Guang Lu Yin Tai Stone Inscription

    The stone inscription stands at the slope of Min Mountain, also known as Yu Chi Mountain (Mt. Jade Ruler), an offset of the Wu (black) Shi (rock) Mountain Ranges. “Bao Fu” Buddhist Monastery was built on Min Mountain in the Tang Dynasty then in the early Song Dynasty it became known as “Fa Xiang” Temple. In the 1^st year of the reign of Emperor Xi Ning, Song Dynasty, Cheng Shimeng served as the governor of Fuzhou in the capacity of emperor’s attendant (Guang-Lu Qing). He frequented the mountains and temples at his leisure so often that the monks named the place ‘Guang-Lu Yin Tai’ and invited him to carve the characters in the stone. The stone witnessed more than a dozen abbots’ ruling of the temple over the years. Lin Zexu was invited to visit the place where the stone inscription stood in his old age when he got retired. The tale about Lin’s releasing cranes beside the “Guang Lu Yin Tai” has been spreading far and wide. Future generations thus carved “‘Crane Stone Step’ ”in the stone here.

    It was announced as a 1^st group of cultural sites under municipal protection in 1961.