Ruins of the Ancient Baishi County

Ruins of the Ancient Baishi County

The ancient Baishi County ruins are a cultural tourism attraction.

In Baishi Temple Village, Wensheng Township, Tongjiang County, where two phoenixes seem to face each other, lie the ruins of the ancient Baishi County, dating back 1,460 years, nestled between the Twin Phoenix Mountains.

In the view of experts such as Bai Yunxiang, Deputy Director and Research Curator of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Gao Dalun, Director of the Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, “the ancient Baishi County ruins have a long history and splendid culture, serving as an important testament to the great integration of ancient Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian cultures from both northern and southern China within the Ba Kingdom.” Recently, the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau nominated the ancient Baishi County ruins for inclusion in the seventh batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.

I. Qin Roads and Han Tombs Hidden in the Mountains

The terrain of Baishi Temple Village resembles two phoenixes. Walking into the Twin Phoenix Mountains, one sees a stone-paved mountain path flanked by overgrown weeds and lush woods. “These roads may even predate the ancient Baishi County,” said Duan Xuyao, the village Party secretary of Baishi Temple, who has long been interested in the village’s history. According to records in the Huayang Guo Zhi • Ba Zhi, the Huan Yu Ji, and local legends, since the Qin and Ba allied against Chu, the royal road from Hanzhong to Dazhou passed through Baishi Temple Village. During the Tang and Song dynasties, it became a “key passageway between Sichuan and Shaanxi” and a “tea-horse trade route,” with inscribed stone tablets along the way. Later generations also called it the Yangbi Road or the Stele Slope Ancient Road.

“Since ancient times, this has been a major transportation route.” Historical documents record that during the Chu-Han Contention, Xiao He transported grain and forage stockpiled in Yong’an’s Hanzhong City through the Qin Road to aid Liu Bang in defeating Xiang Yu. In the Tang Dynasty, Northern stone caves, Buddhism, and medical practices flowed from the Central Plains into Sichuan, while Southern Taoism and Ba culture spread to the Central Plains via this route. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, merchants came and went in an endless stream.

Legend has it that when Zhang Fei was ordered to attack Bazhou, he learned that the Bazhou governor Yan Yan had focused his defenses on the north. So Zhang Fei attempted to launch a surprise attack from the southeast under cover of night via this road but failed. He then retreated to Hanzhong City, while Bao Sanniang beat drums on Leigu City to cheer him on. Before long, Bazhou was captured and Yan Yan taken prisoner.

During the Jiaqing era, Baishi Temple Village was bustling with shops and constant merchant traffic, and the Baishi Temple enjoyed thriving incense offerings. Legend says a barefooted monster, jealous of the prosperity, transformed into the Barefoot Immortal and tried to block and flood the village by moving earth and stones to dam the Shaxi River. A farming woman disguised as the Water Goddess saw through the plot, subdued the monster, and saved the locals from disaster. In gratitude, the villagers built the Water Goddess Temple beside the Stele Slope Ancient Road for travelers to worship and rest.

Experts organized by the Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute conducted an on-site investigation. In the dense forest, they discovered two ancient and mysterious Han tombs. Surrounded by lush pines and cypresses, the tomb sites had not a single blade of grass or bird perching on their tops for thousands of years. In the late Qing and early Republican period, tomb robbers tried to dig them up for treasures, but the circular and square Han bricks, rope-patterned tiles, cloth-patterned tiles, and pottery shards made the tomb walls exceptionally solid. It took six or seven people until dawn to dig just two feet. The top of the tomb was covered with smooth stone slabs fitted seamlessly with the walls. When the robbers shattered the slabs, some went blind, others lost their speech, and all died within half a year. No one dared to rob the tombs again after that.

II. Stone Carving Art Featuring Coexisting Buddhism and Taoism

According to the Tongjiang County Annals from the Daoguang era, “100 li from the county lies the ancient Baishi County, established in 552 AD by the last emperor of the Western Wei Dynasty, and named after the Baishi River within its territory. It was incorporated into Tongjiang County in 1072 during the fifth year of Emperor Xining of the Northern Song Dynasty, having existed as a county for 520 years.”

In ancient times, counties were typically established every 100 li, with the location of the county seat determined by soil testing. The soil at Letianping in Bandeng Township was three parts heavier than that of Baishi Temple Village, but as soon as it was weighed, the weighing stone fell into the grass and was never seen again, which was considered an ill omen. Moreover, the terrain of Baishi Temple Village resembled two phoenixes, so the county seat was built there.

