Tangshan Shoufeng Temple

Tangshan Shoufeng Temple

Tangshan Shoufeng Temple is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Shoufeng Temple is located on a mountain top in the suburbs of Tangshan City, Hebei Province.

The existing ancient structures include the Medicine Buddha Pagoda, the Beamless Hall, and the associated cultural relic building, the Wenchang Pavilion. The three buildings face south and are aligned in a row from north to south, covering an area of 1,261 square meters. Other relics include a Liao Dynasty Dhāraṇī Pillar in front of the hall and a stone tablet from the Wanli era (1573–1620) of the Ming Dynasty titled “Record of the Renovation of the Beamless Ten Thousand Buddha Hall on Cheshan Mountain.”

The Beamless Hall is centrally located within Shoufeng Temple. It was initially built during the Chongxi era of the Liao Dynasty as a single-story structure, but was expanded to three stories during a major renovation in the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty. The Beamless Hall stands 28.5 meters tall, is 12.5 meters wide (spanning three bays), and 9.9 meters deep (also spanning three bays), featuring a triple-eaved roof covered with glazed tiles. Under the eaves of the first to third floors are brick imitation bracket sets of the seven-cue type. The second floor features a terrace and corridor with white marble railings on the front side. The first and third floors have arched brick vaulted ceilings, while the second floor has a wooden ceiling. The staircases on the first and third floors are built within the load-bearing walls on the east and west sides; visitors enter through a small inner door to climb up and then turn to reach the second floor. A wooden staircase is built inside the eastern side of the second floor, allowing visitors to ascend to the third floor. The ceilings of the vaults from the first to the third floors are adorned with colorful paintings of square grids featuring alternating cloud and dragon-phoenix patterns. In front of the hall are the Liao Dynasty Dhāraṇī Pillar and the Ming Dynasty Wanli-era stone tablet titled “Record of the Renovation of the Beamless Ten Thousand Buddha Hall on Cheshan Mountain.”

The Medicine Buddha Pagoda is a flower-style pagoda, built during the Chongxi era of the Liao Dynasty. It is a purely brick structure, a dense-eave solid pagoda consisting of 11 levels and standing 27 meters tall, covering an area of 59 square meters. The base of the pagoda is a Sumeru pedestal, with two niches carved into the raised waist section on each face, containing brick reliefs of figures. Above the raised waist section, 24 bracket sets support railings and balustrades decorated with geometric and floral patterns, atop which are three layers of brick-carved upward-facing lotuses encircling the first level of the pagoda body. The first level of the pagoda body is the tallest and is an upright octagonal prism. The east, south, west, and north sides feature arched false doors, while the other four sides display brick carvings of Buddha statues that are 2.28 meters tall. The octagonal brick columns at each corner are adorned with architraves and purlins. Above the purlins is the first layer of eaves, surrounded by bracket sets of the five-cue type. From the first layer of eaves up to the top of the pagoda are nine tiers of Buddha niches. The finial of the pagoda, from bottom to top, consists of a cast iron inverted bowl and two layers of precious beads. The Wenchang Pavilion was built in 1913, has three stories, is 15.87 meters tall, and covers an area of 60.88 square meters. The first floor is 11.1 meters wide (three bays) and 5.6 meters deep (one bay), with a hip-and-gable roof style; the second floor is one bay wide and one bay deep; the third floor features a pagoda-style finial roof.

In 2006, Shoufeng Temple was included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council as an ancient architectural site dating from the Ming Dynasty to the Republican era.

Further reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units