Wujin Mountain in winter
Commonly known as Longwang Mountain, it is located in the Yang of Hanshan Mountain at the intersection of Yuci, Taiyuan and Shouyang cities and counties, with a total area of 58,000 acres and a forest area of 25,000 acres. It is 22 kilometers away from Taiyuan in the west, 17 kilometers away from Yuci City in the south, has National Highway 307 passing by Chayuanze in the north, is adjacent to the Yuci exit of Taijiu Expressway in the south, and has Beishan Road in the middle leading directly to Yuci. It has convenient transportation and a superior geographical location. It is a tourist summer resort and a country park with excellent scenery.
Wujin Mountain is winding and beautiful, with beautiful scenery and cool climate. Dense evergreen natural landscape forests, rich and long-standing human resources and unique geology and meteorology have decorated Wujin Mountain with many attractive landscapes such as the Old Eight Scenic Spots, the New Ten Scenic Spots, the Four Wonderful Scenes, the Six Scenic Spots, and the Eight Outer Scenes. Within the territory are the ruins of the Crystal Courtyard, Zhengshou Temple, Huayan Temple, Hehe Temple, and the Western Jin Dynasty Temple, as well as Song Dynasty stone statues, Lu Dongbin's stele, the chopping-hand monk Ji, and Kong Xiangxi's summer resort. Especially the Purple Meteorite (Dahui Stone), Crystal Mansion, Zhenhu Flower Island, North China's No. 1 Natural Mixed Pine and Cypress Scenic Forest, Shikan Big Cup, Dragon King Spring, Jile Mermaid, Pine Forest Fun, Shantao Man, Ten stunning views of green peaks and jade, as well as the four wonders of Wujinzhihai, Hanshan Mountain sunrise, three immortals making spring, and cedars pouring rain, are even more fantastic, gorgeous, and refreshing. Beautiful legends such as the Nine Lotus Lanterns, the Golden Ox and the Silver Snake, the Cornucopia, and the Purple Gold Tree resurrected by the crying of three monks have composed more moving music for Wujin Mountain.
Wujin Mountain is rich in resources. It is not only rich in specialties such as cypress seeds, cypress seeds, mushrooms, and Chinese medicinal materials, but also rich in root carving resources and mineral resources such as zinc-strontium mineral water, crystal stones, and medical stones. It is a world of trees, a sea of flowers, a home for beasts and birds, and a paradise for birds. It is also a sacred place for revolution.
70 years ago, this place was still a beautiful place full of scenic spots. Let’s not talk about the ancient times. In 1906, we assisted the British Timothy Richard to organize the Shanxi University Hall (today’s Moir Duncan, a Scotsman (the predecessor of Shanxi University), chose Wujin Mountain as his place of recovery. After his death, he was buried here. The foreigner's tomb discovered on Wujin Mountain and its European-style tomb tower base are said by some to be the tomb of an Italian invader from the Eight-Nation Allied Forces. Others say it is the tomb of Timothy Richard (Taiyuan Taoist Note: Related Timothy Richard (see "Shanxi Universities in Shanxi" on this site). But it is neither. Timothy Richard died of illness in London on April 17, 1919. His grave will not be in China at all. The author believes that this can only be the cemetery of Dun Chongli. In addition to the Scotsman Dun Chongli who recuperated in Wujin Mountain and kept his tomb on the mountain, Kong Xiangxi, one of the "four major families" of old China, also built a summer resort for himself in Wujin Mountain before the Anti-Japanese War. It was provided for him to live in when he returned to Jin Dynasty in midsummer. The basic building regulations of this summer resort are still well preserved.
Before the 19th century, Wujin Mountain could be said to be a geomantic treasure land with towering ancient trees and springs and waterfalls all over the mountain. Among them, the spring water of Wujin Mountain is more famous, so long ago, another name of Wujin Mountain, Longwang Mountain, was particularly loud among the surrounding counties. In ancient times, Wujin Mountain had abundant water and promising quality, so the most famous spring here was named after Longquan. In addition to Longquan, there is also Longchi. The ancient "Yuci County Records" once talked about and took the trouble to convince people that the dragon pond here was indeed the place where Manjusri Bodhisattva drank from the lion (the lion is Manjusri's mount).
According to records in the old county annals, the water scenery on Wujin Mountain is the most peculiar in the Crystal Courtyard. Crystal Temple, also known as Crystal Temple, was the largest temple in Wujin Mountain in ancient times and the central temple of the whole mountain. Longquan is located in this temple. It is known that before the temple was rebuilt during the Xuantong period of the Qing Dynasty, the temple was paved with square bricks, and there were springs under the bricks. When people walk on it, due to the pressure, the spring water splashes out from the cracks in the bricks, like jade and crystal, which is very spectacular. Therefore, among the eight old sceneries of Wujin Mountain, there is the term "Crystal Mansion", and the name "Crystal Temple" is also derived from this scene.
