[Hakka Capital of the World, Cultural Meizhou, Happy Hakka, Starting from the Heart] Meizhou, Hakka Capital of the World

Buddhist resort, cultural Meizhou. The birthplace of Hakka culture has a long history, numerous talents, and simple folk customs. Thousands of years of culture have been accumulated here, and the ancient charm still exists. Come to Meizhou, listen to the pleasant Hakka dialect, slowly sing Hakka folk songs, taste Hakka food, and experience the rich Hakka customs.

Meizhou has a long history and thousands of years of Hakka culture. It is the most representative Hakka settlement in the world. It is not only the final stop for the Hakkas to migrate south, but also the place where the Hakkas have evolved since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The main starting point for traveling around the world, it is the spiritual home of the Hakka people and is known as the "Hakka Capital of the World". Here, literature and education are valued, and it is known as the "hometown of culture, homeland of overseas Chinese, and homeland of football". It has created a large number of outstanding figures such as Ye Jianying, Song Xiang, Ding Richang, Qiu Fengjia, Huang Zunxian, Zhang Bishi, Zeng Xianzi, Tian Jiabing, Li Huitang, etc. who have glorified China. It is a national cultural and ecological protection experimental zone. Since the Revolution of 1911, 23 academicians of the two academies of science and engineering, 227 university presidents, and 474 generals have been born here, who have created extraordinary achievements in the land of China.

Such a geomantic treasure land with a long history and culture attracts us to explore and pursue. On the occasion of the 4th Sixth Patriarch Cultural Festival in Guangdong Province, the Meizhou Thousand Buddha Lotus Mountain Branch Venue and Thousand Buddha Pagoda Foundation Laying 20 On the occasion of the anniversary celebration, our reporter came to this lovely home and conducted an exclusive interview with Chen Jianxin, director of the Meizhou Municipal Tourism Bureau. Director Chen enthusiastically introduced us to the situation in Meizhou.

Meizhou City is located in the northeastern part of Guangdong Province, with a total area of ??16,000 square kilometers and a population of 5.07 million. It governs 8 counties (cities and districts). It is the hometown of Marshal Ye Jianying and the ancestral home of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The place is also here. Meizhou City is a national historical and cultural city, a national garden city, an outstanding tourist city in China, a Hakka cultural ecological tourism demonstration area, a demonstration city for comprehensive tourism reform in Guangdong Province, and the most popular self-driving destination in Guangdong. It has outstanding people, talented people, beautiful mountains and rivers, beautiful environment, rich culture, simple folk customs and abundant business opportunities.

Meizhou is a regional central city in northeastern Guangdong. It borders southern Jiangxi to the north, western Fujian to the east, and Chaoshanjie to the south. It is a key node connecting the Pearl River Delta and Haixi District, and is an important gateway for the coastal cities of Guangdong Province to communicate with the inland hinterland. There are three expressways, two national highways, two railways and Meixian Airport within the territory, making it a national transportation hub city. With the completion of Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport, the capacity expansion and reconstruction project of the Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway and the planning and construction of five expressways, the transportation arteries of the Pearl River Delta, Haixi District and the Yangtze River Delta will be fully opened. Meizhou will enter a new era of high-speed rail, comprehensively By shortening the time and space distance from metropolitan areas, its location advantages will become more prominent.

