Qiyansi Temple

　　Located atop Zhongtiao Mountain, about 20 kilometers southwest of Yongji City, Shanxi Province. The temple was first built during the Jiande era of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and was originally named Lingshi Temple. In the first year of the Renshou era of the Sui Dynasty (601 AD), it was renamed to its current name. In the same year, Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the enshrinement of Buddhist relics in thirty prefectures and decreed that stupas be erected simultaneously on the fifteenth day of the tenth month. This temple was one of them. The temple flourished greatly during the Sui and Tang dynasties. After the Song Dynasty, it underwent multiple renovations in subsequent dynasties, with an upper, middle, and lower temple located respectively at the mountaintop, mountainside, and mountain foot. During the Anti-Japanese War, the temple structures were destroyed, leaving only the stupa inscription stele erected in the second year of the Renshou era and twenty-six brick stupas. Among them, there is one each from the Tang, Five Dynasties, and Song dynasties, two from the Yuan Dynasty, and twenty-one from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Except for the Song Dynasty stupa, the rest are all stupas dedicated to eminent monks. The Great Master’s Stupa was built in the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty (754 AD). It is circular and solid, with a total height of 8 meters, and its base is about half the height of the stupa itself. The front southern face features a false door, with fluid line engravings on the door panels and frame. The back is inlaid with a stupa inscription. The Five Dynasties stone stupa was built in the third year of the Tongguang era of the Later Tang (925 AD). It is a single-story structure, 3.5 meters high, with an octagonal floor plan. The base is richly carved with decorative patterns. The stupa body is hollow, with two Vajra images carved on the false door on the southern face, and the Dharani Sutra carved on the sides. Though not large in size, the carving work is exquisite. The Song Dynasty reliquary stupa is of the dense-eave style, hexagonal in shape, five stories high, with a total height of 1.7 meters. The first story is particularly tall, featuring a false arched door on the southern face, with wooden-style bracket sets and rafter ends carved under the eaves. The stories above feature simple and solemn interlocking eaves. The Yuan Dynasty stupa has two stories, is hexagonal in shape, and 6 meters tall. Its base is a Sumeru pedestal, with bracket sets carved under the eaves. The stupa body features false doors, and from here you can gaze at the waves of the Yellow River in the distance and admire the cluster of stupas nearby, offering a highly classic and picturesque view.