The main reason for the abundant and good water in Wujin Mountain in ancient times is that good vegetation has been maintained in this vast mountainous area for thousands of years. Although the trees on Wujin Mountain are no longer what they used to be in history, they still maintain a considerable area and scale. At the foot of the southern slope of the mountain, less than 5 kilometers away from Longquan of the Crystal Courtyard, there is now a man-made lake with a water surface of about 20,000 square meters. People call it Tianjiawan Reservoir, also known as Zhenhu. The source of the lake water comes from Wujin Mountain.
From Wujin Mountain to Tianjiawan Reservoir, this ancient land has been known as "Pelin" since ancient times. Just from the literal meaning of the word "Pei Lin", we can see that this place has been a place with abundant water, rain and dew since ancient times. Wujin Mountain is actually an extension of the remaining ridges of Hanshan Mountain in eastern Taiyuan. Therefore, according to local people, the "Hanshan Shiyu" among the eight ancient scenic spots in Yuci actually refers to the unique scenery of Wujin Mountain.
Due to the luxuriant forests and abundant water, the altitude of the mountain reaches about 1,500 meters, forming a unique cool climate in Wujin Mountain. According to the 34-year continuous observation record of the Yuci City Meteorological Station from 1951 to 1984, the average temperature at the highest temperature in Wujin Mountain in July has never exceeded 23.9°C for more than 30 years. No wonder people who have visited Wujin Mountain are It is called a cool and beautiful place, and Kong Xiangxi also wanted to build a summer resort here. In ancient times, some people called Wujin Mountain "Little Wutai" and the Crystal Courtyard the lower courtyard where Manjushri Bodhisattva lectures. The reason may be related to the legend of Manjusri drinking lions. On the other hand, the temperature is as cool as Wutai Cool Resort. It is also an important reason.
Mount Wujin is said to be the lower courtyard of Manjushri Dojo in Mount Wutai, but in fact there are only two scenic spots related to Manjushri Bodhisattva in the mountain. One is the "Ancient Hidden Lion Cave" next to the Sansheng Monastery. It is said that Manjusri's mount was hidden in this cave when he was preaching here; the other is called the "Great Wisdom Stone", located on the right side in front of the Black Dragon Pond, which is more interesting to talk about. Somewhat mysterious. This stone is 2.5 meters high and 6 meters wide. It is black and purple in color. For many years, it has been lying in the dense forest of the East Gorge, wrapped in moss and bathed in fairy dew. Every day when the sunlight penetrates the forest and shines on its iron body, you can feel the purple mist rising. People say it was what was left after Nuwa mended the sky. Later, when Manjushri went to Wujin Mountain to drink lions in the Black Dragon Pond, he meditated on this stone for a while. Manjushri is the Bodhisattva in charge of wisdom in the Buddhist world, so the name "Great Wisdom Stone" comes from this, and the spring named Longchi also has an alias of "Wisdom Spring". Since then, all visitors to Wujin Mountain have to come to Longchi to drink some water and sit on the Mahawisdom Stone to soak up the light of Manjushri Bodhisattva's wisdom. In the spring of the 19th year of Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1754), Qin Xiongbao, a student from Jiangnan, wrote three official script characters "Dahui Stone" on the stone and engraved it on the stone, which gave the Dahui Stone a lot of fairy spirit.
Wujin Mountain is backed by Han Mountain, overlooking Zhen Lake in front, Jijia Mountain in the east, and Zhonglin Mountain in the west. It forms a beautiful landscape from front to back, left and right, and the east-west, north-south structure creates a set of good scenery. At present, Wujin Mountain National Forest Park is gradually integrating a large number of historical scenic spots such as Crystal Courtyard, Yuhuang Pavilion, Cangshi Cave, Baiyun Cave, Kong Xiangxi Summer Resort, Heilong Pond, Zhengshou Temple, Dahui Stone, Kuixing Tower, Hehe Temple, Dun Chongli Tomb, Chopped Hands Monk Pagoda, Golden Hands Monk Tomb, Dahongshan Waterfall, Wanghu Pavilion, Zhenhu Lake, Zhang Biao Temple and Sijiaping Yangshao Cultural Site will be developed rapidly so that they can be fully developed in the near future. Open to Chinese and foreign tourists.
This is true that time is ruthless, but the mountains and rivers are intentional. Just as Zhang Ji, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, sang: "Who is born to be truly learnable? There is also time in the mountains." When we gently brush away the thin layer of dust that has covered Wujin Mountain for a hundred years of vicissitudes, our Isn't there another emerald-like jade bead in front of me?
The long history, beautiful scenery, touching legends and rich resources make Wujin Mountain a suburban paradise in the Yu-Tai region.