Hulunbuir Jingang Temple

Hulunbuir Jingang Temple

Hulunbuir Jingang Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Highlights Compared to many temples in central China, Jingang Temple is not large in scale and has only been built for a little over a decade. However, its construction process is full of legendary tales. The abbot, whose secular name was Zhang Chunxin, Dharma name Nengren, and monastic name Guo, came to Zhalantun alone in 1990 with just two jiao in his pocket. Today, Jingang Temple enjoys flourishing incense offerings, and his devotion has finally brought him good karma.

Jingang Temple was first built in 1985. The temple complex covers an area of 6,000 square meters, with the Mahavira Hall as its main hall. In sequence from two directions, it also includes the Scripture Depository, the Heavenly King Hall, the Azure Dragon Pavilion, and the Guanyin Hall. Each hall stands majestically, adorned with carved beams and painted rafters, their splendidly adorned eaves complemented by bronze tripods in front of each building, creating an ancient and magnificent sight. Inside the halls, there are 46 statues of deities, including 37 copper Buddha statues and the rest made of white marble. Jingang Temple is not only grand in scale and beautifully built, with a full array of Buddhist statues, but it also houses several unique statues that are rare even within China’s Buddhist community. The temple also treasures precious Buddhist scriptures. The Mahavira Hall enshrines a 2.5-meter-tall bronze statue of the Three Bodies of Shakyamuni, with three heads integrated into one—an unusual design. It is said to be the first of its kind in China. Measuring 5.6 meters in length and weighing 2.5 tons, the statue features graceful lines and a benevolent expression, making it the first of its kind north of the Yellow River. The 3.3-meter-tall bronze Thousand-Armed and Thousand-Eyed Guanyin statue in the Guanyin Hall shines brilliantly, with its round shape and exquisite craftsmanship making it the second such statue in temples north of the Yellow River. The Scripture Depository of Jingang Temple preserves one of the two copies of the Qianlong-era Da Cangjing (Great Treasury of Scriptures) gifted to mainland China by the Taiwanese Buddhist community, consisting of 160 volumes of authentic scriptures—it is the “treasure of the temple.” The builder of Jingang Temple was a senior monk who wandered here from Mount Wutai, with the monastic name Guo. The monk was deeply devoted to Buddhism, patriotic and dedicated to his faith, and willing to contribute to society.

During the massive flood in Zhalantun in 1998, the railway bridge on the Gaotaizi section of the Binzhou Railway line was washed away by the flood, causing the railway to be cut off. The Harbin Railway Bureau quickly dispatched construction teams to the site for emergency repairs. Seeing dozens of workers struggling to work in the rain with very difficult living conditions, Master Guo voluntarily offered the temple’s dormitories for the workers to stay in, and also provided them with free meals made from the temple’s grain and rice. This continued for over ten days until the road and bridge were repaired and traffic resumed. During the disaster relief period, Jingang Temple donated several thousand yuan in cash and supplies to aid the victims, earning praise from the local government and residents.

In May 2001, to support the development of tourism in Chengjisihan Town, Jingang Temple signed an agreement to take over the management of the Chengjisihan Temple. With an investment of over one million yuan, the temple newly enshrined 29 fiberglass-painted statues, built a new archway, and added new facilities, restoring the Chengjisihan Temple to its former prosperity.

Jingang Temple is not only a Buddhist sacred site but also a key tourist attraction in Zhalantun City. The city’s tourism bureau has specifically launched a “daily tour” route from Zhalantun — Jingang Temple — Chengjisihan Temple. Every year, thousands of domestic and international tourists visit, with some coming from nearby areas such as the local region and Heilongjiang, and others from farther places like Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangxi, and Guizhou. Even Russian visitors frequently come, contributing to the local economy.

Inner Mongolia, Hulunbuir