Longxing Temple in Xinjiang

Longxing Temple in Xinjiang

Longxing Temple in Xinjiang is a national AA-level tourist attraction and a key cultural relic protection unit under state protection.

Longxing Temple is located atop a high cliff at the northern end of Xinjiang County’s main street. When you disembark at Nan Guan in the county town, cross the small makeshift pontoon bridge, or drive across the Fenhe River Bridge upstream from the pontoon, and step onto the bustling streets of Xinjiang County, the first sight that greets you as you look around is the ancient Longxing Temple standing majestically on the towering cliffs.

According to records, the temple was originally built during the Tang Dynasty. It was initially named Biluo Guan (Biluo Observatory) because it housed a statue of the Biluo Heavenly Lord. In the first year of the Xianheng era (670 AD) during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, it was renamed Longxing Temple. At that time, the temple complex was grand in architecture and quite large in scale. By the fifth year of the Huichang era (845 AD), due to Emperor Wuzong Li Yan’s vigorous campaign against Buddhism, the temple buildings were almost completely destroyed, with only the pagoda courtyard surviving. During the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin once resided here, leading to the temple being temporarily renamed a palace. It later reverted to the name Longxing Temple after monks reoccupied the site. The temple sits atop an elevated base, commanding a sweeping view from above, exuding a strong presence. The original structures mainly included the Mahavira Hall and a tall pagoda. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, with support from the Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, the Xinjiang County Party Committee and County Government raised funds extensively, organized voluntary labor, gathered skilled craftsmen, reinforced the temple foundation, renovated the halls, added corridor rooms, and constructed a wide new access road leading directly to the temple. As a result, this thousand-year-old temple has regained its former glory and now presents a renewed appearance.

Blessed with a prime location, magnificent architecture, and enchanting surroundings, Xinjiang County Museum is housed within Longxing Temple. Over the years, through their dedicated efforts, they have not only preserved the temple well but also collected a number of important stone inscriptions and cultural relics.

Nearly ten ancient stone inscriptions displayed in the front and rear stele pavilions and stele corridors behind the main hall are particularly eye-catching. Among them, the most valuable is the nationally renowned calligraphic art stele known as the Biluo Stele, celebrated for its large seal script. Regarding the origin of the stele’s name, some say it comes from the phrase “Qizhen Biluo” (Resting in the Azure Void) in the inscription, while others claim it is because the stele was once housed in the Biluo Observatory. Standing 2.26 meters tall, 1.03 meters wide, and 0.21 meters thick, the stele was erected in the third year of the Zongzhang era (607 AD) during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang by Li Xun, Li Yi, Li Zhuan, and Li Chen—the sons of Han King Yuanjia, the eleventh son of Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan—to pray for their deceased mother Lady Fang. The text is written in seal script, comprising 21 lines with 32 characters per line, totaling 630 actual characters excluding blanks. The script combines various styles including bronze inscriptions, ancient seal scripts, and small seal script. Building upon earlier ancient scripts, the creators modified, adapted, and integrated these styles to develop a new form of ancient seal script with graceful forms and a unique style. It appears neat without being overly crafted, smooth and elegant, making it a treasured piece highly regarded by epigraphers and calligraphers throughout history. The Guangchuan Book Postscript states: “The seal script is uniquely ancient, with brushwork of exceptional refinement, unlike any common seal script.” It also says: “This stele surpasses the conventions of Xiang Si (Li Si), with brush techniques already deep and steady.” Hence, “previous scholars often marveled at its miraculous excellence” (Jinshi Lu). Without a solid foundation in classical literature and calligraphy, it is indeed difficult to recognize and read the full text. Therefore, exactly two hundred years after the stele was erected, in the eleventh year of the Xiantong era (870 AD), a man named Zheng Chenggui was ordered to transcribe the text in regular script and carve it onto another stone to facilitate future reading and copying. The Qianyantang Jinshi Wen Ba records this event, stating that the stele’s “seal script is uniquely ancient, so perplexing that petty scholars could not read it; it was only thanks to Zheng Chenggui’s transcription that it became slightly readable... Truly, only those who deeply study the Six Scripts and are well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge can decipher it. Since the Song Dynasty, seal script calligraphers have revered this as a golden rule, daring not to alter a single character.”

Perhaps precisely because the text is so uniquely ancient and exquisitely refined, the Biluo Stele has been shrouded in a fair amount of myth over the generations. Many historical records and miscellaneous books document numerous anecdotes and legends. According to the Luozhong Jiwén and Jinshi Lu, when the text of the Biluo Stele was completed and about to be engraved, two Taoist priests happened to come and request to carve it. After obtaining the text, they shut themselves in a room, closed the doors and windows, sat with eyes closed in meditation, and remained inside day and night for three days without making a sound. People found this very strange and went together to open the door. To their surprise, the room was empty—the two Taoist priests had vanished without a trace—only a pair of cranes (some say a pair of doves) were seen flying and dancing before they gracefully flew away. The text on the stele appeared as if carved by supernatural craftsmanship, vividly clear. Due to the strangeness of the event and the miraculous quality of the text, it naturally attracted many renowned calligraphers and literati. It is said that Li Yangbing, who boasted of being a descendant of Li Si, was so enamored with the stele upon seeing it that he lingered for several days, reluctant to leave. He pondered and studied it repeatedly. However, he ultimately failed to master its style, which frustrated him greatly. Ashamed of his inferiority, he angrily struck the stele with a hammer and left in disgrace. A chip on the stele is said to be the mark of Li Yangbing’s hammer. Later generations not only engraved this amusing story on the side of the stele but also recarved a replica of the original, placing it alongside the Tang Dynasty Biluo Stele, calling it the New Stele.

