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Qi Xia Mountain, 313 meters above the sea level, has a dense forest and a great deal of springs tricking sluggishly all the year round. The Zhen Spring and Bay Ru Sping are the most famous for 200 Buddhist monks living in Qi Xia temple had taken advantage of them as drinking water.
Qi Xia Scenic spot including Qi Xia Temple, the Thousand-Buddha Cliff, the Sheli Tower, the stone carving for tombs of the Nan Chao and so on, have a history of over 1500 years by now, which is one of the holy lands of our country. In the Nan Song (420-479), a recluse lived here in seclusion and rebuilt his house to be a temple. Later, Li Zhi, the founder of the Tang Dynasty enlarged it adding 49 beautiful halls. In the Nan Song Dynasty, the forest around the Temple, together with the forests around Ling Yan Temple in Shan Dong, Yu Quan Temple in Hu Bei, Gou Qing Temple in Zhe Jiang were taken as the Four Thickest Forests Under The Sun. The Sheli Tower carved the stories about Sakyamuni finely and imaginatively was built in the Sui Dynasty (601) and is one of the main ancient remains in Qi Xia scenic spots. It is 18 meters high.
The Thousand-Buddha Cliff was started to cut in the Nan Song (484-511) year by year. There are 394 Buddha-inches in different size and 515 Buddha statues were placed in them. So, it is called the Thousand-Buddha Cliff. As time past, the spare of Cliff was extended more and more in the Dynasties of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming. Finally, 700 Buddha statues in total were set on there, the largest tens meters high, the smallest mere inches short.
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