The Northern Buddhist Temple is the earliest example of religious architecture in Qinghai Province. Covering an area of nearly 28,000 square meters (about 6.9 acres), the temple was built during the Northern Wei Dynasty along a natural fault-line in Northern Mountain, from which the temple it takes its name. Northern Buddhist temple seems to hang between the two halves of the cleft, earning it the name Xuankong Temple (Hanging Temple)
A network of caverns dominates the inside of the Northern Buddhist Temple. The plank road connecting all 99 caverns is built along the side of the rock face: visitors may find their own faith tested as they traverse the walkway! Inside the caverns are beautiful depictions of Buddhist legend & history both painted onto and carved into the walls. These frescos and sculptures are predominantly of Zaojing design and are watched over by the National Key Protection Unit of Historical Relics.
Once, the mountain was home to two gigantic 'Lutian Jingang' Buddha figures carved into the rock. Unfortunately, one has long since disintegrated, but the second is still reasonably well preserved and stands an impressive 30 meters (98 feet) tall halfway up Northern Mountain. Higher still, at the top of the mountain, sits Ningshou Pagoda. From this vantage point, the seemingly endless mountain is particularly beautiful as clouds & mist drift across temples, pagodas and caverns, alternately hiding and revealing the mountain's secrets.
Every autumn, during the Chongyang Festival (Double Ninth Festival) the Northern Buddhist Temple is decorated with lanterns and streamers, and people come great distances to celebrate here. Many people climb Northern Mountain during the festival in order to scatter paper covered with the Chinese characters for deer (lu) and horse (ma) to secure luck and safety from Buddha.
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