Of course, these records and legends may be somewhat exaggerated, but the maturity of the calligraphy and the profound skill demonstrated in the Biluo Stele are indeed extraordinary and remarkable. Otherwise, it would never have been favored by generations of epigraphers, nor admired by contemporary calligraphy researchers and enthusiasts, nor listed by the state as a national famous calligraphic stele. The Jiangzhou Prefecture Annals once evaluated it as: “The Biluo seal script is the culmination of ancient seal scripts.” While we dare not fully agree with this, we can at least say that it is a treasured piece in the study of Chinese seal script calligraphy.

Among the various cultural relics collected by the museum, there is also the exquisitely sculpted Song Dynasty nephrite relief “Eighteen Scholars Ascend to Yingzhou,” and a couplet personally inscribed by General He Long in 1937 when he led his troops northward through Xinjiang for the wedding of a farmer’s son: “Azure shores dry, orioles sing amid willows; Bluefields warm, jade exhales fragrance in sunlight”—all of which are very precious.

Longxing Temple is located at No. 2 Longxing Road, Xinjiang County. Originally built during the Tang Dynasty, it was initially named Biluo Guan, but through historical evolution, the Taoist observatory transformed into a Buddhist sacred site, known as Longxing Temple. It has been renovated in various dynasties. Xinjiang County Museum is housed here.

The existing main hall is a Yuan Dynasty structure with a hanging gable roof. Inside the hall are polychrome sculptures from the Song and Jin periods, including statues of the Buddha, Sakyamuni, Vairocana, and attendant bodhisattvas such as Guanyin, Ksitigarbha, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra. On either side of the hall are auxiliary halls. In the courtyard stands the Biluo Stele Pavilion. The Biluo Stele is a Tang Dynasty small seal script stele, with uniquely remarkable calligraphy highly praised by calligraphers throughout history.

Behind the main hall lies the renowned Longxing Temple Pagoda (also called the Jiang Pagoda). According to stele inscriptions, the pagoda was originally eight stories high. In the 40th year of the Qianlong era (1784 AD) during the Qing Dynasty, due to years of decay and collapse, the exterior was rebuilt and the pagoda was heightened to its current thirteen stories. The pagoda is octagonal, approximately 40 meters tall, and entirely constructed from polished blue bricks. The brackets, columns, and dougong (bracket sets) under each eave are built in imitation of wooden structures, crafted with fine detail. Each level of the pagoda bears an inscription, from bottom to top: One Pillar Supports Heaven, Two Stems of Immortal Palms, Three Draws of the Dragon Gate, Four Great Steps into the Void, Five Clouds Offer Auspiciousness, Six Turtles Bear the Load, Seven Stars Summon Response, Eight Winds Harmonize the Tones, Nine Roads View Flowers, Two Gardens of Lotus Realm, Ten Directions at a Glance, Twelve Azure Cities, Ten States and Three Islands. These are both relevant and symbolic.

Looking at the pagoda as a whole, its structure is ingenious, its form graceful, and its presence majestic. On a clear, breezy day with a blue sky, looking up at the pagoda piercing the heavens gives the impression of it daring to compete with the sky. On a quiet night when the bright moon shines, silver light bathes the pagoda, creating a scene where light and shadow complement each other, blending reality and illusion, rich in poetic and picturesque charm. Of course, climbing the pagoda to take in the new look of the ancient city and the surrounding landscape is also a wonderful experience and pleasure.

What is puzzling and magical is that it is said the top of the pagoda has emitted smoke several times. During the Mid-Autumn season of 1971, such a spectacle occurred: every evening around dusk, wisps of green smoke would rise from the top of the pagoda, clearly visible from three to four hundred meters away, lasting about half an hour before disappearing. This happened for over ten days, drawing thousands of onlookers each day. What exactly caused this remains a topic of much debate, with various theories: some say it was smoke, others say it was vapor, and still others suggest it was swarms of small insects. Some people climbed to the top and observed that there were indeed many insects swirling around. In fact, this phenomenon has occurred multiple times. The 1941 Record of the Reconstruction of Longxing Temple in Xinjiang states: “In the Year of Yihai of the Guangxu era (1875 AD), smoke rose from the pagoda’s top, universally regarded as a sign of rapid advancement and success in scholarly pursuits.” Truly, the world is full of wonders. It is believed that with the continuous advancement of science and technology, the mystery of this ancient pagoda spectacle will eventually be solved.

Address: North Street, Xinjiang County

Type: Temple

Recommended visiting time: 2 hours

Ticket information:

Door price: 20.0 RMB

Further reading:

· Sixth batch of national key cultural relic protection units