Fuqing Temple

Fuqing Temple (Fuqing Si), originally called Xingshan Temple, was ever regarded as an ancient ritualistic ashram of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. The temple was honored with its current name by Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty in the seventh year of the Dazhong Xiangfu period in the Song Dynasty (in 1014 AD). During the reign of Emperor Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the temple was luckily assigned to be the venue of conferring honorary titles for royal family twice, including one occasion that a Qing Dynasty princess was granted the title Ciyou Bodhisattva. Now, the temple attracts plenty of faithful worshipers and tourists. Fuqing Temple looks majestic and resplendent, and is provided with a main building Grand Hall. Beside Grand Hall, there is a traditional and plain Royal Seal Pillar with a coarse but lively appearance, which now has become one of Chinese rare and valuable cultural relics. Inside Grand Hall, there are a range of buddha statues: Sakyamuni, Samantabhadra, Manjushri, and 18 Arhats. The vivid statue of 18 Arhats is carved with white marble. Fuqing Temple fully takes the advantage of serene and steep mountains to create an array of stunningly magnificent temples and pavilions, which, in part located in the air, integrates both of static and dynamic beauty, as well as of natural and artificial beauty. Among all the buildings, Bridge Tower Hall is the best known one, which is also listed as one of the three most famous hanging temples in the air in China. Some evidence shows that Stone Bridge amid mountains surrounding Fuqing Temple was established in the Sui Dynasty, slightly earlier than that of Zhaozhou Anji Bridge. Situated on the west with its face to the east, the Stone Bridge arches across cliffs just like a stunning wonder of rainbow flying over temples. Because of its astonishing beauty, Flying Rainbow over the Bridge Tower Hall is listed as one of three incomparable wonders in Mount Cangyan.

Fuqing Temple contains a group of ancient buildings, neither resembling traditional enclosed compound running through the north-south axis, nor similar to semi-hanging mountain temple. Fuqing Temple has a unique style by building itself on steep cliff and deep gully. In other words, the temple takes advantages of serene and steep mountains to form concealed and amazing temples, which integrates both of natural and artificial beauty, as well as of static and dynamic beauty. Its stately building enhances the lofty and dignified image of buddism, which in turn helps to persuade common people to convert to buddism. Whether in overall layout or the construction technology of its main buildings, Fuqing Temple represents a high level of architectural and artistic achievements.

According to their different vertical position, Fuqing Temple is grouped into upper layer buildings, middle layer buildings and lower layer buildings. The lower layer buildings include Entrance Decorated Archway, Entrance, Clock Tower (no longer existing), Cangshan Academy, Monument Room, Theatricals Stage (only foundation bed preserved now), Immortals Hall, Temporary Imperial Palace (no longer existing), and Cloud Ladder with three hundred steps and more in Southwest Valley. The middle layer buildings include Lingguan Temple, Heavenly King Hall, Bridge Tower Hall, Flying Passage (namely Fudao Great Stone Bridge), Yuanjue Temple (also known as Buddha Hall), Zhongshan Cliff Path, Monk Lodgings, Dressing House, Guan Yu Temple, Fenghui Loft (also named as Sutra Depository), Yanxia Mountain House (namely Hell Hall), Offspring Hall, Sage Temple, Lotus Flower Pagoda, Princess Hall, Monkey King Temple (no longer existing), Southern Gate of Heaven and Eastern Gate of Heaven.

The lower layer buildings include Jade Emperor Hall (enlarged now) and Tower Forest (namely Monk Graveyard, now with little remnant only). Most of quintessential buildings are on the middle layer. The following are some descriptions of the main buildings.

Entrance Decorated Archway

In the front of the Fuqing Temple entrance, there is a wooden house called Entrance Decorated Archway, which consists of a main arch and a subordinate one, with the roof covered with overhanging gable roof and tiles. The main arch adopts four nine-thread brackets, and the subordinate house has two five-thread brackets supported by the two pillars. The pillars is fixed by steel-reinforced stone and supported by side bars. On the main arch is a monument inscribed with the word “Mount Cangyan Fuqing Temple” by artist Li Kuchan. Entrance Decorated Archway was initially constructed in the Qing Dynasty.

Cangshan Academy

On the right side of Entrance is a stone platform under Xifeng Cliff, on which Cangshan Academy is built. Cangshan Academy adopts wooden structure with flush gable roof and eave, and occupies a building area of 39.70 square meters, with the length equivalent to that of three rooms. In addition, there is a room standing out at one end of the building. Cangshan Academy was initially created during the reign of Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, and later in the Qing Dynasty, it was renovated.

Immortals Hall and Temporary Imperial Palace

Immortals Hall consists of a combination of buildings. The main hall adopts the structure of overhanging gable roof and eave, and occupies a building area of 67.70 square meters, with the length equivalent to that of three rooms and the construction structure being seven frame beams. In addition, there is a room standing out at one end of the building. Some inscription monument shows that Immortals Hall was one part of Temporary Imperial Palace. Since Temporary Imperial Palace was renovated many times during the reign of Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, we can infer that Immortals Hall was formed no later than the late Ming Dynasty. Temporary Imperial Palace, also called West Hall, now has little remained.

Heavenly King Hall, Bridge Tower Hall, Flying Passage

Heavenly King Hall, also called Small Bridge Tower Hall, is situated on Small Stone Bridge in Southwest Valley. Small Stone Bridge arches across steep cliffs. It is a separated arch bridge with an array of arches vertically juxtaposed. Heavenly King Hall is made of yellow and green glazed tiles with gable and hip roof and mainly contains multiple-eave wooden pavilions. The hall length is equivalent to that of three rooms. Besides, there is a room standing out at one end of the building. The roof of Heavenly King Hall is decorated with four face-to-face dragons on the main ridge, three double-tier and high-pedestal lotus flower pagodas on the back of lion in the center, a number of wing-shaped quoins, and a flock of beasts on the diagonal and horizontal ridge for gable and hip roof. The body of Heavenly King Hall is provided with mostly different brackets at each central bay, column head and corner of the upper and lower eaves. The cross-shaped brackets for the lower eave is designed for decoration only, with the bracket head carved into overlapping dragon, phoenix and elephant, which is surprisingly exotic. The central bay bracket for the upper eave is an oblique arch, with the column head bracket being five-tread double-lever arch and lever mouth in the shape of instrument surface. The five-purlin beam frame stands out both at the front and rear of the hall, and dragons and sparrow brace are carved between the outer eave column and column brow. The side bay at the left side has a small door embedded in the upper wall, which leads to the mountain behind it. People can climb up and down a ladder to the door.    

According to the Inscription of Stone Bridge at Fuqing Temple in Mount Cangyan, which was placed in Heavenly King Hall and inscribed in the second year of the Taihe period in the Jin Dynasty, the stone bridge and hall was simultaneously constructed during the Dading period of the Jin Dynasty (1162 AD to 1189 AD), which is eight hundred years and more from now. Thereafter, it was renovated in the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China respectively.