Experience the shock of history in Handan

Never forget, for there will always be an echo. After a thousand years, I finally saw the face of Xiangtangshan. This time, I went to the North Xiangtangshan. Bring your family and friends for a historical tour! ☀ Hired a tour guide for explanations ☀ Took the sightseeing car Bought tickets for the scenic area and the sightseeing car at the ticket office, 100 yuan per person, Tour guide explanation costs 300 yuan per time. The tour guide lady was very enthusiastic and attentive, and the explanation was very detailed. Although I had watched the documentary 'Exploring Xiangtangshan' and did some research, there was still a lot I didn't know and didn't want to just skim through. If you climb the mountain yourself, it takes about 40 minutes. ☀ Route: Xiangtangshan Grottoes Digital Exhibition Center - Changle Temple - North Xiangtangshan Grottoes ✔️ The Digital Exhibition Center has restored all the stolen Buddha statues, giving a direct impression and understanding. ✔️ Changle Temple, walking to the few headless Buddha statues remaining behind the temple, after listening to the tour guide's story of the temple being rebuilt several times, burned by a great fire, and finally in modern times, an ignorant teacher took his students to smash the stones and take them home to build houses, it was truly heartbreaking and emotional. For a moment, it felt just like visiting the ruins of the Old Summer Palace, that sense of powerlessness, that anger and heartache... ✔️ North Xiangtangshan Grottoes, the imperial grottoes, which began in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, were mainly built during the Northern Qi Dynasty, and were destroyed after the Northern Zhou Dynasty overthrew the Qi. Additions were made during the Sui, Tang, Song, and Qing dynasties, and during the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai's son Yuan Keding led people to knock off the Buddha heads and sell them overseas. Since then, the grottoes have been in ruins. The tour guide focused on showing us the three major grottoes: Great Buddha Cave, Sakyamuni Cave, and Scripture Carving Cave 🙏 The Great Buddha Cave is said to be the mausoleum of Gao Huan, which was later looted by the son of a construction worker, so archaeologists did not find a coffin after the founding of New China, but this event is recorded in Sima Guang's 'Zizhi Tongjian'. The unique treasure flower of the Great Buddha Cave is also worth savoring. All the Buddha statues around it are gilded, and one can imagine the dazzling splendor of the time. 🙏 Sakyamuni Cave Features architecture from the Northern Qi and later Sui and Tang dynasties, showing the changes over time. 🙏 Scripture Carving Cave A combination of small seal script and regular script, with a total of 50,000 characters, including complete scriptures such as 'Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra' and 'Maitreya Buddha Sutra'. I think it really takes perseverance and concentration to carve each character on the stone wall. There are mostly iron fences around here, and currently, you can view the statues up close. Perhaps when there is more visitor traffic and higher recognition, there will be some protective measures. Still, I hope we can start to value these cultural treasures left by our ancestors, to respect, cherish, and make the utmost effort to pass them on to future generations.