Meizhou has a long history and a thousand years of Hakka cultural accumulation, and is the most representative Hakka settlement in the world. It is not only the last stop for Hakkas to move south, but also the main starting point for Hakkas to spread all over the world since Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is the spiritual home of Hakkas and is known as the "Hakka Capital of the World". Known as the "hometown of culture, hometown of overseas Chinese and hometown of football", this place has produced a large number of celebrities and sages who have honored China, such as Ye Jianying, Qiu, Huang Zunxian,,,, and so on. It is a national cultural and ecological protection experimental area. Since the Revolution of 1911, 23 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 227 university presidents and 474 generals have been born here, and they have made remarkable achievements in China.
Such a treasure trove of geomantic omen with a long history and culture attracts us to explore and pursue. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the 4th Sixth Ancestor Culture Festival in Guangdong Province and the establishment of the Lotus Hill Branch of the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda in Meizhou, our reporter came to this beautiful home and interviewed Chen Jianxin, director of Meizhou Tourism Bureau. Director Chen warmly introduced the situation in Meizhou to us.
Meizhou is located in the northeast of Guangdong Province, with a total area of10.6 million square kilometers and a population of 5.07 million. It is the hometown of Marshal Ye Jianying and the ancestral home of former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Meizhou is a national historical and cultural city, a national garden city, an excellent tourist city in China, a demonstration area of Hakka cultural eco-tourism, a demonstration city of comprehensive tourism reform in Guangdong Province, and the most popular destination in go on road trip. Here are outstanding people, talented people, beautiful mountains and rivers, beautiful environment, rich culture, simple folk customs and unlimited business opportunities.
Meizhou is a regional central city in northeast Guangdong. Gannan in the north, Minxi in the east and Chaoshan Street in the south. It is a key node connecting the Pearl River Delta and Haixi District, and an important gateway for communication between coastal cities and inland hinterland of Guangdong Province. There are three expressways, two national highways, two railways and Meixian airport in the territory, and it is a national transportation hub city. With the completion of Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport, the capacity expansion and reconstruction project of Guangmeishan Railway and the planning and construction of five expressways, the traffic arteries of Pearl River Delta, Haixi District and Yangtze River Delta will be fully opened, Meizhou will enter a new era of high-speed rail, and its location advantage will be more prominent.
Meizhou is a good place to enjoy a slow life. Hard-working and intelligent Hakka people, friendly and pleasant Hakka dialect, beautiful and pleasant Hakka folk songs, green and healthy Hakka food, and an inclusive and open Hakka dragon farm make people linger. There are national scenic spots such as Yan Nanfei, 4A scenic spots such as Yanming Lake, Qianfo Temple, Lingguang Temple, Ketianxia and Changtan, and many leisure resorts such as Fengshun Qianjiang Hot Spring and Wuhua Hot Mine Mud Villa. Meizhou, surrounded by green mountains, green water and beautiful environment, is an important ecological development area in Guangdong, and has been rated as "Top Ten Green Environmental Protection Symbolic Cities in China". There are 5/kloc-0 nature reserves, 65 forest parks, 6.35 million mu of ecological public welfare forests and 69.4% forest coverage. It is a natural oxygen bar and a demonstration city for livable urban and rural construction in the province. Now, Meizhou is making full use of the beautiful landscape ecology, rich hot spring resources and human resources, planning and building a cultural tourism characteristic area, an international leisure and health island and a healthy holiday cultural industry city from a high starting point, creating fine tourist routes such as health care, hot spring vacation and ecological experience, and striving for a "special zone" with coordinated development of cultural tourism, health care and agricultural brands. Meizhou is becoming a good place for entertainment, sightseeing, enjoying life and prolonging life.
At present, around the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" of Guangdong Province, Meizhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government has put forward the development goal of "accelerating the rise of green economy and building a rich, beautiful and happy new Meizhou", taking tourism as the leading industry of "the rise of green economy" and building a cultural tourism characteristic area with Meixian as the center, dapu county and Jiaoling as the wings, Yangyan as the core and eight surrounding towns as the breakthrough and new growth point. Play the "five cards" such as "culture card, ecological card, celebrity card, merchant card and hometown of overseas Chinese card", give full play to the four advantages of "mountain, water, people and culture", create a landscape culture, invigorate the landscape economy, create a beautiful environment with mountains and rivers, launch the brand of "leisure to Meizhou" and "enjoy slow life", and make it bigger and stronger for health, recuperation and recuperation.
