddha Hall is the oldest surviving structure and the temple’s main hall, spanning three bays in both width and depth, with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof. Its interior beams and bracket sets retain many features of early architecture, exhibiting a simple and classic design.

Xiangcheng County’s Shoushan Mountain Qianming Temple once housed an ancient bell (now lost), said to be four zhang in circumference. Legend says it would ring on its own at dawn, audible for miles. "Southern hills glow with misty light, / A distant temple bell rings soft and bright. / One chime recalls the rising sun o’er seas, / A few more pierce the azure skies."

"Its sound drifts past dawn’s first starlight dim, / Resounding till spring tides fade to rim. / Just as a recluse wakes from dreams so deep, / Moonlit plum blossoms dance on window steep."

Qianming Temple’s screen wall is one of the few surviving Ming-era examples in the province. Its front depicts the "Yellow Emperor Mining Copper on Shoushan," illustrating the legend of the Yellow Emperor extracting copper from Shoushan to cast the Nine Tripods to unify the realm. The back shows the "Seven Sages Lost in the Path," recounting how the Yellow Emperor and six sages sought wisdom from the hermit Dawei on Zhongzhu Mountain. The brick carvings are finely detailed, distinctly regional, exquisitely crafted, and well-preserved, offering unique content and form that hold high reference value for studying Ming-era architectural ornamentation.

Regarding the "Seven Sages Lost in the Path," Sun Xiaoning, director of Xiangcheng County’s Cultural Relics Management Office, recounts this tale: As the Yellow Emperor and six sages sought the recluse Dawei, they became lost near Qilidian Township, Xiangcheng County. Spotting a shepherd boy molding clay into a miniature city, they asked him to move aside. The boy retorted, "Should the cart yield to the city or the city to the cart?" Explaining their urgent mission, the boy dismissed it, saying, "What’s the big deal? Just get rid of the bad apples—like removing weeds from a field!" Though the Yellow Emperor never found the recluse, he later realized the boy was the sage in disguise. Qilidian is also called "Seven-Mystery Village," linked to this legend. Whether true or not, the saying "to govern well, remove the bad elements" endures. Such relatable wisdom gives the legend lasting appeal, passed down through generations.

Qianming Temple’s unique orientation—facing north—is rare among temples nationwide. Records say the temple’s screen wall, two music pavilions by the Ru River, and the Wenbi Peak Pagoda on Shoushan align with the Confucian Temple’s Pan Pond and Ink-Scented Well in the county town, symbolizing "using the high ridge as an inkstone, the Ru River as an inkwell, and the mountain pagoda as a brush to draw inspiration from nature and nurture talent." This scenic, scholarly site naturally attracted literati. During the Ming Jiajing era, Prefect Shao Bao of Xuzhou wrote: "Mist veils peaks, springs trickle through glens; / This paradise is nature’s own scene. / Mountains tilt northwest, hence ‘Shoushan’; / Temple faces southeast, yet calls ‘Qian.’ / Three li to town feels worlds apart; / Eight years as magistrate, Zen my heart. / My verses fail to capture all I feel— / So monks, keep these musings sealed and real." Today, Xiangcheng hosts an annual "Kite Festival" (also called "Spring Outing Festival" or "Shoushan Wine Gathering") on the 15th day of the second lunar month. People flock here with kites of all kinds to compete in friendly rivalry. Winning matters less than enjoying springtime on Shoushan. With wine, snacks, and good company, strangers become friends amid laughter and shared stories. Locals and out-of-towners alike join in, making the Shoushan Kite Festival a cherished local tradition. It adds new cultural depth to the ancient Back-Facing Temple, keeping its legacy vibrant.

The Shoushan Kite Festival blends Qianming Temple’s Buddhist culture with folk artistry, born from ancient rituals honoring the Buddha’s parinirvana. Emerging in the early Tang Dynasty, this thousand-year-old tradition coincides with the temple fair. As spring warms and winds turn gentle, kite flying becomes popular. Many visitors take to gentle slopes after temple visits, turning it into a custom—and giving the temple fair its poetic nickname, "Shoushan Kite Festival."

The festival takes place when willow catkins fly, apricot blossoms bloom, rapeseed fields glow yellow, and wheat sprouts gleam green. Families and friends gather on Shoushan, settling on grassy slopes with stones as tables. They shed formalities, tearing into meat, drinking straight from bottles, and sharing laughter. Wine bonds them, fostering camaraderie. The festival thrives spontaneously, with attendees flying homemade kites of all shapes—big, small, long, short, square, round—in rainbow hues. At peak times, thousands of kites dot the sky over Shoushan, drawing tens of thousands of spectators. Dominated by handcrafted kites, designs feature dragons, phoenixes, tigers, butterflies, and figures from folklore and opera like Sun Wukong, Niulang, Zhinv, and Chang’e. Hundreds of kites compete in height, creativity, and skill, lifting collective hopes skyward.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Henan Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level