Silent testimony

More than 1,000 years after monk Jingwan began carving the first scriptures into stone, the mountains around Yunju Temple still bear the silent testimony to that extraordinary effort.

Across caves, halls and underground chambers, millions of characters remain etched into stone slabs.

For Wang, the guide who has spent more than two decades introducing the site to visitors, the scriptures carry a message that transcends religion.

"When people carved these texts into stone, they were thinking about the future," she says. "They wanted knowledge to survive even if everything else disappeared."

Across the valleys of Fangshan, the ancient characters remain — enduring reminders of humanity's determination to preserve memory and wisdom.

Today, the stone sutras continue to inspire visitors who come to Yunju Temple to explore this remarkable cultural legacy.

Among them is 15-year-old Zhang Kaiqun, a student from Baoding in Hebei province, who recently toured the site with his family.

"I read about Buddhist scriptures before, but seeing them carved on stone feels completely different," Kaiqun says. "It makes me realize how much effort people put into preserving knowledge."

His mother, Jiang Dongmei, a former Chinese language teacher, says visits like this help children better understand history.

"When students only learn from textbooks, the knowledge can feel distant," she says. "But when they stand in front of these stones carved more than 1,000 years ago, history suddenly becomes real."

Guo Yanqi contributed to this story.