Qingliang Temple on Mount Wutai

Qingliang Temple on Mount Wutai is locatedWutai County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Provincein Qingliang Valley, northeast of Nancun Village in Zhongtai, approximately 15 kilometers from Taihuai Town. The temple is named after the renowned sacred relic of Manjushri, the “Qingliang Stone.” The current Qingliang Temple is a newly reconstructed temple built in the late 1990s with funding from Ms. Huang Huiqing from Hong Kong and designed and constructed by Hu Yinyu, a master of arts and crafts from the Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau.

According to the “Records of Qingliang Mountain,” the temple was first established during the second year of Yanxing to the seventeenth year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty under Emperor Xiaowen (472–493). During the Tang Dynasty, it served as a national dharma center. In the first year of the Tang Dali era (766), it became a sacred site of Esoteric Buddhism under the Vajra Master Amoghavajra. By the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, the temple buildings were renovated and presented a grand and orderly appearance. The temple was further expanded during the Republican era but was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution as a product of superstition, with only the naturally formed Qingliang Stone remaining.

The Qingliang Stone is the symbol of Qingliang Temple. It is said that Manjushri once preached on this stone, which is also referred to as the “Manjushri’s Seat.”

Qingliang Temple faces west and is laid out according to the traditional Chinese symmetrical axis design. Along the central axis are five main halls, with meditation rooms and side halls symmetrically arranged on both sides. The ancient Qingliang Tree is situated within the temple grounds, creating a rigorously organized layout with clear primary and secondary structures.

Taihuai Town: Originally located in the central part of Mount Wutai by the Qingshui River, Taihuai Town got its name from being surrounded by five peaks. Nearby lies the famous Mount Wutai temple complex. In the late Qing Dynasty, Taihuai served as an imperial retreat, where Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong visited and stayed multiple times. Taihuai is a local market town that welcomes countless tourists and merchants every year.