Just Go: Linfen, Shanxi

After arriving in Linfen, one must visit the Guangsheng Temple. Guangsheng Temple is located in Hongtong County, Linfen City, Shanxi Province. It is the most intact temple dedicated to the water god in China, consisting of three architectural parts: the Upper Temple, the Lower Temple, and the Water God Temple. The temple was originally built in the first year of Jianhe of the Eastern Han Dynasty (147 AD), initially named 'Julu She Temple', also known as 'Yu Wang Ta Yuan', and was renamed 'Guangsheng Temple' during the Tang Dynasty. Throughout history, Guangsheng Temple has suffered from fires and earthquakes, and has been rebuilt during the Tang, Song, Jin, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Currently, except for the Feihong Pagoda and the Mahavira Hall of the Upper Temple, which were rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty, the rest are Yuan Dynasty buildings. In 1961, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit, included at the same time as the Palace Museum. Guangsheng Temple has three wonders: 1. Feihong Pagoda Located in the Upper Temple, it is one of the five Buddha relic pagodas and one of the four ancient pagodas existing in China. It is also the only colored glaze pagoda found to date that has artisan inscriptions and is the largest and most complete. In 2018, after on-site measurement and verification by the official staff of the World Record Certification, the building was confirmed as 'the world's tallest multicolored glaze pagoda'. It was the filming location for Monk Tang sweeping the pagoda in the 1986 CCTV version of 'Journey to the West'. Under the sunlight, the Feihong Pagoda shimmers with flowing colors, like a rainbow stretching across the sky, dazzlingly bright. 2. 'Zhaocheng Jinzang' It is the layout of the first woodblock-printed Tripitaka 'Kaibao Zang' in ancient China. This Tripitaka is a translation of the Sanskrit scriptures brought back from India by the Tang Dynasty's Tripitaka master Xuanzang. It is a unique edition of the Buddhist scriptures and belongs to the world cultural heritage. The long rows of mahogany cabinets that house the 'Zhaocheng Jinzang' sit quietly inside the Amitabha Hall, witnessing the past glory and vicissitudes. 3. Yuan Dynasty murals in the Water God Temple. The murals, with the main themes of praying for rain, making rain, and rewarding the gods, have extremely high historical and artistic value. As photography is not allowed, the image data (Figures 15—18) is sourced from the internet. At the Linfen Museum, I saw the display of 'Zhaocheng Jinzang' and took photos of some of the exhibits (see Figure 7) as a supplement. At the same time, I also accidentally discovered a dragon-themed cultural and creative product. It is said that its inspiration comes from the dragon sculpture in the Pilu Hall, which is climbing up the rafters (see Figure 13).