What is the ancient ghost town "Fengdu" called today?

Fengdu, present-day Fengdu County, Chongqing City.

Fengdu County, now known as "Fengdu County" due to simplified Chinese characters, is located on the southeastern edge of the Sichuan Basin, on the north bank of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, under the jurisdiction of Chongqing City, 172 kilometers away from Chongqing City, and covers an area of ????the entire county 2,910 square kilometers and a total population of 740,000.

Fengdu is an ancient city surrounded by mountains and rivers. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, Fengdu was subordinate to the State of Ba and served as the capital. In the Spring and Autumn Period, it was called "Bazi Other Capital". At that time, it was the territory of Zhi County. In the second year of Yongyuan (AD 90) of Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a separate county was established from Zhi County. Because there was Pingdu Mountain to the east of the city, it was named Pingdu County. In the Sui Dynasty, the name was changed to "Fengdu" by taking the first character of "Fengwenba" in the Yangtze River and the character "du" of "Pingdu Mountain".

Fengdu has been a famous cultural city since ancient times. It is the most unique and famous historical and cultural town in China. It is famous both at home and abroad for its rich ghost culture as the location of the underworld. There are many legends of ghosts and gods circulating here. Many Chinese and foreign literary masterpieces such as "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", "The Complete Story of Yue Shuo" and "The Biography of Zhong Kui" all have vivid descriptions of the "ghost town" Fengdu, which is quite legendary. According to legend, Fengdu is a place controlled by the King of Hell. People must report here after death, sum up the good and evil in the past life here, become a ghost in the underworld, or be reincarnated according to the karma of the previous life.

The "ghost town" in Fengdu, Chongqing is an "underworld" built by people's imagination. The scale and scene of the temple fair in the "ghost town" are rare in the Yangtze River Basin. The "ghost town" has beautiful scenery, gurgling streams, burning mountain flowers, beautiful scenery, birds singing and springs, which is intoxicating. Based on their imagination, people used legal mechanisms similar to those in the human world to build a series of underworld institutions such as the "Palace of the King of Hell", "Gate of Hell", "Yin Yang Realm", and "Eighteen Levels of Hell". The images of ghosts and gods in each level are diverse, towering and weird.

The instruments of torture are extremely terrifying and shuddering. This is the "Underworld" displayed in Fengdu Ghost Town, and a ghost world is formed from this. Entering the gate of the ghost town, you can see what is commonly known as the "Yin Yang Bridge". It is the only way for people to return from the underworld to the yang world. When people go up to the mountainside of Mingshan Mountain, they can see an ancient pavilion with three large characters written on the blood-rust door plaque. This is the famous "Ghost Gate". The Tianzi Hall is located on the top of Mingshan Mountain. It is the largest temple on the mountain. Opposite Mingshan is Shuanggui Mountain. Located on the mountainside of Shuanggui Mountain is Dacheng Hall, which is large in scale and unique. The temple fair is a form of folk trade that integrates the characteristics of the "ghost town" national culture and financial trade. Every year from the 3rd to the 15th day of the third lunar month, merchants from all over the world gather in Fengdu County, gathering in Bashu, and there are colorful folk cultural activities. It is one of the scenes known as "Ghost Faces and Strange Appearances".

How did the ghost town come about? Why is a ghost town built in Fengdu? There are many opinions on the reasons for the formation of ghost cities, but generally speaking, there are four points:

Taoism: At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Daoling founded the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, which absorbed many Witchcraft is called "ghost way", and the wizards in the way are called "ghost officials". In 198 AD, his grandson Zhang Lu established the Taoist "Pingdu Administration" in Fengdu, and it became the missionary center of Taoism. Later, Taoism invented a "Luofeng Mountain", saying that it was the ghost capital governed by Emperor Beiyin. This Emperor was the seventh-level central deity of Taoism, specializing in hell. In the "Shui Jing Zhu" written by Li Daoyuan, a geographer of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Fengdu is ranked 45th among the 72 Taoist blessed places. There is a beautiful Pingdu Mountain in Fengdu City, which is the 45th of the 72 Taoist blessed places. According to the "Biography of Immortals" written by the Eastern Han Dynasty and the "Biography of the Immortals" by Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty, there were Wang Fangping, Yin Changsheng and others in the Han Dynasty. Therefore, this kind of Taoist belief in the mixture of gods, immortals, humans and ghosts contributed to the formation of "ghost cities".

The Theory of the Ghost Emperor: When human society was still in the ancient times, due to underdeveloped science, it was unable to make correct explanations when encountering some natural phenomena. It was believed that all these were caused by ghosts and gods. In domination. The Ba and Shu tribes are composed of two tribes: Di and Qiang. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Fengdu was once the other capital of Bazi. With the continuous exchanges between the Bashu and Bashu peoples, politics, economy, culture, ideas, and customs penetrated each other, resulting in the creation of a religious god with the same belief - Tubo. He is the first generation ghost emperor of the Bashu ghost clan. This ghost emperor lived in Youdu, and there are still remains of "Youdu" in Fengdu.

Buddhist theory: "King Yama" is originally a transliteration of Sanskrit, and was originally the king who manages the underworld in ancient Indian mythology. Buddhism follows this saying and calls it the devil who manages hell.

Legend has it that he has eighteen judges under him, who are in charge of the eighteen hells. According to the Sound and Meaning of All Sutras, "King Yama" is the "King of Equality", and he can punish crimes equally.

The theory of becoming an immortal: This is the most widely circulated theory in Fengdu. As early as around 270 AD, Ge Hong of Jin Dynasty had a statement about Yin and Wang becoming immortals in his "The Legend of Immortals".

Legend has it that during the Han Dynasty, there were two alchemists, one named Yin Changsheng, who was the great-grandfather of Queen Liu Zhao; the other named Wang Fangping, who was an official in the court. Because they were dissatisfied with the current social situation, they both abandoned their official positions and came here to practice Taoism. Finally, Wei Qinglong became an immortal in his early years and ascended to heaven.

As the reputation of the two immortals grew, many immortals came here to visit. For example, the legendary Ma Fairy once came to visit Wang Fangping, but unfortunately she didn't meet her. Until now, there are still relics such as "Xiangu Rock" and "Magu Cave" where she lived. In addition, Lu Dongbin also visited Wang Fangping and Yin Changsheng.

In the Tang Dynasty, the two of them were rumored to be the "Kings of the Underworld" and mistakenly regarded as the "Kings of the Underworld". Therefore, the place where they lived, Fengdu, became the underworld dominated by King Yama. It’s hell.

Fengdu City is a "ghost city" and an "eighteenth floor" in the Yang world. Therefore, Pingdu Mountain, which was originally full of fairy spirit, was gradually shrouded in ghost spirit, and a large group of ghosts and gods from the underworld poured into the ghost world. The capital of the country, Fengdu, made this place the underworld of the underworld.

Later, with the exaggeration in novels such as "Journey to the West" and "The Legend of Zhong Kui", the saying that Fengdu City was a ghost town became more and more common, and the falsehoods became true. In the end, it became a real "ghost town".

Since the Song Dynasty, people have built a set of Hades-like buildings here based on their imagination of the underworld, turning Fengdu into a veritable ghost town.