Northeast version of Ghost Blowing Lamp, this thousand-year-old cultural town is really worth your visit

Speaking of Yixian, I believe many people have never heard of it, after all, it is just a small city with a population of only 300,000. But if you talk about the history of Yixian, it really has been brilliant, it has witnessed the rise and fall of the Five Yan Dynasties and the Liao Dynasty! For example, a Fengguo Temple can tell half of the history of the Liao Dynasty The Liao Dynasty was a minority dynasty established by the Khitan tribe, which was later destroyed by the Jin Dynasty, erasing all its history and text, so there are very few works passed down from the Liao Dynasty, but Fengguo Temple miraculously survived Fengguo Temple is a royal temple built by Emperor Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty, Yelu Longxu, in 1020 to commemorate his mother, Empress Xiao. It has the largest main hall in China, with a width of nine rooms. The hall contains seven Buddha statues, which are rare in the country. Only by entering the main hall can you feel the grandeur of the architecture and statues There are a few details about the seven Buddha statues in Fengguo Temple that you need to do your homework on 1. The Buddha statue in the middle of the seven Buddhas is Empress Xiao, the last Buddha statue is Yelu Longxu himself, the reincarnation of Sakyamuni Buddha, and the other five Buddha statues correspond to five emperors 2. The seven Buddha statues are 9m high, the Bodhisattvas on the side are 2m high, and they are made of mud. We are used to seeing golden, bronze, and jade Buddhas, but there are very few mud Buddhas left 3. The mud Buddha is made of four materials: yellow mud, rice straw, glutinous rice paste, and hemp. It has a hollow structure with wooden dragon bones. After nearly ten repairs during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the whole body is brightly colored, and the Buddha's expression is calm and vivid 4. The Buddha statue suffered a lot of loss in the Liaoshen Campaign and the Cultural Revolution. In 1961, it was reported by Liang Sicheng, and the State Council issued a document to protect it as a national key cultural relic. It was spared in the Cultural Revolution 5. The seven Buddha statues represent career, health, family, wisdom, wealth, peace, and light respectively 6. The inverted Guanyin on the back of the Buddha statue is a rare male Bodhisattva and was used as a filming location for the movie 'The Grandmaster' 7. The dust on the seven Buddha statues is incense ash that has merged with the Buddha's body. It is expected to be repaired by the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Bureau this year. I believe that these seven Buddhas can shine again under the hands of experts At present, there are only three temples left from the Liao Dynasty, in addition to Fengguo Temple in Yixian, the other two are Huayan Temple in Datong, Shanxi, and Duole Temple in Ji County, Tianjin. Be sure to go and see if you have the chance ⚠️⚠️⚠️Small tips 1. Ticket🎫: 50 (10 yuan during the temple fair from the first to the fifth day of the lunar new year) 2. Business hours⏰: 8:30-16:00, stop selling tickets at 15:30 3. Fortune telling: 100 yuan for 8 signs (7 Buddhas➕1 Guanyin), wish for good luck in the new year 4. With a ticket➕1 yuan, you can eat vegetarian noodles 5. The staff who charge 100 yuan for fortune telling will give a free explanation. They are all locals from Yixian and have a strong sense of mission for the inheritance of this history, which touched me deeply 6. The whole temple is not very large, and the estimated visit time is 2h 7. The restaurant next door is good, with many special dishes 8. The preservation of the Wanfo Cave and Antai Gate is very poor, and it is not at the same level as Fengguo Temple. The attitude of the staff at Wanfo Hall is extremely poor, and it is not recommended to go 9. The Guangsheng Temple Pagoda is an ancient pagoda of the Liao Dynasty, which is also very good