Temple of Zhishou-Si is located at Lingshi County in Shanxi （山西灵石县）, a military strategic town in the past history that named after a huge meteorite rock dropped from the sky to the place during Sui Dynasty (581-618). Being in the top list of ten largest and most famous historic cultural towns in China, Lingshi Town has multiple relics and heritage remains relating to its long history. Temple Zhishou-Si, established in year 870 during Tang Dynasty, is a nation treasure in China as its exclusive fresco and 18 Arahats color clay sculpture are the representative piece of relics from Ming Dynasty. Zhishou-si which literally means support longevity, was named after its slogan verses "祝帝道以遐昌，资群生于寿域" which means to bless the country in prosperity and to support people for longevity.
Temple of Zhishou-Si that has gone through 7 Dynasties (Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing), repaired and restored again and again for more than one thousand years, is nested amidst Mianshan Valley. The present preserved structures are of Ming architectural style. The 3 main entrance gates leading to the inner courtyard were built in line with the existing landscape .
The Hall of Heavenly Pure Land enshrined with the four Heavenly Gods was the third gate to entering into the inner courtyard of the Temple Complex, after ascending up a long pathway.
All main shrine halls are gathered at the courtyard behind the three gates. The main 4 halls are Maha Vihara Grand Hall （大雄宝殿）, Medicine Buddha Hall （药师殿）, The 3 Sages Hall （三大士殿） and Earth Stored Bodhisattva Hall （地藏殿）.
The three ancient images of Buddhas enshrined in the Maha Vihara Grand Hall.
The Large scale of Ming fresco on the walls of Maha Vihara Grand Hall, Medicine Buddha Hall and Erlang God Deities Hall in Zhishou-si, are widely known in local and international antiquarian market. The exquisite and exclusive piece of arts hardly can be found in any places of China.
Murals in Maha Vihara Main Shrine Hall illustrating the event of Emperor Tang-Taizong (唐太宗) and Empress praying and paying respect to the Buddha, is the most gorgeous and outstanding piece. Buddha's image occupied great part in the murals and The emperors and empress appeared small at the left corner. The unusual thing was Guan Yu, the legendary general from Three Kingdom Period was included into the scene as a Dharma Protector God. The fresco not only looks vivid but stereoscopic as certain areas were decorated with special powder and coated with gold foil. The piece reflects the precision skill and high standard of Ming fresco.
Wood carved designed windows, stone carving with floral designed frame along the wall and the old wooden crossbeams at Amitabha Shrine Hall
A gorgeous image of Bodhisattva and Dharma verses on the pillar of Amitabha Shrine Hall.
The four Chinese characters 山林野趣 on the plaque above the door of Heavenly Gods Hall was the hand-writing of Fu-San (傅山 1607-1684)， a great medical professor, a famous calligrapher and philosopher from Taiyuan, during Ming/Qing Dynasty. Qing defeated Ming and established its dynasty when Fu-san was at the age of 39. He refused to accept the new kingdom, thus became a Taoist and lead a life as a hermit for 20 years in the mountains.
The 18 Arahat colored sculptures enshrined in The Three Sages Hall are representative pieces of high standard arts from Ming Dynasty. Each Arahat has its own character in vivid color with different posture and man-like expression. Unfortunately, these precious relics encountered with misfortune on Christmas night of year 1993. All heads of 18 Arahats Ming clay sculpture were found being chopped off and stolen. Though persons involved with the criminal were caught and sentenced but the 18 Arahats heads were already smuggled out of the country, without knowing where they had been sent to. The 18 Arahats sculpture remained headless for 3 years. When every one had given up hope in getting back its heads, these 18 pieces stolen treasure appeared in Europe for auction and the sale was closed with a high bid by a Taiwan merchant Mr Cheng-Yongtai, who is also an antiquary. When the new owner of these 18 Ming Arahat heads came to know the whole incident, he decided to make contribution and return them to its home. The missing 18 Arahat heads in 18 wooden crates traveled via Hongkong/Shanghai returned to Zhishou-si in year 1999, March 29th, five years later after the crime. On 18th August of the same year, all the 18 Ming Arahat sculptures recovered to its complete original posture. They were repaired and restored by the local professional artisans and artists led by Guo-Chengpao who applied traditional way of methods to seal the heads back to its body and return to its origin structure.
Grand greeting ceremony to welcome back the 18 pieces of Arahat heads generously gave back by Taiwanese merchant Mr Chen-Yongtai. The wooden crate and packaging that contained the 18 pieces of Arahat heads sending back to Zhishou-si on March 29th 1999 were kept in the exhibition hall to mark the incident.
There is a Three Kingdom garden with Temple Guandi-Miao to worship Guan-Yu, the legendary general of that period.
