Xiangshan Temple is located at the foot of Xiang Mountain in the west corner of Quanzhou County, Guilin City, Guangxi, initially named ‘Jingtu Court’. It is known for its reputation of ‘flourishing in the Tang Dynasty and shining in the Song Dynasty’. The temple was founded in 756 AD by the Tang Dynasty’s eminent monk Wuliangshou Buddha. Four emperors of the Song Dynasty successively conferred titles on it five times, with Emperor Huizong of Song paying a personal visit to worship; the famous painter Shi Tao of the early Qing Dynasty once lived in the temple as a monk for 21 years, leaving behind stone carvings of flowers; Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty personally inscribed the cliff carving ‘Shou Shi Ci Yin’.
The temple also features attractions such as the Flying Stone, Shibo Spring, Miaoming Pagoda, Shoufo Hall, Yuantong Hall, and the Release of Life Animal Stone Sculpture Group. At its peak, the temple’s construction area reached 18,000 square meters. As one of the older Buddhist temples in Guangxi, Xiangshan Temple attracts many domestic and international visitors for worship and sightseeing, especially during the three major Buddhist festivals when the temple is bustling with people.Miaoming Pagoda is located at the foot of Xiangshan Temple and was built during the Song Dynasty’s Chunyou period for the burial of Quanzhen’s physical body. At that time, it was a place of great incense, and Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty came to pay homage when he toured the Southern Mountains. Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty bestowed the name ‘Miaoming Pagoda’, making it one of the older temple pagodas in Guangxi. The Miaoming Pagoda is a seven-story structure, 26 meters high, with a base diameter of 6.8 meters, featuring a unique structure, majestic and spectacular. It has an octagonal exterior, a hexagonal interior, is hollow, with winding walls and spiraling upward. There are more than twenty historical steles inside; the top of the pagoda is in the shape of a gourd, hanging with dozens of bronze bells; the wind blows the bells to ring, pleasing the void; leaning on the railing to look into the distance, the scenery of Qingfeng Yu, Yuhua Mountain, Sanjiang River, and the new appearance of the ancient city can be seen at a glance, making people feel relaxed and happy.
The surroundings of Miaoming Pagoda are a ‘treasure trove of art’, with historical cliff carvings, poetry, and stone inscriptions such as the Orchid Stone Stele by Shi Tao of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Kangxi’s inscription ‘Shou Shi Ci Yin’, and the inscription ‘Miaoming Pagoda’ by Ren Chundao, a native of Wenqiao, Quanzhou, reflecting each other’s brilliance, making the cliff walls shine. After more than a thousand years, Miaoming Pagoda still stands proudly in the south of Chu. Climbing the pagoda for sightseeing has become a great pleasure for tourists from home and abroad. Xiangshan Temple currently has Buddhist cultural relics such as various stone carvings, the statue of Guanyin, and Miaoming Pagoda; in addition, there is the famous natural heritage ‘Xiti Rock Spring’. The temple is open all year round from 05:00 to 17:00.