While introducing the situation in Meizhou, Director Chen also focused on the Thousand Pagodas Temple in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, where the Six Ancestors Zen Culture Festival series was held. Located in the eastern suburb of Meizhou City, the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda is a women's Dojo developed to protect the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda, a cultural relic of the Southern Han Dynasty, and a key cultural relic protection unit in Guangdong Province. The Thousand-Buddha Pagoda was cast in the eighth year of Dabao in the Southern Han Dynasty (AD 965) and is located in Xiuhui Temple in this city. In the Qing Dynasty, state officials moved it to qi zhou Temple (these two ancient temples have long since disappeared). The Thousand-Buddha Pagoda has seven floors, with a height of 4.2 meters and a bottom width of 1.6 meters. It is square, with a thousand stupas, hence its name. Due to the age, the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda is getting damaged day by day. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Huang Zunxian, a patriotic poet in this city, collected the fragments of this tower and wrote Song of a Thousand Pagodas to punish its incident. Starting from 1935, Peng Jingyi, the county magistrate of Meixian County, and Mr. Huang moved the tower to Dongshanling to build an octagonal pavilion for protection. Due to the changes of the times, the iron tower is surrounded by steel plants, which is increasingly polluted and destroyed, making it inconvenient for tourists to watch, and public opinion calls for protection.
1in the winter of 989, Master Minghui (currently the executive director of the National Buddhist Association, the vice president of the Guangdong Buddhist Association, the president of the Meizhou Buddhist Association, the abbot of the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda Temple, the fourth and fifth members of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Meizhou, and the ninth and tenth members of the Guangdong Provincial Political Consultative Conference) returned to his hometown from yunmen temple, Shaoguan, and initiated the establishment of an ordinary pagoda at the invitation of the Meizhou Buddhist Association to help popularize Buddhism and expand the Dojo. 1990 In the spring, Master Minghui initiated and built a nine-story granite tower to protect cultural relics. This charity was responded by the local government and social leaders, and was immediately approved by the provincial cultural relics department to "agree to relocate and raise funds by itself". In July of the same year, the preparatory committee for the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda was formed by the relevant leaders of the city, county and district, the great monk, Master Yuan Che and the protectors at home and abroad. Master Minghui sat in the town, actively raised funds, and traveled all over the world. He received enthusiastic support from overseas Chinese and Hong Kong and Macao rural sages, and Buddhist laymen volunteered to come to work. Finally, on February 3rd, 199 165438, the foundation stone of the Thousand Buddha Pagoda was officially laid. The whole pagoda building is a treasure of China's traditional culture and art, and also a symbol of Meizhou's famous historical and cultural city. The tower lights are shining high, and the title is "Lingnan Pearl". There is an endless stream of pilgrims. Thousand-Buddha Pagoda Temple, centered on stone pagodas and built on the mountain, has been perfected for more than ten years. Among them, the Thousand Buddhas Hall is a rare traditional ancient building. There are six carved stone pillars of Qinglong granite at the main entrance. In the center of the hall, there are thousands of Buddha statues around Pilu. On both sides are 18 golden carved arhats, and the height exceeds 1 m. There are 24 gods and giant Dunhuang murals based on Manjusri and Pu Xian on the wall. They are famous and lifelike.
In 2002, the Buddhist Training Center building was completed one after another, with a building area of more than 3,000 square meters and five floors, of which the third floor is an auditorium that can accommodate more than 1000 people, and the fifth floor is a Buddhist scripture building. The rest floors are equipped with classrooms, libraries, archives, reference rooms, reading rooms, computer rooms, meditation halls and mage lounges.
In addition, Yakushido, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Fatang, Monastery, Guest Hall, Tea House, Sutang and Daliao constitute a large-scale temple complex. Inclined cornices, carved beams and painted buildings, resplendent, filled with fragrant clouds. There are many scenic spots in the temple, such as Elysium, Moon Corridor, Kowloon Spitting Water, Fifty-three Talented Persons Shadow Carving Corridor, Poetry Gallery, Wangjiang Guanyin, Drip Guanyin, Manjusri Pavilion, Puxian Pavilion, Sword Shadow Pavilion, Bihua Pavilion, and Dari Pavilion. Especially in the "Elysium" behind the tower, there are Tianchi, Tianqiao, splashing, whispering and fragrant flowers. The stone statues of Amitabha and Guanyin Bodhisattva stand upright in Tianchi for visitors to watch and purify their bodies and minds. Pavilions, colorful, lush flowers and trees in the four seasons, lush green grass, the sound of Buddha's horn, melodious Sanskrit sound, morning bells and drums, thought-provoking, worthy of the pure land on earth.
The Buddhist Education and Training Center was established in 2003 to train high-quality monks. At present, it has basic software and hardware facilities, and has been approved by Guangdong Yunmen Buddhist College to set up a women's department of the Buddhist College, and at the same time to carry out charity education to purify people's hearts and repay the society.
Standing on the Thousand-Buddha Pagoda, listening to the chimes in Sanskrit and overlooking Meizhou, the spirit of awe is born from the heart. Meizhou, the capital of hospitality! Meizhou, the leisure capital!
Column editor Zhang Xiuxiu