The ancient structure of Bell Tower and the beautiful decorated roofing of some old buildings.
The backyard and its huge stone carved Chinese character 寿 (longevity) and ancient candle lighting holder.
The elegant eaves of some wooden structures in the temple complex.
A representative landmark picture and the guiding map of Zhishou-si.
Attractive gate arch at Yi-chun Village where there are some ancient houses with decorated door frame. Many residents have shifted to rows of brick made long houses that were constructed by local community.
Some locals especially those living in the mountainous areas, still prefer to stay in the traditional Yao-Dong (窑洞), kind of cave house built with existing sticky yellow soil as they are warm in winter and cooling in summer.
A view of majestic landscape in the surrounding mountainous areas.
Out of no where, there is an ancient pagoda straightly erected along the road, in the mist of dust, overlooking the beautifully landscape at the other direction. As per brief information stated therein, nobody knows the exact time of when the Pagoda first established. People only know that long time ago there was a Gugu Temple(姑姑庙)and a Gugu Pagoda, which originally named as Shibi Nunnery (石鼻庵)and Pagoda Lingkong-ta (凌空塔). People used to say that Jiexiu City would never get flooded as the river water only kept on winding around the shadow of Pagoda, while other said that The Goddess of Mercy is at the top floor of Pagoda to control the river.
The related legend says that during Tang Dynasty, Reverend Tian-Shang-you （田尚有师父） from Mianshan using his power to revoke for rain and solve the long problem of drought in capitol city and Emperor Tang Taizong in return promised to visit Mianshan every year to pray for peace and good harvest for the country. During his pilgrimage visit, The Emperor sometimes brought along his sister Li-Guniang, who later greatly impressed with the natural beauty of Mianshan and decided to leave the palace and remain in the mountain for some spiritual self-cultivation. It was said that she left her cave one mid-night and came to the place where the Pagoda erected. She immensely enjoyed the serene atmosphere and began to sit down and meditate. Suddenly she heard a voice shouting flood and aware that the mountain was sinking. Looking at the rapidly rising water, she knew that all people at the areas would soon get drown. Without a second thought, she jumped into the water. Incredibly, the rising water immediately shoot up high to the sky like a pillar and in a second, the river returned to its calmness. In memory of this incident, people built the Pagoda and name it as Lingkong-Ta and the name of the nunnery became Temple Gugu.
Pagoda Lingkong-Ta is a life research center for China Pagoda history. Its modern architectural design, elegant eaves, lotus pillars and clouds and flowers pattern viewing vintage points, fully reflect the wisdom of ancient Chinese. The first three layers of the Pagoda have stone ascending steps while the other 6 floors are having wooden stairs with protecting rail. After it was under the hand of a private sector, The Pagoda was restored and organized with observatory posts, resting places and some activities. It is currently under preserved but not opened for visitors yet.
Shanxi Zhanglan is a city widely known for its antiquarian market which is one of the largest in China. Its annual antique exchange fest which has been successfully organized for 13 years, attracts crowds of antiquaries coming from all over the world to exchange experiences and seek for hidden treasure. Million dollars transaction has been carried out each year. In end 1993, the 18 Arahat heads of Ming sculptures stolen from Temple Zhishou-si, was through the channels and connections from this antiquarian market and secretly smuggled out from China.
Since Ming and Qing Dynasty, Zhangland had been very active in market. Bordering with the neighboring cities like Pingyao and Qixian, Zhangland was also a prosperous and bustling place where the wealthy Jin businessmen gathered and lived in the past. In 1960s Antiquarian market in Zhanglan was once banned and turned into an underground trade. Legal antiquarian market was finally established during 1990s as there were too many people dealing with such kind of business and the market was overwhelmed with trades. As at today, there are few thousand people in the city and surrounding areas who are involved in antique business.
Along the one kilometer long antique street in Zhanglan, there are more than a thousand ground stalls, one by one closely attached to each other and behind them is the 5000 sq. meter Antiquarian Market occupied with more than hundred of large scheme antique and arts shops.
Complete varieties of antique items are displayed at the ground stalls covering porcelain, jade, copper products, coins, inking slab, writing articles and books etc. Zhanglan people are all borne antiquary, they know how to admire and collect antique. It was said that while suffering during war time, they also never forgot to reserve objects that were worth of historical value like printing items. Years after years, old things collected in the city were beyond numbers. Every house has its own collections and during festival or new year, they would decorate the show stage with antique arts, calligraphy or drawings.
Morning scene of antique street in Zhanglan ancient city. In the afternoon, the whole street would be crowded with people of all races coming from all parts of the world, making Zhanglan into a bustling and hustling city again like those days in Jin era.
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