Other Scenic Spots in the Low-elevation Area of Mt. Emei

World Famous Mountain Memorial Archway

It is the first gateway of Mt. Emei. The front-- “World Famous Mountain” were written by the famous literati Guo Moruo in 1959; and the back--“Buddhist Sacred Land” were written by Zhao Puchu, the former president of the Buddhist Association of China. The simple and elegant memorial archway, 17.8 m high and 22.2 m wide with four columns and three spans, and decorated with cornices and upswept angles, is an archaizing building of Ming and Qing Dynasties style.

Lingxiu Garden

Covering an area of 280 mu, it is located in Baoguo Temple Scenic Area and near Hongzhu Lake. Next to the Tourist Transport Center, it is only 500 meters away from Baoguo Temple. Lingxiu Garden, integrating Performance Center, Monkey Show Pavilion, Birds Pavilion, Tea House, Shopping Gallery and Local Delicacies Restaurant together, is a paradise for sightseeing, recreation and shopping.

Guest-Welcoming Square

Situated by the riverside of Huxi Brook at the foot of Mt. Emei, it is less than 500 meters from Baoguo Temple. Covering an area of 10,000 m2, it is the largets ecological tourism cultural square in China and the first scenery you will see once entering the scenic area. The square consists of gathering and recreational place and functional facilities including “First Mountain in China”, Guest-Welcoming Stage, “Most Beautiful Mountain under Heaven” wall of rock waterfall, Mt. Emei Scenic Area Sketch Map Embossment Screen, “Decency in Mt. Emei”, ticket booth, etc., fully demonstrating the profound cultural deposits of Mt. Emei as the world natural and cultural heritage.

Mt. Emei Museum

Located beside Fenghuang Lake in Baoguo Temple Scenic Area, it is a top ranking modern local chronicles style museum in China which fully demonstrates the connotation of Mt. Emei, the world cultural and natural heritage. It ranked first in “Ten Best Exhibits among Museums in China” in 2003. Covering an area of over 20,000 m2and a construction floor area of 6700 m2, the museum was built with an investment of 20 million RMB. The exhibition hall, occuping 4000 m2is imposing, quaint and decent. It combines the cultural landscape with natural landscape and highlights the extensive and profound cultural and natural heritage. The exhibition hall consists of six halls, namely, Movie and Video Hall, Geology Hall, Organisms Hall, Ancient State of Shu and Mt. Emei Culture Hall, Taoism Art Hall, Calligraphy and Chinese Painting Hall, Buddhism Art Hall. With abundant exhibitions, Mt. Emei Museum as a good place for sightseeing, scientific research and education, has become another fine cultural spot in Mt. Emei.

Tourist Center

Situated in Baoguo Temple Scenic Area, it is the first consultation service center for tourists among scenic areas in China, providing various consultation services about the scenic area for tourists for free. The center is made up of Consultation Hall, Multimedia Hall, Movie and Education Hall, Mt. Emei Sandbox Hall and Mt. Emei Local Specialty Shopping Spot.

Mt. Emei Valuable and Rare Plant Garden

Located near Baoguo Temple, it occupies 300 mu (20 hectares). Over 60 families of plants and over 300 categories of plants are planted in the garden, with 40 endemic and rare plants of Mt. Emei. It is an ideal place for tourists to enjoy different kinds of valuable and rare plants and know about the endemic and rare plants in Mt. Emei.

Mt. Emei Evening Garden

Situated within Baoguo Temple Scenic Area and covering an area of5 li (2.5 km), it starts from the Famous Mountain under Heaven Archway and ends at Fuhu Temple, with twinkling neon lights throughout the road. Architecture complex decorated with colorful lights, imposing “Most Beautiful Mountain under Heaven” waterfall, broad Guest-Welcoming Square are breathtaking sites. Concentrating all six elements of tourism: catering, accommodation, entertainment, tourism, shopping and transportation, Mt. Emei Evening Garden has become the new bright spot of tourism in Mt. Emei.

Fuhu Temple in Dense Forests

On the right slope of Shanjue Temple is a cloud ofbroad-leaved forest. Dense and verdant Phoebe zhennan and pine trees spread all over the valley, and you can hear the gurgling of water and the rustling of trees. Going across three wooden bridges, namely, Huyu (Tiger Shower) Bridge, Huxi (Tiger Brook) Bridge and Huxiao (Tiger Growls) Bridge in the forests, then, raising your head and looking through the gap between the branches and leaves, you will see the front gate of Fuhu Temple. At the back of the temple is a high hill. With fir forests and a cloud of bush, it looks green all year around. Fuhu Temple, situated at the mountain ridge of the two gorges and hidden in the Phoebe zhennan forests, is called “Fuhu Temple in Dense Forests”.

