Places of interest in Xiaosidian Town
1. Fogou Cliff Statue in Xiangshan Mountain
It is located on the hillside of Xiangshan Mountain, 8 kilometers southeast of Simen Village, Xiaoshidian Town. This is the remaining vein of Tongbai Mountain, and the local people call it Foye Valley. The Great Wall built by the Chu State more than 2,000 years ago extends here. There is no inscription on the age of this statue. The book "Song Zhi" records: "There is Xiangshan Temple 120 miles southeast of the state (120 miles southeast of today's Fangcheng). There are cliff statues, the big ones are more than two feet, the small ones are more than one feet, and the backs are The Bodhisattva with Thousand Arms and Thousand Eyes was built to imitate the Longmen Grottoes. It was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Henan Province in 1986 and is the only Buddhist statue found in Nanyang.
The discovery of this stone carving proves that Fangcheng-Nanyang is the source of the ancient Silk Road.
Construction data
The Fogou cliff statues are engraved on two natural boulders in the north and south, with a distance of 20 centimeters between the two stones. The southern stone is 360 cm high, 270 cm wide and 150 cm thick; the northern stone is 310 cm high, 330 cm wide and 250 cm thick. The two-stone statue contains 138 statues in 32 niches. Among them, there are 72 statues in 14 niches on the three sides of the north heather, south and northwest, and 66 statues in 18 niches on the four sides of the south stone. The tallest statue is 1.4 meters and the lowest is only 20 centimeters.
The content of the statues
Mainly include Sakyamuni Buddha, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Thousand-Handed Thousand-Eyed Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Ananda, Kasyapa, Bhikkhu, Manjushri riding a green lion , Samantabhadra riding a white elephant, 12 Arhats, 12-armed Guanyin and other themes. The images are lifelike and have different postures. Some are quiet, dignified and amiable, while some are angry and powerful. The carving is delicate and the technique is skillful. Its style is similar to the Longmen Grottoes and has high archaeological research value. It was originally built with the Xiangshan Temple.
Artistic Value
On November 19, 2008, Yang Jian, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Hu Youming, deputy editor-in-chief and editorial director of "Literary and Historical Knowledge" of Zhonghua Book Company, and Literary Director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Liu Yangzhong, director of the Classical Literature Research Office of the institute, and reporters from CCTV's "Encyclopedia Exploration", accompanied by Feng Xiaoxian, deputy mayor of Nanyang City, came to Fogou for inspection. On May 29, 2009, the tenth series of CCTV's "Encyclopedia Quest" broadcast "The Mysterious Giant Stone Buddha Statue", which caused a sensation across the country.
On June 24, 2009, a group of 7 domestic experts on Buddhist stone carvings visited Fogou for inspection. They are: Sun Yingmin, deputy director of the Cultural Relics Bureau of Henan Province and director of the Grotto Carving Professional Committee of the China Monuments and Ancient Sites Protection Committee, Wen Yucheng, former director and researcher of the Longmen Grottoes Research Institute, Li Chongfeng, a professor at Peking University, Li Jingjie, a professor at Tsinghua University, and Wang Zhenguo, a researcher at the Longmen Research Institute. , Henan Museum researcher Wang Jingquan, and Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Exit Appraisal Station Director Liu Jianhua, and held the "Nanyang Fogou Cliff Statue Expert Seminar".
The discovery of this stone carving proves that Fangcheng-Nanyang is the source of the ancient Silk Road.
2. Xiangshan Temple
Xiangshan Temple is located on Xiangshan Mountain, 8 kilometers southeast of Simen Village, Xiaoshidian Town. It is one of the scenic spots in Xiaoshi Town. During the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and other traditional festivals, During festivals, there are constant visitors and incense here.
3. Nanchong Temple and Black Dragon Pool
It is located on the mountain 10 kilometers south of Xiaosidian Town (called Baogou by locals). Surrounded by mountains and flowing green water, there are scenic spots such as Nanchong Temple and Black Dragon Pool. Due to its remote location, all scenic spots are basically undeveloped. There is only one cement road into the mountain, and there are no commercial activities such as hotels and hostels. Everything is original. Baogou is actually a ditch-shaped terrain, with a river in the center of the ditch. There are all kinds of strange-shaped big rocks in the river bed, which are filled with a mysterious atmosphere.
