Binchuan County History

Jizushan Mountain is a national AAAA grade scenic zone, the famous Buddhist shrine known throughout South and Southeast Asia, one of China’s top ten famous Buddhist mountains, a major attraction of the national scenic area of Dali, and a multi functional scenic zone based on exhibiting Buddhist-based cultures and ecological landscape, integrating Buddhist pilgrimage, Buddhist studies, tourism, and science expedition.

 Jizushan Mountain sits high within Binchuan County, Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, in the northwest of Yunnan, on Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Its highest peak Tianzhu Peak (the “pillar of the sky”) is 3,248 meters high. Since there were three peaks in a row in the front, and a ridge dragging in the rear which overall looks like a foot of the chick, it is therefore call “Jizushan” (the “Chick Foot”) Mountain. In the mountain there are 40 strange hills, 12 perilous peaks, 34 palisades, 45 tranquil caverns, and more than a hundred brooks and springs. In addition, there are more than 500 kinds of advanced plants in more than 80 species; there is well preserved pristine ecology; ancient millennium trees can be seen everywhere; and there are dozens of rare birds and animals.

Since nearly 1300 years the Jizu Mountain (Jizushan or Jizu Shan) attracts Buddhist pilgrims from all over China, including Tibet. Jizu Mountain (Jizushan or Jizu Shan) ranks amongst the 5 most important Buddhist Mountains in China. It is said that back in history, Mahakasyapa, a scholar of Sakyamuni (Siddarta Gautama) came to Jizu Shan for meditation.

 The first temples and pavilions where built during the Three Kingdom Period (220-264) but most temples came into existence during the heydays of Jizu Shan during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Unfortunately, most of the once over 300 magnificent Temples, Pagodas and Pavilions vanished during the Cultural Revolution only to be partially reconstructed in recent years. A 3 hours walk past several interesting temples through a dense pine tree forest leads up from the Zhusheng Temple to the summit at 3’280 Metres above sea level, where the lovely, 13 storey high Jinding Temple can be found, which was first built during the 11th century.