Away from Dirt and Filth

Fuhu Temple, hidden in deep forests, is quiet and secluded. When tourists enter the temple, they will see a horizontal tablet with the inscription by the Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) in Qing Dynasty: “Dust-free Garden” hanging under the double eaves of the Samantabhadra Hall, because although the temple is surrounded by towering trees, no fallen leaves will be piled up on the roof. There are several explanations of the inscription: one is that Fuhu Temple is a Buddhist pure land away from the secular world; the other indicates that there are special natural scenes: Hutou Mountain and Luofeng Peak at the back of the temple form a protective screen; trees around the temple form a circular wall. The temple is in the northeast wind direction, so the wind will blow back once encountered with the back mountain screen, and forms a swirl airflow within the tree wall. Therefore, even there are dry branches and fallen leaves, they will be whirled away by the whirlwind.

Bujinlin Forest

Situated between Baoguo Temple and Fuhu Temple, it is one of the four Buddhism forests in Mt. Emei which was planted by Jiwan Monk in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) according to the characters in Mahayana Sutra. There are more than 109,000 trees in the forest, with dense and verdant Phoebe zhennan, towering pine trees, and ferns and moss which are like a blanket covering the earth. The atmosphere of Buddhism pervade the forest and around the temple. Staying there, you will feel as if you are faced with the Buddha, and Buddhism connection will come into your mind.

Leiyin Temple

Started building in Ming Dynasty (1368-1466), it was called Moksha Temple or Guanyin ( Avalokitesvara) Hall, and renamed Leiyin Temple in 1884. The temple is built on Moksha Slope and close to the rock, making full use of the narrow landform. Stilted building enlarges the volume and dimension of the building. The furnishings in the temple are simple, with highlights on the stilted house, pillars, handrails and environmental design, balancing simplicity with complexity perfectly. The temple was built without a front gate. The first hall is Maitreya Hall, followed by Mahavira Hall, with Sakyamuni Buddha’s statue been enshrined and worshiped there. Full and round, the statue was sculptured by a Lama from Tibet invited by a modern grand master Longlian. It is the mixture of the characters of Tang statue and Tibet Buddha. With wing-rooms on both sides, a patio is formed. In 1991, a new Guanyin Hall was constructed behind Mahavira Hall, and the largest wooden thousand-hand and thousand-eye Guanyin, 4.8 m high, was enshrined and worshiped there.

Moksha Slope

With over 260 stone steps, it is the first slope you will pass by when climbing Mt. Emei. The slope is named afterMt. Emei Recordwritten by Jiangchao: “Going into the mountain through here, you will get rid of troubles of the human society; while going down the mountain through here, you will get rid of danger and difficulties”.

Chunyang Temple

Built under Chicheng Peak in Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty (1573-1620), it was formerly named Lvxian Cave. The existing temple was reconstructed during the reign of Qianlong (1735-1795) and Jiaqing Emperors (1796-1820) in Qing Dynasty. The temple is not large in terms of area, but the architectural layout and design have a special taste. According to the formation, the gate, Main Hall and Sutra Depositary were built on three stone foundations of different heights. Stilted buildings were constructed on the flanks of the main structure. The ground of the building and the eaves of the gate make an archway-like structure, which adds to the prominence of the steps in front of the gate and highlights the entrance of the Hall. Steep stone steps are built between the Main Hall and the Sutra Depositary, since the two structures’ grounds are different in height. There are walkways of reasonable sizes on and around the steps, which lead up and down, left and right. The interior and exterior spatial variations make the structure functional and endow the temple, which is in wooded mountain, with special and charming scenery. There are two sub-halls. The first is Pharmacist Hall, which enshrines Bhaisajyaguru, the Buddha of Medicine. On its sides are Suryaprabha and Candraprabha, Bodhisattvas of sunlight and moonlight. They are bronze statues coated with gold and cultural relics passed down from Qing Dynasty. The other sub-hall is Mahavira Hallwhich enshrines Buddha Shakyamuni. The 18 arhats are on its sides. There are two shrines each on the left and right dedicated for samantabhadra, ksitigarbha, avalokitesvara, and manjuist. There is also a skanda. In the bush behind the Hall, two stone tablets with clear text still existing. It indicates the history that both Buddhism and Taoism had existed in Mt. Emei before Buddhism prospered and Taoism vanished.

Shenshui Pavilion

It was the provincial governor Wu Yongxian’s villa and renamed Shengshui Temple in the Wanli period (1573-1620) of the Ming Dynasty and renamed Shenshui Pavilion in the Shunzhi period (1643-1661) of Qing Dynasty. The pavilion consists of four halls: Guanyin Hall, Maitreya Hall, Mahavira Hall and Samantabhadra Hall, which are constructed exquisitely. A spring pool named Shenshui Pool is outside the pavilion. The spring water is so clear that you can see the bottom of the pool, and the water is inexhaustible all year round. In hot summer under the burning sun, the spring water is still very cool; while in severe winter, when the surrounding forests are covered by ice and snow, the spring water is warm. Therefore, it is regarded as the sacred spring in Mt. Emei.