The Black Dragon Pond is a deep pool, sunken deep under the cliffs on the top of the mountain. It is hollow and round, quite open and flat, with an area of about one acre. The entrance is covered by towering trees and strange rocks. The other three sides are steep cliffs, about a hundred feet high, reaching directly into the sky; the stones are fine and clean, glowing with bluish-white light, and look majestic. A waterfall falls from the top of the cliff against the rocks, like a silver snake falling out of thin air. It is very beautiful and clear. If it rains, the waterfall will rise and roll like a giant dragon, and the water mist will surge into the sky.
Zhuge Liang first established a monastery and cultivated land at the mouth of Shixiakou, ninety miles southeast of Fangcheng. It was first seen in Jiajing's "Yuzhou Chronicles" of the Ming Dynasty. The state chronicles were compiled by Niu Menggen, the materials were collected by him, and the text was written by him. write. Who is Niu Mengeng? He introduced himself in "Yuzhou Chronicles" like this: "Niu Mengeng, courtesy name Shuntian, alias Yugang, was born in Dingtao (Yugang), Shandong, and was appointed as Tong of this mansion (Nanyang) by a supervisor. At the age of Bingwu in Jiajing, he came to Yuzhou to take charge of the affairs. "In the 25th year of Jiajing's reign (1536 AD), before the arrival of the new magistrate of Yuzhou, the imperial court ordered him to come to Yuzhou as a general magistrate to take charge of overall work. He was from the same hometown as Zhuge Liang and the former magistrate Yang Yingkui (from Yidu, Shandong), the compiler of "Nanyang Prefecture". Not only did he understand their life experiences, but after coming to Yuzhu, he discovered Zhuge Liang's earliest nunnery farming land, and also There was physical evidence of "Little Stone Record", so he did not hesitate to include it in the state annals. Due to the wars in the late Ming Dynasty and the excessive burning and killing, by the Qing Dynasty, the "Yuzhou Chronicle" of the Ming Dynasty was incomplete. In the 45th year of Kangxi's reign, Dong Xueli (a native of Xiangping), the prefect of the state, renovated the book. After ten years, it was completed into six volumes (unprinted). In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign, Zhizhou Song Mingli was ordered to continue the revision of "Yuzhou Chronicles", adding new content from the fifty-fifth year of Kangxi to the fifth and third decades of Qianlong's fifth year. It took six years. Song Mingli was a native of Lanshan County, Yizhou Prefecture, Shandong. Lanshan County, Yizhou Prefecture, is now Linyi City, Shandong Province. Zhuge Liang's hometown, Yishui County, is under the jurisdiction of Yizhou Prefecture. Therefore, Song Mingli and Zhuge Liang are closer fellow villagers, and they will have a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of Zhuge Liang's life experience. Song Mingli said in the preface to the continuation of "Yuzhou Chronicles": "It may record the kindness of people, or the increase or decrease of Ding Fu, or the ups and downs of current events, or the changes in local customs, and there will be no ominous assessments. To the third. "This shows that his attitude towards history is serious and meticulous. The "Yuzhou Chronicles" he revised contains four records that Zhuge Liang first established a nunnery at the entrance of Shixiakou. Because the Stone Records still existed in the Tang Dynasty and have been repeatedly verified by "Zhi Zaizhi San", he undoubtedly believed in the "Stone Records", so he This content is fully shown in the state annals. In addition, he also recorded some memorial buildings related to Zhuge Liang in the state city and its vicinity in the state annals. For example, he drew the Zhuge Temple in physical form on the map of Yuzhou in Volume 1. Its location is at the base of the north city wall of Dongmenli Road. . In the second volume of the construction chronicle, it is recorded that "Wuhou Temple was held in the southeast of Jiuzhi for the Spring and Autumn Festival." The "Fangcheng County Chronicle" of the Republic of China added another sentence under this entry: "The monument was rebuilt in the sixth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty and the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty." This fully shows that Zhuge Liang is indeed active in Fangcheng, and the people of Fangcheng really miss and respect Zhuge Liang.
Other places of interest include: the miraculous herb Sheep’s milk tree, Willow willow, Shengjing Temple Hot Spring, the Louzhuang ruins of the Neolithic Age, the temple gate ruins of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Wei Dynasty, the stone Buddha statues of the Qing Dynasty, The cemetery of Shen Zhenwu, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, etc.