Gansu Wuwei Haizang Temple - a hidden gem and a national protected temple.

I first visited Wuwei in September 2020, when the area around Haizang Temple was still desolate. Now, Haizang Park has been built, and the previous reed marsh has become a wetland park, with even pheasants shuttling through the forest (Figure 17). At that time, I asked the monks in the temple whether it was called Haicang Temple or Haizang Temple. He said that the surrounding wetland was full of reeds, as if there was a temple hidden in the sea. But now the pinyin on the road signs is zang (Figure 18), probably because Gucangzang Road is next to it. I visited again in September 2023 and October 2024.

In 1981, Haizang Temple was announced as the fourth batch of provincial cultural relics protection units in Gansu Province, and in 2013, it was announced by the State Council as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Now there is a national protection monument under the stone lion outside the temple, and there are two new and old provincial protection monuments after entering the door.

Its founding date is uncertain, one said it was during the Yuanfeng period of Song Shenzong (1078-1086). It is also said that during the Liangzhou League of the Southern Song Dynasty, four major temples were built one after another, and Haizang Temple was one of them. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty (1465-1487), the eunuch Zhang Rui rebuilt it on the original site, and the Emperor Xianzong gave the temple the name "Qinghua Zen Temple". It was rebuilt during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1661), and after several destructions and repairs, the existing buildings were built in the 1980s and 1990s, and it is one of the eight ancient Liangzhou sceneries.

The highest point in the temple is the Lingjun Ancient Tower, which was built in the fourth year of Daxing (321). It is a high-rise building built by the Zhang regime of the Former Liang (301-376) who built the capital in Guzang (now Wuwei) during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. This famous high-rise building in the northwest is recorded in the history books because of its grand scale and the political and military defense measures during the Former Liang period, and it has been praised by later literati.

There are also ancient sites such as the Taoist Mansion and the God of Wealth Temple in the park. The overall greening is very good, and there are not many tourists. You can travel through it to reminisce about the past and chant today.

Post by D@n.3l D.@z | Oct 17, 2024