Longxing Temple in Xinjiang

　　Longxing Temple is situated on a high cliff at the northern end of Beijie Street in Xinjiang County. When you get off at Nanguan in the county town, cross the small makeshift pontoon bridge, or drive across the Fenhe River Bridge upstream from the pontoon, as soon as you step onto the bustling streets of Xinjiang County and look into the distance, the first thing that catches your eye is the ancient Longxing Temple standing majestically atop the towering city wall.

　　According to records, the temple was originally built during the Tang Dynasty. As it enshrined the statue of the Heavenly Venerable of Biluo, it was named Biluo Guan (Biluo Temple). In the first year of the Xianheng era (670 AD) during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, it was renamed Longxing Temple. At that time, the temple complex was grand in architecture and quite large in scale. By the fifth year of the Huichang era (845 AD), due to Emperor Wuzong Li Yan’s vigorous campaign against Buddhism, the movement to demolish temples and destroy Buddha statues was prevalent, and most structures within Longxing Temple were destroyed, with only the pagoda courtyard surviving. During the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin once stayed here, leading to the temple being renamed a palace. It later reverted to the name Longxing Temple after monks reclaimed residence. The temple site stands prominently on high ground, commanding an impressive view. The original structures mainly included the Mahavira Hall and a tall pagoda. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, with the support of the Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, the Xinjiang County Party Committee and County Government extensively raised funds, organized voluntary labor, gathered skilled craftsmen, reinforced the temple foundation, renovated the halls, added corridors, and constructed a wide new access road leading directly to the temple. As a result, this thousand-year-old ancient temple has been revitalized, taking on a renewed appearance.

　　Blessed with a prime location, magnificent architecture, and enchanting surroundings, the Xinjiang County Museum is housed here. Over the years, through diligent work, they have not only preserved Longxing Temple in excellent condition but also collected a number of important stone inscriptions and cultural relics.

　　Nearly ten ancient stone tablets displayed in the front and rear stele pavilions and stele corridors behind the main hall are particularly eye-catching. Among them, the most valuable is the famous calligraphic art stele known as the "Biluo Stele," renowned nationwide for its large seal script. As for the origin of the stele’s name, some say it comes from the phrase "perched in the azure void" found in the text, while others claim it is because the stele was housed in the Biluo Guan. The stele stands 2.26 meters tall, 1.03 meters wide, and 0.21 meters thick. It was erected in the third year of the Zongzhang era (607 AD) of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi of the Tang Dynasty by Li Xun, Li Yi, Li Zhuan, and Li Chen—the sons of Han King Yuanjia, the eleventh son of Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan—to pray for their deceased mother, Lady Fang. The text is written in seal script, comprising 21 lines with 32 characters per line, totaling 630 characters excluding blanks. The script combines characters from bronze inscriptions, ancient seal scripts, and small seal scripts. Based on earlier ancient scripts, it was modified, adapted, and integrated to create a new form of ancient seal script with elegant posture and a unique style. It appears neat without being contrived, graceful and refined, making it a treasured piece highly regarded by epigraphers and calligraphers throughout history. The "Guangchuan Book Postscript" states: “The seal script is strange and ancient, with exquisitely drawn strokes, unlike any worldly seal script.” It also says: “This stele transcends the norms of traditional seal script, with brushwork that is already deep and steady.” Thus, “commentators of the past often marveled at its miraculous excellence” ("Jinshi Lu"). Without a solid foundation in classical Chinese and calligraphy, it is truly difficult to recognize and read the full text. Therefore, exactly two hundred years after the stele was erected, in the eleventh year of the Xiantong era (870 AD), a man named Zheng Chenggui was ordered to transcribe the text in regular script and carve it onto another stone to facilitate reading and copying for future generations. The "Qianyan Hall Epigraphy Postscript" records this event, stating that the stele’s “seal script is strange and ancient, leaving even petty scholars speechless and unable to read it; thanks to Zheng Chenggui’s transcription, it can be roughly parsed... Truly, only those who deeply study the Six Scripts and are well-read in ancient and modern works can discern it. Since the Song Dynasty, seal script calligraphers have revered this as an inviolable canon, daring not to alter a single character.”

　　Perhaps precisely because the text is so ancient, exquisite, and peerless, the Biluo Stele has been cloaked in many mythical elements over the ages. Numerous historical and miscellaneous texts also record curious anecdotes and legends. According to the "Luozhong Jiwén" and the "Jinshi Lu," when the text of the Biluo Stele was completed and about to be engraved, two Taoist priests happened to come and request to carve it. After obtaining the text, they shut themselves in a room, closed the doors and windows, sat with eyes closed in meditation, and remained inside day and night for three consecutive days without making a sound. People found this very strange and went together to open the door. To their surprise, the room was completely empty—both Taoist priests had vanished without a trace, and only a pair of cranes (some say pigeons) were seen flying and dancing before gracefully departing. The stele text appeared as if carved by the hands of immortals, vivid and lifelike. Due to the extraordinary nature of the incident and the miraculous quality of the writing, it naturally attracted many renowned calligraphers who came to admire it. It is said that Li Yangbing, who boasted of being a descendant of Li Si, upon seeing the stele, was so captivated that he lingered for days, reluctant to leave. He pondered and studied it repeatedly. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he could not master it, which frustrated him greatly. Ashamed of his inferior skill, he angrily struck the stele with a hammer and left in disgrace. A chip on the stele is said to be the mark of Li Yangbing’s hammer. Later generations not only engraved this amusing story on the side of the stele but also recarved an identical replica, placing it alongside the original Tang-era Biluo Stele, calling it the New Stele.

