[Photo from tylyhy.cn]

Hongweishan Mountain lies five kilometers northeast of Donghuangshui Village in Yangqu County. Due to its being covered by yellow flowers in the summer, it is also called the Yellow Flower Mountain. It was initially a site for Taoism, but later on Buddhism gradually prevailed . Starting from the entrance and walking slowly for one hour via the stone gate, visitors will come to Grandma Cave, the main building cluster surrounded by mountains. The construction time for the buildings is unknown. According to inscriptions on the steles, the buildings were repaired during the Jiajing and Wanli periods in the Ming Dynasty and during the reigns of Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty. Later it was seriously damaged by the Japanese army. Respected villagers made donations to renovate the buildings under the guidance of the Yangqu County Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau. Though the renovation has not brought the buildings back to their previous level, the remaining relics have been effectively protected.

The main building cluster consists of three courtyards: namely the upper courtyard, middle courtyard and lower courtyard. Visitors will enter the lower courtyard (Buddhist Temple) after going through the gate from the steps. The Buddhist Temple is composed of a three-floor building with nine caves. The third floor has been destroyed and the caves are now where the monks live.

The middle courtyard consists of the Hall of the Dragon King and the Hall of the Goddess. Inside the Hall of the Dragon King, five statues of the blue dragon, white dragon, yellow dragon, red dragon and black dragon are worshipped. These are responsible for rainfall so the hall is used as a site for the people to pray for rain.

The Hall of Goddess was destroyed by the Japanese army and rebuilt by the villagers in recent years. Turn left and go up the 71 stone steps after departing from the middle courtyard; and before going through a stone cave, visitors will arrive in the upper courtyard. The entrance to the cave is embedded with two stone steles. One is inscribed with “Rebuild Stone Wall and Gate” and the other “Xingci of Taishan Mountain, Goddess of the Fragrant Hill, Ancestor Goddess, Yongsi Mountain, Fatai Mountain.”

On the top of the Stone Gate Cave is Founder Ma Gan’s Cave. It is the place where the famous monk Ma Gan in the Chenghua Period of the Ming Dynasty (1465-1487) achieved his practice completion . Because of Founder Ma Gan’s godliness, Guanyin Bodhisattva was touched and came to the site as an apparition. The top of the Stone Gate Cave is engraved with “Founder Ma Gan Cave”.

On the upper left side of the cave is the Grandma Cave whose gate has the couplet: “phoenix descends from the cloud, and a stone Qilin (Chinese unicorn) comes from the sky” on both sides and the upper part is engraved with “Fairy Goddess Bixia Yuanjun”. The statue in the center of the cave is Bixia Yuanjun. Yuanjun is a respectful title for a female immortal in Taoism. The legend goes that she is the daughter of the God of Mount Tai and originally lived in Mount Tai, so she was also called Taishan Niang Niang (Taishan Empress). “Tai”, according to the Book of Changes, means “everything goes well when God interacts.” Mount Tai lies in the east, and is responsible for birth. Bixia Yuanjun nurtures all creatures, so she was regarded as “Goddess of Childbearing”. In the lunar calendar of April 14-18, people come from near and far to pray for a child for five consecutive days.

On the right side of the Grandma Cave is the Hall of Guanyin Bodhisattva, which is said to have been built in the Tang Dynasty. The mountain north of Grandma Cave seems to have been split by an axe and goes straight upward into the cloud. In the cliff, there are three caves which lie above one another. The upper one is the Thousand-Buddha Cave, which is six meters deep, three meters wide and four meters high. The three walls of the cave were engraved with over a thousand Relief Buddha statues of different sizes. And in each of the four corners, there is an iron Buddha statue. In the middle of the cave, there is a colorful Buddha statue. These are called the Five Buddha in Five Directions. The middle cave is the Six Immortal Cave. There used to be the six immortals of the Taoism but they were later destroyed. The lower cave is called Ground Buddha Cave. Right now, there is only a stele left but no statue. The Thousand-Buddha Cave is 14 meters from the ground. It is also called Sky Buddha Cave. Generally, it is hard for visitors to access.

Because of its beautiful and charming scenery, Hongweishan Mountain has been visited constantly in the past. According to stele inscriptions in the ninth year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty (1496), there were eight scenes of “Tiancheng Buddha Cave, Shine of Sunset at the Stone Gate, Green Pines on the Ridge, Ancient Cypress in the Rock, Layers of Green at the Dragon-shaped Peak, Smoke Arising from Horse Head, Crouching Tiger in Clouds, Standing Apes Holding the Moon.” The ancient people acclaimed the mountain with a poem which said “a mysterious wonderland of yellow flowers since ancient times, walking slowly showering in the incense holding in their hands, thousands of green spots coming out when the sun shines on the dragon peak, clouds arising from the horse head with endless smoke. The standing ape doesn’t afraid of the God’s shot. The crouching tiger doesn’t know that an arrow is targeting it. I come to look up and show my respect under the pine trees and rock, only those leisurely and carefree immortals are what I admire.”

On the Mountain sits the Ninghua Palace Buddha Temple of Zhu Jihuan – the fifth son of Zhu Gang, the King of Jin in the Ming Dynasty. It is also of the place where Fu Shan, a celebrity in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty secluded himself from the outside world. The “Qi Sheng Dao Cheng” tablet written by Fu Shan is now reserved in Yangqu County Cultural Relics and Tourism Bureau. Unfortunately, the “Yellow Flower Mountain” tablet has been lost. According to the second volume of The Yangqu Annals in the 23rd year of Dao Guang in Qing Dynasty: the cliff is steep in the northeast of the Donghuangshui Village, the pine and cypresses are flourishing with Thousand-Buddha Cave, Ground Buddha Cave, Founder Ma Gan Cave and many other traces.

Address: five kilometers northeast of Donghuangshui Town, Yangqu County

Tel: 0351-5594133