Yong Quan Temple
Yong Quan Temple is situated at the foot of the White Cloud Peak of Drum Mountain, 455 m. above sea level. It is the first of five Buddhist temples in Fuzhou (along with Chongfu Temple, Chongsheng Temple, and Linyang Temple and Xi Chan Temple), and still preserves its ancient palaces and temple halls until today. Yong Quan Temple (also known as Gushing Spring Temple) was built in 908 during The Five Dynasties era, with initial name "Palace for Prime Minister". After the Song Dynasty reign, it was called as "Gushing Spring Monastery of Baiyun Peak" and finally was renamed as "Gushing Spring Temple" in Ming Dynasty, inspire from Luohan Spring gushed outside its gate.
Yong Quan Temple (Yong Quan Si) was home of hundreds valuable and historical relics in ancient China, and considered as national key temple by State Council. "The Three Most Valuable Relic" in Yong Quan Temple are The Pottery Pagodas, Buddhist Ancient Scriptures and Monk's Classic Written. Another unique artifacts stored in Yong Quan Temple are "The Three Irons" which are Iron wire wood, Iron tree, and Iron pot.
"The Pottery Pagodas" actually is a twin pagodas standing-guard before Yong Quan Temple on both side. The Pottery Pagodas is an octagonal structure with nine levels and 7 meters (23 feet) height, was built in 1082 during the Song Dynasty. Inside the pagodas, there are 1038 Buddha statues, with 72 of them located in the pagoda's roof.
"Buddhist Ancient Scriptures" is a collection of 10,000 Buddhist scripture which made by ancient printing plate from Ming Dynasty onward. The last of three valuable relics in Yong Quan Temple, and probably the most exotic one is "Monk's Classic Written". It was 657 copies of classic written by brilliant monks through the ages, the monks slice their finger and wrote with their own blood.
The first of the Three Irons is Iron wire wood, which is a sacrificial table made of iron wire wood in Great Hall of Buddha. Legend said the table can not be burned by fire and waterproofed stuff. The Iron tree refer to the tree before the Yong Quan Temple, with thousand years old and still well preserved until today. The last is Iron pot, refer to giant pot in the temple's kitchen, which can serve almost a thousand people.
During your visit in Yong Quan Temple, you may consider to take hiking around Drum Mountain, for its awesome scenery in surrounding. Tasting the vegetarian food, is also good option, especially in Yong Quan Temple, the best vegetarian food in Fuzhou.
How to visit Yong Quan Temple :
Take the Gu Shan (Drum Mountain) Special Line from Fuzhou's Wuyi Square for 7 RMB, or take bus No. 7, 36, 37, 808, 815, 949, 957, 960 for 2 RMB, alternatively you can take Mawei Special Bus Line to Gu Shan Scenic Area. The easiest way is riding taxi from Fuzhou downtown that will cost around 20 RMB, with around 15-20 minutes accessed.