Zhong'an Temple

Zhong'an Temple

Zhong'an Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

I had long heard that there used to be a grand temple in Chagan Gol Township (formerly Dongfeng Commune) of Qinghe County. The Kazakh name for Kekeyuyi Village in this township means "blue house," as the roof of the temple was blue.

Due to historical legacy, Qinghe County has many Buddhist relics. Back in 1998 when I worked in the township, during a trip to the summer pasture, while descending the mountain, someone told me that a shepherd had discovered a Buddhist shrine at the mountaintop, containing two bronze Buddha statues (referred to by locals as "Altan Adam," meaning golden people). That’s of course a later story, but it allows us to infer that Buddhism was once prevalent here.

I searched for Zhong'an Temple several times without any definitive results. Over 20 years ago, when I was a social education instructor in Chagan Gol Township, an elderly man pointed to a pile of bricks on the hillside behind the township government and said, “That used to be a temple.” Later, others said, “The temple was located where the bank used to be, right next to the township government.” After reviewing some materials, there was very little information about this temple. It was only through a long conversation with Li Zijun and his article “Talking About Zhong’an Temple in Kekeyuyi, Qinghe County” that I came to understand more about this “blue house.”

In 1771, the Torghuts who returned to their homeland from the Volga River region moved eastward from the shores of the Ili River. Led by Prince Sare, some of the Torghuts settled around the Chagan Gol and Burgyn rivers in Qinghe County. In the 36th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1774), with the support of Shele, the league chief overseeing Kobdo, Qinghe, and Fuyun at the time, the renowned lama Losang Dan, who had returned from the Volga region, presided over establishing Buddhism and bringing peace to the people here. Over three years, a brick-and-wood monastery was built on the banks of the Chagan Gol River and named “Zhong’an Temple.” Since the entire temple was decorated in blue tones, the surrounding herders also called it “Kekeyuyi,” which in Kazakh means “blue house.”

Zhong’an Temple faces east and is oriented west. The temple complex consists of a front hall, a middle hall, and a rear hall. Both the front and rear halls are built with brick and wood, while the middle hall, which served as the monks’ residence, is made of earth and wood—constructed this way to adapt to the local cold climate. “The roof is paved with green tiles, and the eaves are adorned with lion-head tile ornaments. The floor is laid with green bricks. Inside the temple, there is a large painted clay Buddha statue, separated by a velvet curtain in front. The offering altar and bronze incense burner are flanked by drums, gongs, bells, chimes, flutes, and suonas—all instruments used by monks for worship and chanting. The main deity enshrined is Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, along with other copper Buddha statues of various sizes. The temple’s wealth surpassed that of nobles and princes.”

Zhong’an Temple followed the Gelug school, integrating religion with governance, and its wealth rivaled that of nobility. The temple spread knowledge of ethnic history and culture, Buddhism, philosophy, astronomy, and calendar systems locally, while also playing a charitable and relief role, exerting considerable influence in the area.

Over the turbulent years, Zhong’an Temple suffered repeated lootings during wars. Especially in 1933, the temple was burned down by troops under Ma Zhongying, leaving only broken walls and ruins. In 1964, copper bowls, copper rings, copper seals, copper coins, lotus bases of broken Buddha statues, as well as broken bricks and tiles were unearthed at the site.

The original temple has long turned into rubble, and the monks' living quarters now stand where the local credit union is located. Through Li Zijun, I learned that the renowned lama Losang Dan, who led the return from the Volga region, first presided over the construction of Zhong’an Temple in what is now Chagan Gol Township, Qinghe County. Fortunately, a temple of the same design was also built in Chengde at the time. When Li Zijun visited Chengde, he even purchased a model of the Chengde Zhong’an Temple, providing a basis for restoring the original appearance of Qinghe’s Zhong’an Temple in the future. Though separated by mountains and rivers, the two temples have maintained countless threads of connection.

As a once-thriving religious site, the former glory of Zhong’an Temple has long vanished amid the ravages of war and time. Yet the process of the temple’s demise also represents the inevitability of history.

Wiping away the dust of history offers us a warning: only when the nation is strong can the people be at peace; only through unity can we become strong; only by thinking and striving together can we revitalize and prosper. This is the lesson history teaches us.