Niushoushan
牛首山
View of Great Usnisa Hall at Niushoushan
Inside the Great Usnisa Hall at Niushoushan
TypeBuddhist cultural park
LocationDongshanqiao Town, Jiangning District, China
Nearest cityNanjing
Coordinates31°54′48″N 118°44′42″E / 31.91322°N 118.74507°E / 31.91322; 118.74507
Area80 ha (Phase One: 17.5 ha)
Opened2014
Operated byNanjing Niushoushan Culture Tourism Development
Visitors5 million (3 years after opening)
StatusOpen
Budget4 billion RMB
Websiteeng.niushoushan.net

Niushoushan (Chinese: 牛首山) is a cultural park at a historical Buddhist mountain site on the southern outskirts of Nanjing, China, centred on the Ox Head Mountain.

The park is newly developed and opened as a tourist attraction in 2014,[1] but the location has been a Buddhist site since the Tang dynasty (618–907AD).[2] However, the original temple was destroyed in the 1850s during the Taiping Rebellion.

Niushoushan, or Niushou Mountain (aka the "Ox Head Mountain" because the east and west peaks form the shape of two horns of an ox), has a height of 243 m.[3]

The park includes the Foding Palace (aka the Usnisa Palace[4]), covering an area of 136,000 m2 (220 meters long, 160 meters wide, and 89.3 meters high), most of it underground, up to six floors down.[2] Construction started in 2012.[5] At the ground level is a large hall containing a slowly rotating 7.5-meter reclining Buddha in jade. Below ground level, escalators give access to the Ten Thousand-Buddha Corridor, leading to the large Great Usnisa Hall.[6]

Since 2015, the palace has been the shrine for the world's only parietal relic of Buddha (the skull of Shakyamuni), making Niushoushan a sacred location for Buddhists.[3] The relic was found in the Ashoka Pagoda in the underground palace of the Bao'en Temple (the former Changgan Temple of the Song dynasty) in Qinhuai District, Nanjing.

The external space of the palace is in three parts: a large dome, a small dome, and Buddha grottoes.[3] The large dome is 120 meters long, shaped like a Buddha's cassock, and partially covers the small dome. The small dome's base is in the shape of a lotus throne and is composed of 56 flying Bodhi gates together with 56 cloud gates.

Outside and nearby is the 88-meter tall, nine-storey, and four-sided Foding Pagoda, newly built in the style of the Tang dynasty.[3]

There is also a smaller c.40-meter tall, seven-storey, and eight-sided Hongjue Pagoda.[7] The pagoda was first built in 774AD during the time of Dali and the Tang dynasty. The pagoda was rebuilt during the early Ming dynasty.

Other attractions include the Zheng He Culture Park, with the grave of the Ming dynasty navigator Zheng He,[4][8] and further developments are planned.

References

  1. ↑ "Nanjing Niushoushan Cultural Park". FabioNodariPhoto.com. 12 September 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Niushoushan Park in Nanjing: the travel guide". Hassell. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Niushoushan – Buddhism-themed Park to Refresh Your Eyes and Mind". China Discovery. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  4. 1 2 Jin Qian (26 September 2016). "[Outbound]: Nanjing's Usnisa Palace". SmartShanghai. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  5. ↑ "景区概况" [Overview of the scenic spot]. niushoushan.net (in Chinese). 28 July 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  6. ↑ "Is the Usnisa Palace in Nanjing the Quirkiest Buddhist Temple in the World?". Museum of Wander. 14 September 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  7. ↑ "HongJue Temple Pagoda". ChinaWiki.net. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  8. ↑ "Zheng He Culture Park". eng.niushoushan.net. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
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