Visiting historical sites in Shanxi in 2020 will give you different surprises (7)
On October 7, the National Day holiday has come to an end, so hurry up and continue running on the land of Shanxi.
The first stop, Xixian Drum Tower, is located at the intersection of Xixian Street. In the morning, the light is particularly good, and it is a sunny day. The photos are particularly beautiful. Standing proudly among the crowd and feeling like a magnificent place, Xixian Drum Tower is so beautiful.
The second stop, Xiaoxitian, Xi County, is the most exciting place with statues in this trip. Located in the west of the county, it is now open to the public as a scenic spot selling tickets. Xiaoxitian is located on the mountain. Although the building is not very tall, it is majestic on the high mountain. It is said that Xiao Xitian is like a phoenix. From the overall perspective of Feng Shui, it really looks like a phoenix spreading its wings.
Xiaoxitian was built in the late Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty and the early Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty. It can be said to be a cross-dynasty project. From another perspective, Xi County was not greatly affected by the change of dynasties, because it was able to raise a large amount of funds to build temples. It is said that there was a large temple called Daxitian in the county back then.
There is natural competition among temples. There are so many believers around. Do they come to your place to burn incense or come to me to worship Buddha? What's more, Daxitian is in the county and has convenient transportation. So Xiao Xitian put enough effort into the statues in the hall. An exquisite hanging sculpture was built.
Later, in the crazy era, Daxitian was wiped out, while Xiaoxitian was located in a relatively remote location. It is said that there was a flood at the foot of the mountain, traffic was interrupted, and the road conditions were extremely poor. That's why I escaped a disaster. Only then did we leave behind for future generations an exquisite and breathtaking masterpiece of hanging sculptures.
Even the plaques in the hall are original from the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty.
The statue is too wonderful, and the uncle and so-called monks who guard the temple are too excited. Far from being kind and kind, they have fierce looks on their faces. In other places, if you take a few photos without a flash, you will be kicked out of the hall at most, but here, I am afraid that you will have to fight with fists and kicks. (The photo of the statue comes from the Internet. Class 1 students couldn’t take it, so Class 2 took it casually.) Xiaoxitian is a very good group of buildings. If you travel to Shanxi and the southeastern Shanxi region, Xiaoxitian is highly recommended. If you want to take photos, find a connection first! If it doesn't matter, don't even think about taking pictures.
The third stop, Qilijiao Thousand Buddha Cave in Xi County, actually has two grottoes. It is said that the grottoes were excavated in the Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties. The grottoes are on the roadside, which is easier to find. The grottoes are now lower than the road surface. , which shows the great changes in the past 1,000 years. The heads of many Buddha statues in the two grottoes were damaged. Only one Buddha statue was well preserved and smiling. How lucky!
The fourth stop, Shijiagou Ancient Building Complex, is a Qing Dynasty ancient building complex started by the local wealthy businessman Shi Faze during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Shi Faze prospered in business and built luxury houses. His grandson's name was Feng, and he had contacts with Zeng Guofan, an important minister in the late Qing Dynasty. Later, the family became increasingly prosperous, and subsequent generations continued to expand, eventually forming the scale it has today.
The ancient buildings in Shijiagou are built on the mountain, with connected courtyards, making it feel like a maze. Now the village is also preparing to open for tourism, and a comprehensive arrangement is in progress. Shijiagou is too remote, so it’s not easy to make tourism popular. Shijiagou is quite good. If you are not afraid of far distances, it is worth a visit. Currently, there is only one place to eat in the village, so make arrangements in advance.
The fifth stop: Huozhou Office. During the National Day, local activities are organized and operas are performed in the office. Therefore, there are many local tourists. Taking advantage of the holiday, they bring their families to visit. There is a parking lot opposite. Huozhou Office is very large and the building is majestic, but there are too many people.
There are two stone tablets erected at the door. The words on them are very interesting and represent the governing philosophy. If you file a complaint beyond the level, you will be given fifty lashes first, and the crime of false accusation will be increased by three levels.
The sixth stop, Zhusheng Temple, is not far from the office. If you walk there, there is only one main hall left, and there are not many highlights.
At the seventh stop, Xiao Zhang returned to Biyun Temple to live in Changzhi, and stopped by two places. One was the main hall of Biyun Temple. There were monks inside, which felt good. When I saw the monks eating, they raised their eyebrows. Knocking on the wooden pot lid, the main hall is also an early one and is very famous in the circle.
There are new sculptures inside, which are also very good. I like them. Today's new statue, I feel very satisfied to be able to achieve this level. Personally, I think that when making new statues, we should hire high-level craftsmen to pay a lot of money to make them high-quality works. If you are fooling around, don't do it. Otherwise, the statues you make will be earth-shattering and weeping ghosts and gods, and they will not be worthy of the material.
The eighth stop: Qianwanhu Tangwang Temple. When I got there, it was almost dark. I took the time to take pictures and found that there were still remaining murals in the hall. They were very few in number and the damage was very serious. After all, Yes! The buildings outside had to be lit up to take pictures, which was a different feeling. No wonder some friends like to go to the wild at night and light up the lights to take pictures of stone carvings, especially going to cemeteries to take pictures of stone statues.
When it gets dark, we drive back to Changzhi and stay overnight in Changzhi.
Author: Dahuaishu, born in the 1970s, a Beijinger, a recorder of folk monuments. I love cultural relics and historic sites, and I like these old things left by my ancestors. I use the camera in my hand to record the beauty of the monuments. I am a pathfinder on the road of roaming around the world, and I like to recommend the sights during travel to everyone. I hope to use my own strength to record them. More history, more traditional culture.