　　Of course, these accounts and legends may be somewhat exaggerated, but the sophistication of the calligraphy and the profound skill demonstrated in the Biluo Stele are indeed exceptional and extraordinary. Otherwise, it would never have been favored by generations of epigraphers, nor admired by contemporary calligraphy researchers and enthusiasts, nor recognized nationally as one of China’s famous calligraphic steles. The "Jiangzhou Prefecture Annals" once evaluated it as: “The Biluo seal script is the culmination of ancient seal scripts.” Although we dare not fully agree, we can at least say that it is a treasured piece in the study of Chinese seal script calligraphy.

　　Among the various cultural relics collected by the museum, there is also the exquisitely sculpted Song Dynasty nephrite relief "The Eighteen Scholars Ascend to Yingzhou," and a couplet personally inscribed by General He Long in 1937 when leading troops northward through Xinjiang for the wedding of a farmer’s son: “Green shores calm as orioles sing amid willows, Bluefields warm where jade exhales its fragrance”—all of which are extremely precious.

　　Longxing Temple is located at No. 2 Longxing Road, Xinjiang County. Originally built in the Tang Dynasty and originally named Biluo Guan, it evolved historically from a Taoist temple to a Buddhist sacred site, known as Longxing Temple. It has undergone renovations in various dynasties. The Xinjiang County Museum is housed here.

　　The existing main hall is a Yuan Dynasty structure with a hanging gable roof. Inside the hall are painted clay sculptures from the Song and Jin periods, including the Lufo, Sakyamuni Buddha, Vairocana Buddha, as well as attendant statues of Guanyin, Ksitigarbha, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra. On the left and right sides of the hall are auxiliary halls. The courtyard houses the Biluo Stele Pavilion; the Biluo Stele is a Tang Dynasty small seal script stele with uniquely esteemed calligraphy, highly regarded by calligraphers throughout history.

　　Behind the main hall lies the famous Longxing Temple Pagoda (also called Jiang Tower). According to inscriptions on the stele, the pagoda was originally eight stories high. In the 40th year of the Qianlong era (1784 AD) of the Qing Dynasty, due to long-term deterioration and partial collapse, it was reinforced with an outer shell and heightened to its current thirteen stories. The pagoda is octagonal, approximately 40 meters tall, and entirely constructed from polished blue bricks. The brackets, columns, and dougong (bracket arms) under each eave of the pagoda are all built in imitation of wooden structures, crafted with fine detail. Each level of the pagoda features an inscription, from bottom to top: One Pillar Supports Heaven, Two Stems of Immortal Palms, Three Draws the Dragon Gate, Four Great Leaps into the Void, Five Clouds Present Auspiciousness, Six Turtles Bear the Load, Seven Stars Summon Response, Eight Winds Harmonize Rhythm, Nine Roads Admire Flowers, Two Gardens of Lotus Realm, Ten Directions in One View, Twelve Azure Cities, Ten States and Three Islands. Each name is both descriptive and symbolic.

　　Viewed as a whole, the pagoda is exquisitely structured, gracefully shaped, and majestically proportioned. On a clear, breezy day with a pure blue sky, looking up at the pagoda piercing the heavens gives the impression of it vying with the sky for height. On a quiet night when the bright moon shines down, the silver glow bathes the pagoda, creating a scene where light and shadow complement each other, blending reality and illusion with great poetic charm. Of course, ascending the pagoda to take in the renewed face of the ancient city and the landscape of the surrounding mountains and rivers is also a wonderful experience and pleasure.

　　What is puzzling and magical is that it is said that smoke has emerged from the top of the pagoda several times. During the Mid-Autumn season of 1971, such a spectacle occurred: every evening around dusk, wisps of green smoke would rise from the top of the pagoda, clearly visible from three to four hundred meters away, lasting about half an hour before disappearing. This phenomenon continued for more than ten days, drawing thousands of onlookers each day. There were various speculations about what it was—some said it was smoke, others gas, and still others believed it was swarms of small insects. Some people climbed to the top and observed that there were indeed many insects swirling around. In fact, this phenomenon has occurred multiple times. The 1941 "Record of the Reconstruction of Longxing Temple in Xinjiang" states: “In the Year of Yihai of Guangxu (1875 AD), smoke rose from the top of the pagoda, universally regarded as a sign of rapid advancement and a harbinger of success in scholarly pursuits.” Truly, in this vast world, nothing is too strange. It is believed that with the continuous advancement of science and technology, the mystery of this ancient pagoda phenomenon will eventually be solved.

　　Address: Beida Street, Xinjiang County

　　Type: Temple

　　Recommended visiting time: 2 hours

　　Ticket information:

　　Door price: 20.0 RMB