Leshan Culture

With a history of more than 2000 years, Leshan culture is splendid and time honoured. As the national famous historical and cultural city, it is carrying the glorious history and culture of Leshan, including Buddhist culture and Zen culture represented by Emei Buddhism and Leshan Giant Buddha; Wushu culture represented by Emei martial arts, celebrity culture represented by Guo Moruo(郭沫若), Su Dongpo(苏东坡), Ding Youjun(丁佑君), etc.

1. Buddhist Culture

As an important town on the southern silk road, Leshan has been immersed in the ancient Buddhist culture for thousands of years. Mount Emei, one of the "four famous Buddhist mountains in China", has long been a sacred place for Chinese and foreign Buddhists to worship. The largest sitting statue of maitreya in the world, Leshan Giant Buddha, is standing at the confluent of three rivers to guard the peace of place. With mount Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha as the worship center, the Buddhist culture in Leshan has been deeply imprinted. It has the largest Buddhist temple in Asia, and there are continuous Buddhist activities throughout the year, such as worshiping Buddha, offering fasting, chanting sutras, offering lanterns and releasing life...

2. Celebrity Culture

The works and historical relics left by cultural celebrities represented by Guo Moruo constitute Leshan's celebrity culture. More than 100 ancient writers, such as Li Bai, Su Shi and Lu You, wrote nearly 500 poems about Leshan and 23 selected articles. Celebrity relics mainly include Guo Moruo's old residence, Leichang(雷畅)'s former residence, Xiong Kewu(熊克武)'s old residence, Chiang Kai-shek(蒋介石)'s official residence and Ding Youjun(丁佑君)'s Martyrs Memorial Hall.

3. Folk Culture

Leshan City has many unique ethnic customs, such as the Yi's Guozhuang, carrying bride and so on. Folk culture includes a series of flower lanterns, dragon lanterns, boatmen's chants, folk songs and so on. The city has collected and published 17 volumes of folklore and stories with 3.5 million words, and 1 million words of folk songs and proverbs. Among them, the legends of Emei Mountain, Leshan Buddha, Leshan labor songs, Leshan love songs and so on are very influential.

4. Intangible Cultural Heritages

There are many intangible cultural heritage projects in Leshan, including four national intangible cultural heritage: Emei martial arts, Muchuan grass dragon, Jiajiang New Year paintings and bamboo paper making skills. There are 36 provincial intangible cultural heritages such as Buddhism music in mount Emei, embroidery of Yi nationality in Xiaoliangshan, art of Jiayang river opera, etc. There are 88 municipal intangible cultural heritages, such as butterfly wing paintings. There are 3 representative inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects, 23 representative inheritors at provincial level and 118 representative inheritors at municipal level.

5. Ethnic Culture

There are 41 nationalities in Leshan, among which Han, Yi, Hui and Miao are native minorities. There are 8 traditional ethnic villages in Leshan, including:

  • Xiangbi Village, Gongan Yi Ethnic Township, Jinhekou District(金口河区共安彝族乡象鼻村)
  • Shengli Village, Yonghe Town,  Jinhekou District(金口河区永和镇胜利村)
  • Shunhe Village, Yongsheng Township, Jinhekou District(金口河区永胜乡顺河村)
  • Didi ancient village, Heizugou Town, Ebian County(峨边彝族自治县黑竹沟镇底底古村)
  • Huangni Village, Xinlin Town, Ebian County(峨边彝族自治县新林镇黄泥村)
  • Exing Village, Shaping Town, Ebian County(峨边彝族自治县沙坪镇峨星村)
  • Yanfeng Community, Yanfeng Town, Mabian County(马边彝族自治县烟峰镇烟峰社区)
  • Manao Village, Minzhu Township, Mabian County(马边彝族自治县民主乡玛瑙村)