Among the 21 prefecture-level administrative districts (18 prefecture-level cities and 3 prefectures) in Sichuan Province, the popularity of Leshan City is very high, especially the tourism resources. The famous Leshan Giant Buddha, Mount Emei, the mysterious Black Bamboo Ditch, and the Jiayang Train, which are often seen in martial arts novels, have all brought great popularity to Leshan City.
Leshan City is located in the south of Sichuan Province, and the neighboring prefectures are Ya'an City, Meishan City, Zigong City, Yibin City and Liangshan Prefecture in a clockwise direction, with an area of about 12,700 square kilometers. The terrain of Leshan is typical of the high west and low in the east, the western terrain is higher, and the eastern part belongs to the fertile "Country of Heaven" Sichuan Basin. The legendary Dadu River flows eastward through the central part of Leshan City and joins the mighty Min River on the southern outskirts of Leshan City.
Leshan has a long history. During the Two Han Dynasties and the Shu Han Dynasty, Leshan was the jurisdiction of Yizhou's large county, Qianwei County, the Sui Dynasty set up Meishan County, and the Tang Dynasty changed its name to Jiazhou. In both the Northern Song Dynasty and the early Southern Song Dynasty, Jiazhou was an important but not particularly prominent state, and the turning point occurred in the second year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1196). Two years ago, Emperor Guangzong of Song held an internal meditation and passed the throne to the crown prince Zhao Kuo, also known as Emperor Ningzong of Song. Everyone may not be familiar with Song Ningzong, but you must know "The Legend of the Archery Hero", the historical background of this martial arts novel is the Song Ningzong period. Before Zhao Kuo ascended the throne, he was crowned king of Jia, and his residence was Jiazhou, today's Leshan. According to the custom of the Song Dynasty, after the crown prince ascended the throne, he had to upgrade the state where his hidden residence was located to a prefecture, which was slightly equivalent to the current sub-provincial city. Emperor Ningzong of Song could not be an exception, and he issued an edict to upgrade Jiazhou to Jiading Province.
Leshan's strategic location in ancient times was very important. Not far north of Leshan is the central city of Chengdu in the ancient west, not far to the east is Chongqing, an important town in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and to the south is the Yungui region with mountains and rivers. Leshan is backed by Mount Emei, in front of the Dadu River and Tsingyi River, there are mountains and waters, steep and easy to defend. The Northern Song Dynasty once praised Leshan (then known as Jiazhou) as "a place of mountain and river-shaped victory, the crown of Shuzhong." "The distance from Leshan to Chengdu is only five stations, and it can be traced up the Minjiang River to Chengdu. Before the late Ming Dynasty, the ancients had always regarded the Min River as the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and Xu Xiake finally determined that the Min River was not the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Leshan can be said to be the southern gateway of Chengdu, the Southern Song Dynasty people called Leshan (then known as JiaqingFu) as the throat of the west of the town, and holding Jiading is equivalent to holding Chengdu.
South of Leshan, there is a county of Qian, which is now famous for the Jiayang Small Train. There is a great Buddhist temple about forty miles southeast of Qianwei, and in the last year of the Yuan Dynasty, the great generals all had to garrison the Great Buddha Temple and prepare to attack Ming Yuzhen, who had divided Chongqing. Ming Yuzhen preemptively attacked Jiading and took the Great Buddha Temple.
When it comes to the Great Buddha Temple, it is natural to mention the Leshan Giant Buddha, which is a key tourism resource in Leshan. The popularity of Mount Emei is not inferior to that of the Giant Buddha of Leshan, but many people do not know that Mount Emei is in the territory of Leshan. Since the front of the Leshan Giant Buddha is crowned with the word "Leshan", everyone will think that the most famous tourist attraction in Leshan is the Leshan Giant Buddha.
Where is the Leshan Giant Buddha? Leshan City is bordered by the Dadu River to the south and the Min River to the east, and there is a Lingyun Temple on the southeast bank of the confluence of the Erjiang River, where the Leshan Giant Buddha is located. Lingyun Temple is built under the Jiuding Mountain on the southeast bank of the MinJiang River, and there are nine peaks on the Jiuding Mountain, and the names are very good, such as Fengji, Qiluan, Yongcui, Wangyun, Danxia and so on. Because the Big Buddha is in Lingyun Temple, the Leshan Giant Buddha is sometimes called the Lingyun Giant Buddha, and the official name is the Lingyun Temple Great Maitreya Stone Statue.
The Leshan Giant Buddha was first chiseled in the first year of the tang Dynasty (713), and the monk Haitong stood on the shore of the Min River looking at the Jiuding Mountain, lamenting the creation of nature, and believing that it was necessary to chisel the mountain as a Buddha. At this time, the curtain of the Tang Kaiyuan prosperity has been slowly opened at this time, a prosperous scene. However, due to its huge scale, the Leshan Giant Buddha was not completed at one time, and it was not until the nineteenth year of Tang Dezong Zhenyuan (803) that the Leshan Giant Buddha was finally completed ninety years later. The Leshan Giant Buddha adopts a seated statue of Maitreya Buddha, which is 71 meters high and chiseled according to the mountain, and the Buddha's ear alone reaches 7 meters, which shows its majesty. There was a big event at Lingyun Temple. In the tenth year of Emperor Yizong of Tang's Xiantong Dynasty (869), Nanzhao, who had divided the Yunnan region, attacked Shu in the north, and had already fallen to Qianwei and other places, and gathered troops at Lingyun Temple. After the Tang army heard about it, it immediately sent troops to attack the Nanzhao soldiers, but did not expect that the Nanzhao soldiers were very capable of fighting, and the surprise attack on the Tang army won a great victory and captured Leshan, bringing great pressure to Chengdu. Since Leshan is located west of the Min River and north of the Dadu River, Leshan is in fact the gateway to western Sichuan, and its strategic position is very important.
After thousands of years of ups and downs, Leshan has become even more imposing along the way. Leshan has the majesty of the mountain, but also the tenderness of the water, and the beauty of Leshan is indescribable. For more historical geography articles, please pay attention to the WeChat public account: Map Emperor
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