【Nov 10】Yinshan PagodaForest·The SacredWay

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Yinshan Pagoda Forest is a peaceful mountainous area with precious Buddhism relics.  

The cool and fresh spring is most suitable for climbing. This full-day tour is perfect for you to appreciate the natural scenery at Yinshan Mountain and learn ancient Chinese Buddhism and architecture. 

ITINERARY

Meet your trip mates and start your day trip. 

We will pick you up at the meeting points in the morning according to the schedule(refer to basic content below). 

It’s a 1.5-hour drive to Yinshan Pagoda Forest. 

We will visit the Sacred Way first. The Sacred Way starts with a huge stone memorial archway lying at the front of the imperial necropolises. Constructed in 1540, during the Ming Dynasty, this archway is the earliest and biggest stone archway existing in China today. Farther in, the Shengong Shengde Stele Pavilion can be seen. Inside it, there lies a 50-ton tortoise carrying a stone tablet.

Sacred Way (or Divine Road) which means the road leading to heaven. The Emperor, known as the Son of the Heaven, who came from Heaven to his country through the Sacred Way, also deservedly would return to Heaven through this road.

The Sacred Way is often lined with stone statues which are important decorations of the mausoleum. These statues are usually 12 human figures (including the general, civil officials and meritorious officials) and 24 animals.

After that, we will visit Yinshan Pagoda Forest.

Pagoda Forest is a peaceful mountainous area with precious relics for studying ancient Chinese Buddhism. The mountain here has been a holy land of Buddhism, Monk Masters of Tang Dynasty once gave lectures in this mountain. There are many temples and pagodas had been built in the valley in Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. However, over the centuries, the temples and many pagodas were ruined. Today, eighteen still standing. Spend time with your tour guide to stroll around, admire the amazing cravings and get to know the history behind. Then pass through the relic of the temple, climb up to the mountain, visit Tiger stone, and other Pagodas. Enjoy the beautiful view of the area 

Return time：16:00pm

Your driver will drop off you at the meeting points in Beijing.

BASIC CONTENT

REGISTER

Hidden in the north of Changping city is a key cultural relics protection unit in China. It is a national 4A-level scenic spot with the charm of West Lake Leifeng Tower and the natural beauty of Tuerling Park. This is the Yinshan Tower Forest Scenic Spot!

Yinshan, in the northern part of Changping, was originally called “Tiebi Yinshan (Iron Cliff Silver Mountain)”. The cliff is as steep as a tall wall, and the colour is as black as iron, so it is called Iron Wall. After a heavy snowfall, everything becomes silver, hence the name Iron Cliff Silver Mountain. Tiebi Yinshan not only has pleasant scenery, but is also famous for its many ancient pagodas. The Liao Dynasty pagoda group here is the scenic spot with the most existing Liao pagodas in China.

There are not many ancient pagodas in the Liao Dynasty. It is also because it is relatively remote from turmoil and war throughout history, thus has been preserved to this day. The towers here have a history of more than 600 years since the Jin and Yuan Dynasties. During the six hundred years, they have been continuously constructed so that there is a saying that “the silver mountain pagodas are countless”.

Among the countless pagodas, this bottle-shaped ancient pagoda is a local “popular attraction”. This pagoda is called the “Zhenyao (demon-controlling) Tower”, also called the Zhuanyao Pagoda. Legend has it that you can walk around the tower three times to reduce the pain in your waist.

The sizes of towers are different due to different construction times, ranging from several feet to only a few feet tall. Although the heights are staggered, their layouts are regular and their structures are roughly the same.

Most of the towers here are octagonal. There are many beautiful reliefs on the towers, ancient but well-preserved. In the southern foot of Yinshan, especially, the ancient towers are tall and straight, standing proudly in the canyon.

Among them, the most spectacular is the golden pagoda in the Fahua Temple. There are five densely eaves brick towers, three with thirteen floors, two with seven floors, all of which are regular octagonal. These tower bases are in the shape of lotus flowers, with coupon doors on all sides of the tower body, and carved with vivid Buddha statues.

