Why did Li Shimin——the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty——have this stone tablet established? In 617 A.D., before Li Yuan, the first emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and his son, Li Shimin, staged an uprising in Jinyang, they prayed for a blessing at Jinci Temple. The next year, they occupied Chang'an, the capital city of Shui Dynasty, and founded their own kingdom. Because Li's original land had preciously been called Tang, they named their empire Tang. In 646, Li Shimin came back to Jinci Temple. Looking back upon his early life, he wrote a composition and had it carved on a stone tablet. This is how the stone tablet that proclaimed wonderful calligraphy, the emperors political views in his later life came into being.

    Planted in the Zhou Dynasty, this cypress tree has a history of over 3,000 years. It's about 18 meters in height and looks like a winding dragon. Thus it is called the Dragon Cypress. Ouyang Xiu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, praised it beautiful plants so that the cypress is too ancient to tell its age and strength clearly. Even Now, the tree is as lively as what it was.

    The Saint Mother Hall, built in 984 and redbuilt in 1102, stands at the end of the axis. With Mountain Handing Jar to the back, facing the fish ponds and shaded by aged cypress trees, it is a grand monument of devotion. Among all the ancient buildings in Jinci Temple, the Saint mother hall is the greatest and the earliest built in existence. It is the representative work of the structures built during the Song Dynasty and is of great importance for studying history or Chinese architecture.

    Built in 1168 A.D., the Offerings Hall was used to put the offerings when the memorial ceremony was held. Although it was built in a simple way, its really stable and delicately made. Its simplicity allows for more space than any other building. In 1955, the hall was renovated according to the original design.
　　A couple of iron lions stand mightily on the platform in front of the Offerings Hall. They were forged in the Song Dynasty (1118 A.D.) and are two of the earliest iron lions in China.

    The Never Aging Spring comes from the fault zone of Mountain Hanging Jar. It has gushed for thousands of years with evergreen duckweed shining in the stream and been recorded in many historical and literary books. Many oets and writers have eloquently described the beauty of the Never Aging Spring. For example, “the water of the Never Aging Spring is as clear as crystal and just as precious” written by Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty.