Sacred Mountains

Many of Yunnan's towering mountains play a role in the mythology and folklore of the people who live near them. For reasons best known to diviners, sages and priests, a few mountains achieved a special reputation for spirituality. Three such mountains lie in Dali Prefecture. The nearest is Jizushan, or Chicken Foot Mountain, in Binchuan County. The county seat is 73 km northeast of Xiaguan, while the entrance to the park up the mountain is another 23 km northwest. The mountain is actually visible from the Yongsheng-Binchuan highway, from where it enters Dali Prefecture, easily distinguishable from others in the range by the single pagoda that points skyward from its summit.

Chicken Foot Mountain

The mountain is so named for its location behind three ranges to its front and one to its back, giving it a shape resembling a chicken's foot. Its sanctity dates back to the Three Kingdoms era, when small nunneries were first established. With the founding of the Nanzhao Kingdom these were expanded and the first monasteries constructed. For the next thousand years successive patrons sponsored more and more monasteries until finally the mountain hosted 108, a holy Buddhist number. The desecration of recent wars, and in particular the fanaticism of the Red Guards, reduced this number to a single compound-the Zhusheng Temple. Only the gate tower to one other ancient temple, plus the almost forlorn Longyun Pagoda on the summit, in the Dali close-eaves style, survived the iconoclasm.

Its tragic history has not seriously eroded its spiritual reputation, judging by Jizushan's contemporary power to attract pilgrims. Lodges and small restaurants are now set up on the mountain, for most of those taking the trouble to climb up that far want to do it at night, so as to be by the pagoda on top by dawn to watch the sunrise over the Binchuan plain. To the north Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is visible, as well as Erhai and Cangshan to the southwest.

Before Piluoge united the six petty states to create the Nanzhao Kingdom he and his predecessors ruled from Mengshe, the most southerly of the zhao. Modern Weishan is Mengshe's successor, about 70 km south of Dali. At the end of the 90's it was still one of the most attractive towns in western Yunnan, boasting a gargantuan brick gate tower which marks the entry into the preserved traditional city centre. Fine wooden buildings, many painted blue, dominate the architecture and motor traffic is prohibited in the old quarter.

To the east behind Weishan, 15 km by road to the first temple,rises Weibaoshan-the Mountain of Towering Treasures. In the past it was a numinous mountain to Daoists and it is their temples which dominate the higher slopes.Formerly Weihaoshan was home to more than 20 temples in its alpine groves and glens. Less than a third remain, which is still a better record than Jizushan. The most interesting is the Longtan Palace, for its murals on the walls of the stone bridge connecting the courtyard with a pavilion in the pond. The paintings, looking relatively fresh in spite of two centuries passage, depict local Yi in a ring dance at festival time, among other subjects.

Shibaoshan Grottoes

The third, and most splendid sacred mountain in the prefecture is Shibaoshan, the Mountain of Precious Stones, in Jianchuan County, 140 km north of Dali. The entrance is several km down the Lanping route, west of its junction 7 km south of Jianchuan. At the base of the mountain sits the Ming Dynasty Xingjiao Temple, with a rare set of interior wall frescoes. Winding its way up the mountain, the road comes to Stone Bell Temple (Shizhongsi), first built in the Nanzhao era. Above the compound are the grottoes, each containing exquisite stone sculptures, in good condition, some as much as 1200 years old. The Buddha Gautama Siddartha, as well as other Buddhist deities, all exhibiting a strong Indian influence, are some of the oldest. Equally ancient are the sculptures of King Xinuluo and his family. The most unusual is the large stone vagina, where since ancient times women wanting children have come here to leave offerings