On the body of the towers are mostly statues of flying fairies, with flying skirts, with the charm of Dunhuang flying fairies.

Although Silver Mountain Tallinn is famous for its towers, the scenery here is gorgeous, quiet and elegant, and the natural scenery is very pleasant. The scenic area is characterized by the beauty of mountains, trees, towers, and pine and cypresses all over the mountains, showing different colours as the weather changes.

The mountains here have different beauty in different seasons. The flowers in spring, the green in summer, and the red leaves in autumn are intoxicating. Of course, in winter, this place becomes “Silver Mountain”.

Although the height of Silver Mountain is not high, the slopes on the mountain are steep. The steps up the mountain are built on the basis of the mountain, spiral and bend, or straight up and down, climbing all the way along the steps. There are not only green pines and cypresses along the way, but also unknown fruits everywhere. Although the process of climbing the mountain is a bit difficult, when you successfully get on the top, watching mountains in distance is a great joy.

The infinite scenery is on the most dangerous peak. When standing on the top of the peak, looking around, the surrounding mountains are vividly visible. In the deep valley, there are tall towers. Such a beautiful scenery can only be enjoyed here.

Sacred Way is a arch which is one kilometer north of the the main gate of the Ming Tomb area - the main gate of the palace called the Great Red Gate. There are two tablets used to be placed on both sides of the gate which said: "Dignitaries, officials and other persons arriving here must dismount from their horses.”

 The central entrance was reserved for the body of the dead emperor; the living emperor had to use the left entrance when he came to pay homage to his ancestors. One more kilometer north of the main gate of the palace is a stele pavilion, on the back of the stele marble was engraved resume of Zhu Di, the emperor - Chenzu of the Ming Dynasty and on the upper front was engraved some characters. The stele is carried on a marble tortoise, which, according to Chinese Legend, is the Son of Dragon, which the emperor called himself.

Around the Pavilion are four Ornamental Pillars built with the same mythical beast on the tops, which face either inward or outward, which means hoping the emperor not to cling to the palace or not to forget to return to the Palace to handle state affairs.

Going inward from the stele Pavilion is the 3.5 Km long Sacred Way, which means the road leading to Heaven. The emperor, known as the Son of Heaven went through the sacred road to the sacrificial altar to converse with Heaven during his reign, naturally, after his death, he would also go through the Sacred Way back to heaven.

Alongside the Sacred Way are 18 pairs of marble figures lined up in antithesis, these marble figures, sculptured from whole stones, were erected over 500 years ago, the traditional way of putting over marble figures as guard of honor in front of the mausoleum began in the Han Dynasty which signified the dignity of the emperor, symbolizing the good fortune and warding off evil influence.

This Sacred Way starts with two hexagonal columns called Wang Zhu on either side, they are carved with a cloud design. Their tops are shaped like a rounded cylinder.

Following this are on each side are lions, Xiezhi, camels, elephants, Qilin, horses. All six animals have two kneeling, two standing, 12 animals on each side and 24 animals in all. They were supposed to change guards at midnight.

A slight turn of the Sacred Way leads to the human statues. Even this slight turn is in conformity with the principle of Feng Shui. On each side stand two generals, two civil officials and two “retired” government officials, 6 on each side, and 12 in all. They are larger-than-life-size human statues.

The avenue of stone animals and statues ends at Ling Xing Gate, better known as the Dragon and Phoenix Gate.

👇 For One-day Tour

👇 For Long-term activities for two days or more

Please let us know immediately if your plans change!

Due to the particularity of some tourist resources which need to be booked in advance and cause actual losses, the specific losses include but are not limited to train tickets, air tickets, hotels, etc. If tourists need to cancel their orders, they should contact FCN in time to assist tourists in reducing losses and refund other losses that have not actually occurred in accordance with the principle of refund. 

In the rare event that FCN cancels a trip, or we are unable to serve you, all fees are immediately refunded, including the deposit.