Qiyansi Temple

Located atop Zhongtiao Mountain, 20 kilometers southwest of Yongji City, Shanxi Province. The temple was built during the Jiande era of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and was originally named Lingshi Temple. In the first year of the Renshou era of the Sui Dynasty (601 AD), it was renamed to its current name. In the same year, Emperor Wen of Sui distributed Buddhist relics to thirty states and decreed that stupas be erected simultaneously on October 15th, and this temple was one of them. The temple flourished greatly during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the Song Dynasty, it underwent multiple renovations in subsequent dynasties, with upper, middle, and lower temples situated respectively at the mountaintop, mountainside, and mountain foot. The temple complex was destroyed during the Anti-Japanese War, leaving only the stupa inscription stele erected in the second year of the Renshou era and twenty-six brick stupas. Among them, there is one each from the Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song Dynasties, two from the Yuan Dynasty, and twenty-one from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Except for the Song Dynasty stupa, the rest are all stupas for monks. The Great Master’s Stupa was built in the 13th year of the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty (754 AD), circular and solid, with a total height of 8 meters, and the base accounts for about half the height of the stupa. The front of the stupa features a false door, with fluid line engravings on the door panels and frames, while the back is inlaid with a stupa inscription. The Five Dynasties stone stupa was built in the third year of the Tongguang era of the Later Tang (925 AD), single-story, 3.5 meters high, with an octagonal plan and richly carved lotus-petal base. The stupa body is hollow, with a door on the southern side carved with two Vajra images, and the sides feature carvings of the Dharani Sutra. Though not large in size, its carving work is exquisite. The Song Dynasty reliquary stupa is of the dense-eave style, hexagonal in plan, five stories high, with a total height of 1.7 meters. The first story is particularly tall, featuring a arched door on the southern side, with wooden architectural elements such as brackets and rafters carved under the eaves. The stories above feature simple and solemn interlocking eaves. The Yuan Dynasty stupa has two stories, hexagonal in plan, 6 meters in total height, with a Sumeru-style base and carved brackets under the eaves. The stupa body features false doors, and from here you can gaze at the waves of the Yellow River in the distance and admire the cluster of stupas nearby, offering a highly classic and charming view.