This low-profile small city has seven national-level protected sites, yet remains unknown

📍This county is not far from Datong and Mount Wutai, but few people make a special trip to stop here. In fact, it has seven national key cultural relics protection units. This is Fanshi County. 📍Fanshi County is located in the northeast of Shanxi Province, bordering the World Cultural Heritage Site of Mount Wutai to the south and the North Heng Mountain to the north. It is the eastern gateway of Xinzhou City. Fanshi County was established during the Western Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,000 years. It gets its name from the abundance of mountains and temples, as well as the north-south mountain confrontation. The terrain is characterized by two mountains sandwiching a river, with the Lutuo River, one of the five major tributaries of the Hai River, in the middle. [One] Sansheng Temple 🏯The construction date is unknown, but it has been renovated in the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The temple faces south and includes the Shanmen (Mountain Gate), Guodian (Passing Hall), Daxiong Hall (Main Hall), Grandma Hall, Mawang Hall (Horse King Hall), Erlang Hall, Guandi Hall, Bell and Drum Tower, meditation rooms, and other buildings. The Daxiong Hall preserves the Jin Dynasty structure, the Dizang Hall was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty, and the other buildings are relics of the Qing Dynasty. The Daxiong Hall has three bays wide and three bays deep, with a single-eave hip roof. The Dizang Hall has three bays wide, with a gable roof and glazed tile trim, and murals on all four walls. Many steles are preserved in the temple. [Two] Yanshan Temple 🏯It has been repeatedly renovated in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The main hall of the temple has been destroyed. Except for the South Hall, the rest are buildings from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republican period. The South Hall is the Manjusri Hall. The hall retains Jin Dynasty colored sculptures of the Water Moon Guanyin, attendants, Heavenly Kings, and Manjusri's mount. The inner walls are surrounded by Jin Dynasty murals, with a total area of about 90 square meters, completed in the seventh year of the Jin Dynasty (Dading), painted by the court painter Wang Kui. The murals in the temple are valuable materials for studying the history of the Song and Jin dynasties, and are known as the "Twin Walls" of Shanxi murals together with the Yongle Palace murals. [Three] Princess Temple 🏯It is named after the daughter of Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty who became a monk here. The Daxiong Hall was rebuilt in the sixteenth year of the Ming Dynasty (Hongzhi). The hall contains statues of Sakyamuni, Bhaisajyaguru, Amitabha, and the disciples Kassapa and Ananda. The east and west gable walls are filled with paintings of immortals, Buddhas, ghosts, and spirits, as well as the spirits of past generations, worshiping the World-Honored One. The Pilu Hall in the Guodian (Passing Hall), built in the first year of the Ming Dynasty (Zhengde), contains statues of Sakyamuni, Brahma, Indra, and the Eighteen Arhats. [Four] Secret Temple 🏯The existing buildings are relics of the Qing Dynasty. There are also three brick towers from the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the Ming Dynasty, four Northern Song Dynasty Sutra Pillars, one Ming Dynasty Sutra Pillar, three Ming Dynasty cliff stone carvings, one Qing Dynasty cliff stone carving, and 16 steles commemorating the reconstruction and donation during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. [Five] Zhengjue Temple 🏯It was named Zhengjue Chan Temple in the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty (Xuanhe). During the Ming Dynasty, it belonged to one of the nine temples outside the North Peak of Mount Wutai. Only the Daxiong Hall remains in the temple. The Douqi (bracket set) and the parts below the main structure are relics of the Jin Dynasty. [Six] Glazed Tile Pagoda 🏯It is located in the Mount Wutai scenic area. Completed in the thirty-second year of the Ming Dynasty, it is an octagonal thirteen-story glazed tile pagoda, 32m high. The base is a stone-carved Sumi-style pedestal with carved lotus petals. There is a pavilion in the tower, and you can go up to the sixth floor through the tower cave. The exterior of the tower is decorated with yellow, green, and blue glazed tiles, mainly green glazed tiles. There are 10,000 glazed Buddha statues on the outside of the tower, so it is called the Ten Thousand Buddha Pagoda, also known as the "Buddha Statue Diancui Glazed Tile Pagoda." [Seven] Site of the Battle of Pingxingguan 📍No need to say more, pay tribute to the ancestors. There is a memorial hall. It is said that it recently collapsed.