Meizhou is a good place to enjoy a slow life. The industrious and intelligent Hakka people, the friendly and melodious Hakka dialect, the beautiful and melodious Hakka folk songs, the green and healthy Hakka food, and the tolerant and open Hakka dragon house make people linger and forget to leave. There are the well-known national 5A-level tourist attractions Yannanfei, 4A-level scenic spots Yanming Lake, Thousand Buddha Pagoda Temple, Lingguang Temple, Ketianxia, ??Changtan, etc., as well as Fengshun Qianjiang Hot Spring, Wuhua Hot Mineral Mud Villa, etc. Relaxation resort. Surrounded by green mountains and green water, Meizhou has a beautiful environment. It is an important ecological development area in Guangdong and has been rated as one of the "Top Ten Green Environmental Protection Label Cities in the Country". The city has 51 nature reserves, 65 forest parks, 6.35 million acres of ecological public welfare forests, and a forest coverage rate of 69.4%: majestic green mountains, vast forests, and sparkling water. It is a natural oxygen bar and the most livable urban and rural area in the province. Build a model city. Now, Meizhou is making full use of the beautiful landscape ecology, rich hot spring resources and human resources to plan and build a cultural tourism characteristic area, a guest capital international leisure and health island and a health resort cultural industry city from a high starting point to create health care, hot spring vacation and ecological experience. and other high-quality tourism routes, striving to create a "special zone" for the joint development of cultural tourism, health care and agricultural brands. Meizhou is becoming a good place to have fun, enjoy mountains and rivers, enjoy life and prolong life.

At present, focusing on the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" of Guangdong Province, the Meizhou Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have proposed the development goal of "making every effort to accelerate the rise of a green economy and build a prosperous, beautiful and happy new Meizhou", and regard the tourism industry as a "green "Economic Rise" pioneer industry, take the construction of a cultural tourism characteristic area with Meixian as the center, Dabu County and Jiaoling County as the two wings, with Yanyang as the core and eight surrounding towns as the focus, as a breakthrough and new growth point, and lay the " The "five cards", including cultural brand, ecological brand, celebrity brand, merchant brand and overseas Chinese brand, give full play to the four major advantages of "mountain, water, people and culture" to create landscape culture, activate the landscape economy, and create mountains and rivers that are interdependent, lakes and mountains are beautiful. The beautiful environment of Meizhou will create a unique brand of "Relax in Meizhou and enjoy slow life", expand and strengthen the "slow life" industries such as health care, leisure and vacation, strive to enhance the urban and rural image of "Meizhou, the guest capital", and strive to transform Meizhou into a beautiful city. The city is built into the backyard of the Pearl River Delta in the post-industrial era and a national health and longevity state, allowing tourists to experience the leisure and slow life of "slowing down your pace, relaxing your mood, and letting go of your dreams" in Meizhou.

While introducing the situation in Meizhou, Director Chen also focused on the venue of the Sixth Patriarch Zen Culture Festival series of activities - Qianfo Pagoda Temple in Meizhou City, Guangdong. Thousand Buddha Pagoda is located in the eastern suburbs of Meizhou City. The Women's Dojo was developed to protect the Thousand Buddhas Iron Pagoda, a cultural relic of the Southern Han Dynasty. It is a key cultural relic protection unit in Guangdong Province.

The Thousand Buddhas Iron Pagoda was cast in the eighth year of Dabao in the Southern Han Dynasty (AD 965). At that time, it was located in the Xiuhui Temple in the city. The state officials of the Qing Dynasty moved it to the Qizhou Temple (these two ancient temples have long been lost). The Thousand Buddhas Tower has seven floors, is 4.2 meters high, and has a base width of 1.6 meters. It is square in shape and has Thousand Buddhas cast on its body, hence the name Thousand Buddhas Tower. Due to the passage of time, the Thousand Buddhas Tower was gradually damaged. In the late Qing Dynasty, the patriotic poet Huang Zunxian collected the fragments of the Tower and kept them in Renjinglu. Beginning in 1935, Meixian County Magistrate Peng Jingyi and Commander Huang Renhuan moved the iron tower to Dongshan Ridge and built an octagonal pavilion for protection. Due to the changes of the times, the tower was surrounded by a steel plant, suffered pollution, and became increasingly damaged, making it inconvenient for tourists to view. Public opinion has called for its protection.

