Huáyíng

Huaying's mountain country in eastern Sichuan contained a substantial Buddhist pilgrimage landscape. The Baoding temple group, reached from Xikou on the western slopes, had origins traced to the Tang period. By 1761 it comprised thirty-eight temples, making the ascent a journey through a succession of religious establishments rather than a visit to a single summit shrine.

Two approaches from Xikou connected the temples. One passed Donglin Temple, Fuhu Temple, Bao'en Temple and Huanglong Temple on the way upward; another climbed the Three Hundred Steps and passed Chongfu Temple before joining the higher route. Hermitages, pavilions and named resting places marked these paths. The religious character of Huaying therefore extended across the mountainside: the approach, the intermediate temples and the summit together formed the setting of pilgrimage.