Historic Site of Lingyuan Valley

Lingyuan Valley, also known as Guanyin Valley, is a key cultural relic under provincial protection in Yunnan Province. It lies at the western foot of Huxi Mountain, one kilometre east of Yongsheng County Seat, and ranks among the famous scenic spots in western Yunnan.

Huang Enxi, a successful candidate in the imperial examinations from Yongsheng in the Qing Dynasty, wrote this poem:

The valley boasts a tranquil environment and exquisite scenery, and is especially famous for the Song-dynasty cliff carving of Guanyin. In 1988, the government allocated funds and donations were raised from all walks of life for renovation, giving the site a brand-new look.

Sandwiched between two mountain ridges and divided by a clear stream, Lingyuan Valley features towering precipices, thick forests and bamboo groves. Guanyin Pavilion, Rentian Pavilion and Zhenwu Pavilion stand along the hillside beside the water. Qixia Pavilion, Moyun Pavilion, Xiuzhen Pavilion and the Three Sages Palace scatter halfway up the mountain. More than twenty halls and pavilions form a compound where Buddhism and Taoism coexist harmoniously. Guanyin Pavilion of Lingyuan is the only surviving Buddhist temple in downtown Yongsheng. It has long been crowded with pilgrims and tourists.

Carved on a huge boulder inside the main Guanyin Hall is the statue of Guanyin. According to records, during the Song Dynasty, Chieftain Gao of Beisheng Prefecture purchased a portrait painted by Wu Daozi from central China. He ordered craftsmen to carve the image faithfully onto the cliff and built the temple right here. The carving has remained well preserved for more than a thousand years. The statue is 178 centimetres tall and 75 centimetres wide, with the inscription "Painted by Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty" beside it.

Since the Ming Dynasty, visitors from near and far have come to make rubbings of this carving. In the 29th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1764), Xu Yan from Zhejiang noticed that the original statue was too large for rubbings to fit in small rooms. Therefore, he carved a smaller replica beside the original one for the convenience of copyists, and stamped it with the official seal "Seal of the Hereditary Gao Clan of Cangyang, Yunnan", which is still preserved today.

In Revised Comprehensive Records of Yunnan: Epigraphy, Mr. Fang Guoyu commented: "The cliff Guanyin carving at Lingyuan Valley, Yongsheng, is one of the earliest portrait carvings in central Yunnan." "The stele carving of Guanyin on Yuantong Hill in Kunming was modelled after this piece. It is no accident that this carving has always been highly valued."

From the Ming and Qing dynasties onward, devout men and women flocked here to burn incense and pray. Men of letters came in an endless stream, carving stone statues and composing poems to express their feelings. On the wall of Rentian Pavilion are two huge Chinese characters "Lingyuan" inscribed by Tan Shangzhong, Governor of Yunnan in the Qianlong period, together with thirteen lines of running script notes explaining that the valley was renamed after a line from Huang Tingjian’s poem: "The spiritual source reveals human and celestial insight". There is also a twenty-line five-character ancient poem Caoxi in cursive script written by Li Zhuowu, copied by Liu Ruiqi of Yongsheng during the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, poetic works left by Jue Luomingtu, an imperial calligrapher of the late Qing royal clan, and Zhao Fan, a renowned Yunnan scholar, have greatly enriched the cultural charm of Lingyuan’s mountains and waters.