In the winter of 1989, 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 session of the Meizhou City Buddhist Association) Member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and member of the 9th and 10th CPPCC Guangdong Provincial Committee) was invited by the Meizhou Buddhist Association to return to his hometown from Yunmen Temple in Shaoguan and initiated the construction of the Putong Pagoda Courtyard to help promote Buddhism and expand the Taoist temple. In the spring of 1990, Master Minghui initiated the construction of a nine-story granite tower to protect cultural relics. This act of kindness received a response from the local government and social elites, and was immediately approved by the provincial cultural relics department, "agreeing to relocate and raise funds by itself." In July of the same year, the Thousand Buddha Pagoda Preparatory Committee was established by relevant leaders at the city, county and district levels, Buddhist great monks Foyuan, Master Yuanche, and Buddhist protectors at home and abroad. Master Minghui was in charge, and actively raised funds, with footprints all over the country. At home and abroad, we have received enthusiastic support from overseas Chinese, Hong Kong and Macao sages, and Buddhist lay people have come to work voluntarily. Finally, on December 3, 1991, the foundation stone of Thousand Buddha Pagoda was officially laid. The entire pagoda building is a treasure of traditional Chinese culture and art, and a symbol of Meizhou's famous historical and cultural city. The tower lantern shines high, and it is called the "Pearl of Lingnan". There is an endless stream of people coming to pay homage. The Thousand Buddha Pagoda Temple is centered on the stone pagoda and built on the mountain. It has been improving day by day for more than ten years. Among them, the Thousand Buddha Hall is a rare traditional ancient building. The main entrance has six granite carved stone pillars with green dragons. In the center of the hall is Thousand Buddhas surrounding Vairocana. On both sides are 18 golden Arhats carved in wood over 1 meter high. On the wall are 24 The giant Dunhuang murals of the gods, Manjusri and Samantabhadra are painted by famous artists and are lifelike.

In 2002, the Buddha Education and Training Center buildings were also completed one after another, with a construction area of ??more than 3,000 square meters and a height of 5 floors. The third floor is an auditorium that can accommodate more than 1,000 people, and the fifth floor is a Tibetan Buddhist scripture. The remaining floors are equipped with classrooms, libraries, archives rooms, reference rooms, reading rooms, computer rooms, meditation halls, master lounges, etc.

There are also the Three Holy Temples, the Medicine Master’s Hall, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Dharma Hall, the Monk’s House, the Guest Hall, the Tea House, the Zhaiguan, and the Daliao, forming a magnificent group of palaces. Cornered eaves, carved beams and painted buildings, it is resplendent and filled with fragrant clouds. The temple is densely packed with scenic spots, such as the "Elysian World", "Sun and Moon Corridor", "Kowloon Spitting Water", "Good Wealth Boy's Fifty-three Shadow Sculpture Corridor", "Poetry and Painting Corridor", "River-Wang Guanyin", "Drip Water Guanyin" , Manjusri Pavilion, Samantabhadra Pavilion, Jianying Pavilion, Bihua Pavilion, Dairi Pavilion and so on. In particular, the "Ultimate World" behind the pagoda has a Tianchi and an overpass, with splashing jets and the fragrance of flowers. On the left and right, giant stone statues of Amitabha and Guanyin Bodhisattva stand in the Tianchi for visitors to admire and purify their body and mind. The pavilions, pavilions and pavilions are full of light, green flowers and trees from all seasons, green grass, the sound of Buddha's horns, melodious Buddhist music, morning bells and evening drums are thought-provoking, and it is nothing short of a pure land on earth.

The temple established the Buddha Education and Training Center in 2003 to cultivate high-quality monks. At present, it has basic software and hardware facilities, and has obtained the consent of Guangdong Yunmen Buddhist College to establish the Women's Department of the Buddhist College. At the same time, it develops charity education, purifies people's hearts, and repays society.

Standing on the Thousand Buddha Pagoda, listening to the ringing of Sanskrit bells, looking down at the land of Meizhou, the awe-inspiring spirit rises from my heart.

Meizhou, the city of hospitality! Meizhou, the city of leisure!

Column editor Zhang Xiuxiu