In the Tang Dynasty, the establishment of a county required the creation of Buddha statues. Following this custom, there were also numerous stone cave carvings near the ancient Baishi County at the time. Xi Kai, Deputy Director of the Tongjiang County Cultural Relics Management Office, said that today, near the ruins of the ancient Baishi County, there are still 18 cave niches, 239 statues, and one stone stele preserved. The statues mostly feature combined Buddhist and Taoist figures in the same niche and serve as precious physical materials for studying the art of combined Buddhist-Taoist cave carvings in Sichuan and the historical development of coexisting Buddhist and Taoist beliefs.

Among them, the Foerling Grottoes, announced as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit this July, were built in the 14th year of the Dazhong era of the Tang Dynasty (860 AD). The most distinctive is the No. 7 niche on the east side, a Buddhist statue niche, which currently houses 23 statues. It features a square outer chamber and round inner chamber, with a scrolling vine motif on the niche lintel. The main statue, dressed as a bodhisattva, sits cross-legged under a bodhi tree preaching, with a treasure vase backscreen and scrolling vine-patterned peach-shaped halo behind, and four flying apsaras on the niche ceiling. Its composition is unique, and the carving techniques are exquisitely delicate, making it a masterpiece of Tang Dynasty stone carving.

The Holy Elephant Beam in Front of the Old Hall at Chenjiahe

III. Exquisite Carvings and Paintings at Baishi Temple

After Baishi County was incorporated into Tongjiang County in the Song Dynasty, the county seat was gradually abandoned. During the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty, locals built Baishi Temple on the ruins of the old site, which has a history of over 500 years.

Baishi Temple consists of a front hall, middle hall, rear hall, a Confucian-Taoist school, side rooms, and a mountain gate. Initially built during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty (1465–1487), the existing structures include the front hall (Buddha Hall) and the middle hall (Laojun Hall), which were expanded (or rebuilt) in the 55th year of the Kangxi reign (1716) and the 35th year of the Qianlong reign (1771) of the Qing Dynasty, respectively.

Legend has it that after the temple was completed, the craftsmen carved four upside-down bamboo dragons on the pillars of the middle and rear halls. After school, students would pour ink into the dragons’ mouths, and over time, the bamboo dragons turned pitch black and shiny. One summer during the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty, heavy rain caused the Shaxi River in front of the temple to rise rapidly, reaching the mountain gate in moments. The temple suddenly began to shake and creak. The abbot noticed the four bamboo dragons had swum to the entrance of the middle hall and were about to dive into the river and head to the sea. In panic, the abbot chopped the dragons in half at the waist with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and the river waters immediately receded. To this day, the threshold of the middle hall still bears the knife marks, with bloodstains visible on the cuts.

Baishi Temple boasts ingenious design and construction. The temple buildings feature a mixed wooden structure of post-and-lintel and raised-beam styles, with blue tile roofs, single eaves, and hip-and-gable roofs with slightly upturned corners. Eaves are equipped with coffered ceilings, and outer corridors are installed. The lower part has wooden panel lattice windows, and the upper part has woven bamboo walls, all built on a high platform. The site selection of the temple was rigorous, with complete drainage facilities and a strictly symmetrical axial layout. The materials used were large in size and of superior quality. While the individual buildings were constructed strictly according to palace-style methods, the detailed decorations flexibly employed local craftsmanship. Both the front and rear crossbeams are adorned with bracket sets (dougong), with five extant sets, all of the five-ply style, consisting of central melon brackets, melon-seed brackets, and central ten-thousand brackets.

The wood and stone carvings of Baishi Temple are exquisitely crafted. Not only are the patterns ingeniously designed and the themes vivid and diverse, but the carving techniques are also varied. For example, on the horizontal beams of the main hall, scenes from stories such as “Wei Zheng Dream-Slaying the Dragon King” and “Journey to the West” and “The Oath of the Peach Garden” and “Guan Yu Passing Through Five Passes and Slaying Six Generals” from “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” are carved. Components such as decorative panels and spandrels feature carvings of magpies among plum blossoms, fish, cut flowers, and intricately carved entwined floral patterns. Beams and pillars are painted with entwined floral and cloud motifs, while the ridge beams of the front and rear halls are painted with Taiji diagrams. The base surfaces, as well as plaques and column bases, are carved with traditional patterns of flowers, birds, fish, and dragons.