|
 This
unique Daoist temple
lies 11 kilometer (7
miles) northeast of
Kunming. By car, it is
10 kilometers (6 miles)
from Black Dragon Pool,
heading southeast on
Longtou Jie. Situated in
a pine forest atop
Phoenix Song Mountain,
the temple requires a
climb up a very long
flight of stone steps,
punctuated by three
Heavenly Gates. A fourth
gate brings visitors to
the entrance of the
temple grounds.
Gardens and galleries
flank a central path
leading to a miniature,
medieval city wall
complete with a typical
gate tower, bell tower
and drum tower. Inside,
on a terrace of finest
Dali marble with
elegantly carved
railings, stands the
little copper temple
itself. In Chinese it is
still known as the
Golden Temple because,
when first built, the
burnished copper gleamed
like gold.
In 1604, the governor of
Yunnan and some powerful
nobles wished to honor
the Daoist hero-god
Zishi, who was supposed
to live at the northern
extremity of the
universe. They built the
Copper Temple to
represent his
city-palace there. Three
decades later, the
temple was transported
intact to Jizu Shan
(Chicken Foot Mountain),
s holy mountain in
western Yunnan. In 1670,
a duplicate temple was
cast in deliberate
defiance of China’s new
Manchu emperor, to whom
the copper was owed as
tribute. This second
temple was destroyed in
the mid-19th century
during Yunnan’s great
Muslim rebellion. A new
temple was built from
parts of the duplicate
in 1890. The walls,
columns, rafters,
roof-tiles, altar,
altar-hangings, even the
banner near the gate
tower, are all make of
copper. The whole
structure weights more
than 300 tons and stands
6.5 meters ( 21 feet)
high.
Outlying buildings,
containing art galleries
and a teahouse, are not
of great interest. At
the summit of the
mountain behind the
temple, a bizarre, ugly
tower, built in 1984,
holds a giant bronze
bell, so massive that
its rim is a full hand
span in thickness. Its
decorations identify it
as a Buddhist relic, not
originally a part of
this Daoist temple. The
high camellia tree near
the temple is 600 years
old; in the month of
February it produces
hundreds of magnificent
red blossoms- a sight
that should not be
missed by late-winter
visitors to Kunming. |
