Fuqing Temple 3

Temple of Guan Yu

Situated in the Fenghui Loft, the temple is a single-eave construction that covers an area of 26 square meters with three rooms in width and one in depth. The girders of the temple are walled by bricks and painted with white ash. It was built in the Ming Dynasty and renewed in the Qing Dynasty.

The Princess Palace

Located between cliffs of the West Peak, the Princess Palace is a single-eave building facing the east. Leaning upon the mountains, the Palace has three rooms in width, and two in depth. The doom and the corbel arch of the palace are of the same style with those in the Yuanjue Palace. Originally, there were Chantas hanging on the eave. But they no longer exist now. Posts surround the Palace, while the five-frame gilders are put in the corbel arch of the eaves of both the front and rear sides with the a tiebeam as decoration. Between the gilders, there are also brackets and short columns. Three-frame gilders are placed on two sides of the building with brackets, short columns and corbel arch of hemp fimble leaf shape supporting the ridge purlin. Under the purlin, there are backing boards, and between the front eaves, a stone arched door made of five bluestone stripes and two vermeil-color doors on which three dragons are carved. On the wall of the second-room (counting from both sides) is one round-shaped window, and between the posts of the second-room (counting from both sides) are wooden door steles with Suzhou style color paintings.

On the south and north sides of the walls inside the palace, there are wall paintings that are 4.65*2.05 square meters in size. Each wall painting tells a story about the princess, and there are eight episodes in all, namely convenance, suffering, haircut, monastic, magic showing, conference, protecting the people and walking in the rain. According to records, the Princess Palace was built in the Jin Dynasty with the original name of The Palace of Real Looks of the Princess, which was changed into The Real Looks Palace in the Ming Dynasty. The building has been renewed in both the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Mahayana Lotus Sutra Tower

The tower, located to the south of the Princess Palace, is a hexagon-shaped pavilion-like solid tower of five floors. Standing about 10 meters high, the tower consists of the base, the body and the spire. The base of the tower, 2.26 meters high, originally a Buddhist pedestal, has partly collapsed due to the weakened bricks. During the renewing process, the base will be changed into a square shape. The body of the tower stands 7 meters high and consists of five floors. On each floor, there are wooden-like eaves with purlin on and flat tiebeam under. Under the corbel arch of each floor are fish-shaped purfles. Girders are decorated on the top point of every eave so as to hang the Chantas (no-longer exist now). The first floor of the tower is the highest with the door head engraved a picture of “two dragons playing with the pearl”. Upon the door head, a rectangle-shaped bluestone plague is written with “the inscription of Mahayana Lotus Sutra Tower”. On the rear side of the tower, a bi-parting fake door is accessorized with another bluestone plague written with “Sutra Tower”. There are also fake windows on other fours sides of the tower. The tower spire does not exist now, and there has been no record concerning the year in which the tower had been built. But according to its style, the tower couldn’t have been built before the Jin Dynasty.

Grave of Buddhist Monks and Sutra Pillar

The Grave used to be in today’s Nao Village. However, it does not exist now. According to local people, in the past, the place was full of towers and sutra pillars. The pillar which situates now in the Southern Gate of Heaven (the Nantian Gate) was moved from this place.

The sutra pillar, standing 2.7 meters high, was built by twelve bluestones. On the front side of the eight prisms engraves 20 characters -- Sutra Pillar Record by Hongfu Great Master of Fuqing Temple with Suzerain Lamp in Mount Cangyan (literally), while on the other sides of the post, the Dharani sutra and the ranking of monks are inscribed; and the josses images are carved on the upper area of the inner smaller eight-arris post.

Stone Tablet

More than 165 temple tablets, including record ones, donation ones and poem ones etc, are erected in the tablet corridor in Fuqing Temple. They are various in subjects, such as Cangyan Travel, Vouchsafing Fuqing Temple, Long Live the Emperor, Everlasting Glory, Blessing, Happy Wedding, Immortal through the Ages, the Rehabilitation of Tablets, rare in record ones, occupying 10%, common in donation ones, about 90%, and according to the shape, they are divided into dragon head and fish jumping tablet, square headed tablet, and round headed tablet, while 2 tablets were set up in Song Dynasty, 11 in Jin Dynasty, 1 in Yuan Dynasty, 10 in Ming Dynasty, 107 in Qing Dynasty, 12 in Minguo Period and other times.