Da’e Stone

Shenshui Pool is in front of a huge stone, which is called “Da’e Stone”. Da'e stone inscriptions are a famous sight and typical example of Mt. Emei’s inscription art. The cliff of Da'e Stone is covered sparsely by bamboo groves. Three Chinese words Fushou”, ”Da'e” and ”Shenshui” were carved from the top to the bottom of the cliff, which mean happiness and longevity, high mountain and holy water respectively. They are in different handwriting styles but have the same size of about one meter in diameter. “Fushou” is in cursive script. The strokes are like dragons and snakes, echoing, coherent, lovely, complete and leaving lingering aftertaste. The shape of the character “Fu” is like a crane stepping in ganoderma field. And “Shou” is like a blue dragon coiling around a jade column. They are said to have been handwritten by Chen Tuan, a Song Dynasty person nicknamed himself Emei Taoist Priest. In the middle is the word “Da'e”. It is believed to have been handwritten by Lv Chunyang, a Tang Dynasty person. The shape is antique, vigorous, peculiar, elegant and vivid. Da'e Stone was also named after this handwriting. The word “Shenshui” is in regular script. It was written by Zhang Jingxian, a Ming Dynasty censor. The handwriting is exquisite, solemn and neat. The inscriptions, gathering three prominent styles of persons from Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties, are essential to Mt. Emei, because it adds to the interest, and tastefulness of Mt. Emei’s natural slopes and waters.

Da'e Tide

Not far away from the former site of Da'e Temple there is a bridge called “Xiangshui Bridge” (also called Baifu Bridge). There is a natural phenomenon: people walking on the bridge can sometimes hear a “He, he…” sound resembling that of surging waves passing down from valleys above. It has ups and downs like tidewater. It comes close from far away with sounds similar to that of storms and heavy rains. No wonder that people suspect it to be a mountain flood and get off the bridge immediately. However, the weather does not change when they look at the sky; and the brook still trickles. They cannot understand it even after they think over intently. Two to three minutes later the sound becomes lower and it gets quiet again. Local people call this sound “mountain tide”. Farmers have a proverb that says, “it will be sunny after a big tide; it will rain continuously after a small tide; a drought will hit if the tide is absent for a long time; and there will be a bumper harvest after three continual tides and ebbs.”

Zhongfeng Temple

It is a Taoism temple named Qianming Taoist Temple in Jin Dynasty (265-420). Inthe Northern Wei Dynasty ( 368-534 ), a monk named Mingguo rendered outstanding service for vanquishing the boa, so Taoist priests in the temple turned to disciples of Buddhism, and the Taoism temple turned out to be a Buddhism Temple. Now, the temple consists of two halls: Samantabhadra Hall and Mahavira Hall. Most of the front hall-- Samantabhadra Hall was built in Ming Dynasty (1368－1644) with a pair of stone lions handed down from Song Dynasty (960—1279). There is a strange stone called“realgar stone”in the forests behind the temple. According to legend, the stone was discovered in the place where Tang Xuanzong (the 7th emperor in Tang Dynasty) gave realgar to Sun Simiao (a medical expert known as the King of Medicine in China).

Guangfu Temple

It is located beneath the Cattle Heart Peak and beside Baoxian Stream. Guangfu means“extensive cultivation for good fortune”. There are two halls in the temple: Guanyin Hall and Mahavira Hall. At the end of the 20th century, lay Buddhists donated four sculptures of Buddha made by white marble, including Guanyin, Amitabha, Ksitigarbha and Manjusri, which were worshiped with the jade sculpture of Sakyamuni (the founder of Buddhism). It is the only temple which has jade Buddhas.

Feilai Temple

It is situated out of the northern gate of the city. It is also named the Damiao Temple. It was built in Tang Dynasty when Xizong Emperor conferred the construction of “Jiaqing Building”. It is nine zhang (1 zhang equals 3 1/3 meters) in height and twelve zhang in width. The outlook is splendid and magnificent. It was damaged in Jiaqing period of Ming Dynasty. Only Xiang Hall and Feilai Temple are relatively complete now. Xiang Hall was built in the 24th year of the reign of Hongwu Emperor in Ming Dynasty. It has three rooms. The building is simple and elegant. Feilai Temple is behind Xiang Hall. It was first built in Song Dynasty and reconstructed in Yuan Dynasty. The architectural layout becomes higher with the ridge of the slope, which gives it a complete sequence space. The temple is thus open and has an unlimited view showing the unworldliness of the religion. Peripheral columns are five-room-length apart, and inner columns are three-room-length apart. Brackets were fixed at the top. Supporting wood trunks rest on inner columns. Upward trunks were sculpted into the shape of elephant snout, and the downward trunks were sculpted into the shape of dragon head. The sculptures are meticulous and vivid. Two dragon clay sculptures coiling on the main pillars are as natural as if they were living, giving the building strong religious characteristics. The gable and hip imbrex is a modern alteration.