Golden Sand Temple with Tent
Item
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Title
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Golden Sand Temple with Tent
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Caption
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"The Golden Sand Cave Monestary at Shiung Gien Ssu, south of Suifu. There are several sections or stories, the last one being in a natural limestone cave on the side of the cliff. The tree is a fengshui." (Graham 1932, Plate 9)
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Identifier
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DCG_041
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Alternative Identifier
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84, 250
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Description
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Because Graham describes this location as "south of Suifu," it is most likely that he took this photo while he was stationed at Yibin (Suifu). This portion of the river is now called the Jinsha River, but it was then considered the Upper Yangtze. The image shows the shoreline of the Yangtze River with a small temple, a tent and three men on the beach. Timber can be seen in the temple and the tent. There is an almost perpendicular staircase hewn from the solid rock cliff that leads to the temple built around a natural cave.
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Creator
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Graham, David Crockett
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Date Created
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1913-1931
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Location
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Yibin, Sichuan
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Original Format
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Glass plate
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Source
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Whitman College and Northwest Archives
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Provenance
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Jean Graham Brown and Dorothy Graham Edson, daughers of DCG, and Chris Hoogendyk, grandson of DCG.
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Record Date
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2024-09-24
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Contributor
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Nicholas Fowler; Cory Willmott
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Type
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Still Image
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References
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Graham, David Crockett. 1928. Religion in Szechuan Province, China. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 80(4): 1-83.
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Published In
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Graham, David Crockett. 1928. Religion in Szechuan Province, China. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 80(4): Plate 9.
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Subject
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Cliff Caves
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abstract
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“At Shuin Gien Si or Shiong Gien Si there is a Buddhist temple in a cave half-way up a perpendicular cliff. The rock is limestone, and the cave is a natural one inside which there is dripping water which is believed to have power to heal diseases. This cave can be reached only by means of steps hewn out of the solid rock. A tree which stands very near the steps is a fengshui tree. The temple has several stories, the first story being on a level with the flat ground under the cliff, and the last story being in the cave itself. The stone of the cliff is slightly yellow, so that it is thought to resemble gold dust. The temple is therefore named Gin Sha Dong, or the cave of golden sands. On the top of the cliff trees of a forest can be seen, but the sides are so steep that they are bare of vegetation. Here again a place of marvelous beauty that naturally arouses feelings of wonder and awe has been chosen as the location for a temple, a holy place set aside for the worship of the gods.”
Graham, David Crockett. 1928. Religion in Szechuan Province, China. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 80(4): 1-83. Pp.56-58.
Golden Sand Temple and Cave
