Photos

Typical Public building of this city which is several hundred kilometres NW of Qingdao.

Qingzhou is a county seat about two hours drive from Jinan, the capital city of Shandong. Surrounded by mountains, with a river running through it, Qingzhou city history dates from 1,400 years ago when it was called Nanyang. Today the city is a small one with wide tree--lined streets, clean and almost empty of traffic.

The Qingzhou Municipal Museum is situated at the eastern edge of the ancient city. The river skirts it to the north bordering the lovely Fangongting Park. The museum location was chosen because it was thought to be close to the site of the one-thousand-year-old Longxing Temple.

Reproducing relics.

In 1996 the sports field to the south of the museum was being prepared for resurfacing as a basketball court. Strange looking limestone pieces were turning up during plowing - strange enough that the workers alerted the museum authorities. The legendary Longxing Temple had been found! Little did the museum staff expect to also find a hoard of Buddhist statuary, neatly arranged, some wrapped in protective matting and layered three deep. Smaller pieces were placed under hollowed areas of larger statues. All indications were that this stash was hidden in Longxing Temple for protection...but from what?

The museum is designed in a traditional palace style with three two-storey halls, each displaying small but fine collections. All signs are in Chinese and English. The "in-house" collection of the Qingzhou Buddhas is about 50 pieces and dates from Northern Wei and Qi, (386 to 577), with most pieces between 500 to 550. They are beautifully mounted, cleverly lit and very well labeled. This small part of the Longxing temple find whets your appetite for more. But alas, seeing the rest will not be so easy. About one third of the collection forms a traveling exhibition, currently in Jinan-Based Provincial.
www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/