Qi Xia Mount means the mountain where rosy clouds perch. It is especially famous for its beautiful autumn scenery with fire-red maple tree leaves covering the whole entire mountain. It lies 22 kilometers northeast of the city. Three peaks of the mountain are called Mount Tiger, Mount Dragon and Sanmaogong or Peak of Flying Phoenix which is the highest peak. Natural beauty and historic sites win it a great reputation.
Before Qi Xia Temple, there is a lake called Mirror Lake which was constructed under the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing dynasty(1644-1911). The lake covers 3,000 square meters. There is a pavilion in the center of the lake, which is connected with the bank with a zigzagging bridge. Behind Crescent Pool is the temple which was built in 489 AD. In the Tang dynasty(618-907), more houses were set up. It was considered one of the four most noted temples in the nation. It was rebuilt in 1908 after burnt down under the reign of Emperor Xianfeng in the Qing dynasty. The temple is now the biggest temple in Nanjing.
Moving eastward out of the temple, a dagoba is in sight, which is built with white stone. The five stories and octagonal dagoba towers are 18 meters high and has relief carvings outside. On the foundation of the dagoba, the carvings tell the story of Sakyamuni while on its body, images of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, Bodhisattva Manjusri and Heavenly kings are carved. It was built in 601 AD and is regarded as an art treasure in Buddhism.
Behind the temple and east of the dagoba, on the cliff is the Thousand Buddhas Cliffside. From 484 to 511 AD, 294 niches were cut on the cliffs and 515 statues of Buddha were carved. Since then people called it 'Thousands-Buddha Cliffside'. Later in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD) and Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), people cut niches on the cliffs successively. Now, the number of niches is totals 294 and the statues of Buddha are over 700 in number. Among these statues, the largest one can reach dozens of meters, but while the smallest one is only several inches high.
