The Qinglong Cave is located at the foot of Zhonghe Mountain along the banks of Wuyang River in Zhenyuan County, Guizhou Province.
The Qinglong Cave, the general name for a group of constructions, covers an area of 20,000 square meters. The constructions stretch over one li (0.5 km) from north to south, with more than 100 pavilions, terraces and towers – large and small. The unevenly distributed constructions include the Qinglong Cave, the Zhongyuan Cave, the Wanshou Palace, the Niyan Pavilion and the Censer Rock.
Built in 1490 during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Qinglong Cave was later destroyed. The present construction group was built during the reigning years of Emperors Guangxu and Xuantong. Forty-five steps from the mountain’s foot lead to the temple entrance. Covering a total area of over 460 square meters, the seven main constructions, listed from lowest to highest, are: the Linggong Hall, the God of Wealth Temple, the Baoshan Hall, the Kwan-yin Hall, the Luzu Hall, the Yuhuang Pavilion and the River-Viewing Building.
Built in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Zhongyuan Cave’s current constructions were built in the late Qing (1644-1911). Spanning an area of about 845 square meters, the constructions include the main hall, Star-observing Building and Hexagonal Pavilion. The Zhongyuan Cave, the first cave of Guizhou, has six huge carved seals at its entrance.
The Star-observing Building is built on a Thousand-Buddha Rock north of the main hall. Hexagonal in shape, the building has three stories and a pyramid roof. A corridor on the second floor leads to the Book Collection Building in the main hall, and the winding corridor on the ground floor connects leads to the hall’s back yard. A pavilion stands on a stone platform in the south of the hall with a carving of two dragons playing with a huge pearl engraved in its sunken panel.
The Wanshou Hall stands between the Qinglong Cave and the Zhongyuan Cave covering an area of over 740 square meters. It consists of eight constructions, large and small, that include an arched gate, opera tower, wing buildings for watching plays, the Yangsi Hall, an inner stage, guest room, the Xuzhenjun Hall and the Wengong Ancestral Temple. The Wanshou Hall is a multi-layered, rectangular building encircled by tall, fire-heated walls. The main gate is a pagoda-shaped archway six meters high and 16 meters wide. The name Wanshou Hall is represented by three large characters carved on top of the hall. Through the central gate is a rectangular Siheyuan (traditional residential compound with houses around a courtyard) with the General Yangsi Hall in the north, the opera tower in the south and wing buildings in the east and west. The stage is 2.4 meters high and 5.22 meters wide.
Built over the Wuyang River, the Zhusheng Bridge is also part of the Qinglong Cave site. Historical records indicate that Burma envoys passing through Zhenyuan used the bridge often. The huge stone bridge, built in the mid-Ming period, is 135 meters long and 85 meters wide, and contains seven arches. After its completion, the bridge became the thoroughfare used by envoys of Southeast Asian countries visiting Beijing.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
