On the sea in front of Nanshan Temple in Hainan, there stands a statue of Guanyin in the South China Sea.
Guanyin is a three-faced human body, each of which holds a different Buddhist treasure, stepping on the golden lotus throne under its feet, the momentum is magnificent, the compassion is peaceful, the face is lifelike, and its grandeur makes the passing tourists all admire again and again.
At 108 meters high, this Guanyin statue is the world's tallest Guanyin statue, which took eight years to complete and a total investment of 800 million yuan.
After its completion, this magnificent architectural statue has become a famous check-in point in Hainan, attracting countless people to come to worship.
However, four years after the Bodhisattva statue was built, Zhang Hui, who proposed the construction of the Guanyin statue, died mysteriously in the water, not far from the Guanyin statue.
As for the cause of death, it remains a "mystery" to this day.
Some say that he was murdered by the enemy, others say that he blasphemed the gods, and others say that he was originally a god in heaven and returned to heaven after completing his mission.
Who is this Zhang Hui? Why did his death cause so much controversy?
"I seem to have a dream, and there is a white Guanyin in the dream, which is very beautiful, coming from the sea, and the Buddha's light purifies all living beings......"
Zhang Hui once described a dream of his own to the people around him.
At that time, he was doing tourism projects, and he was studying how to develop Nanshan Cultural Tourism Scenic Spot every day, hoping to develop Nanshan into a landmark tourist attraction with the integration of sea and land, so as to attract more people to visit Hainan.
Originally, I couldn't squeeze out much time to rest in a day, but I didn't expect to be able to dream that the Bodhisattva appeared in front of me after taking a nap occasionally.
In the dream, Master Guanyin was dressed in white with a compassionate expression, floating from the sea, quietly looking at the surface of the South China Sea in front of him, and began to preach the scriptures and teachings to purify all sentient beings.
Zhang Hui was influenced by his family and believed in Buddhism since he was a child, even if he saw Guanyin Bodhisattva in a dream, he immediately wanted to bow and worship.
But in the dream, I was a mountain, and I couldn't speak or move, so I could only watch and sit around with many people, listening to the Bodhisattva's teachings.
After waking up, Zhang Hui decided on a marine development project - to build a statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva on the sea surface of Nanshan, praying that Guanyin Bodhisattva would protect the safety and auspiciousness of the people of Li in the South China Sea.
Nanshan Buddhism has a long history, Zhang Hui remembers that the Buddhist scriptures have recorded that Guanyin Bodhisattva made twelve wishes in the world, the second of which is "eternal residence in Nanshan wish".
In the dark, he felt that Nanshan was his holy place, and it was the guidance of the Buddha that made him come to Nanshan.
"Maybe this dream was deliberately entrusted to me by the Bodhisattva."
The company's top management unanimously agreed to the project, but when the drawings were ready, the government did not agree to Zhang's proposal.
The reason is that it is not only very difficult to build a statue of Guanyin in the sea, but also a lot of money will be invested, and it will take a long time, which is really risky.
What's more, there is no ready-made experience to learn from, and no one is sure, whether this Guanyin statue can bring them benefits?
If not, the 800 million yuan consumed in the construction cost will be wasted! Who will vouch for it?
But Zhang Hui is very firm in his beliefs.
In the 90s, Hainan was a very typical seaside village, and the local government was worried about economic development, not to mention the desolate fishermen's scenery that could not bring people flow.
He believes that Nanshan has abundant sea water and a pleasant climate, making it a rare feng shui treasure.
The establishment of a mature cultural tourism development company may also drive the economic development of the whole of Hainan.
Zhang Hui is carefully managing existing tourism projects and accumulating funds, while constantly promoting the development prospects of Buddhist cultural tourism.
After many applications, fundraising, and investor searching, the local government carefully considered the pros and cons, and the project finally began.
In order to maximize the design of the Guanyin icon, Zhang Hui organized a design team, and a number of scholars and experts in the fields of Buddhism, architecture, aesthetics and sculpture began the preliminary design of the Guanyin icon.
After many investigations, program planning and demonstrations, the design team improved and refined the three construction highlights:
First of all, the height of the statue of Guanyin is expected to be 108 meters, which means perfection in Buddhism, and will be the tallest statue of Guanyin in the world after completion, more than ten meters higher than the Statue of Liberty in the West;
Secondly, the icon is a three-sided white sculpture, and the color is determined to be white, not only because of Zhang Hui's dream, but also because in Buddhism, white is used as a metaphor for purity, symbolizing the holy heart of Bodhi and indicating that Guanyin has the heart of Bodhi.
And the Goddess of Mercy icon is three-sided integration, one side is holding the lotus, the other side is holding the scriptures, and the other side is holding the Buddha beads, which is the integration of the three shapes of the Goddess of Mercy, and the treasure is solemn.
From the front of each statue is a statue of Guanyin, and it is possible to see the whole picture of the three statues of Guanyin with different gestures in a circle.
Finally, the lotus Vajra throne on which the Guanyin statue is stepped on is composed of a total of one hundred and eight lotus petals, which is twenty more petals than the lotus throne at the base of the Lingshan Giant Buddha.
The Vajra throne is connected to the land shore by the 280-meter-long Puji Bridge, and the 15,000-square-meter Yuantong Treasure Hall will be built under the throne, which will be the world's largest Guanyin Hall after completion.
The statue of Guanyin generally represents the image of Guanyin's great compassion of "great compassion and happiness with all sentient beings, great compassion to pull out the suffering of all sentient beings".
On the 19th day of the ninth lunar month in 1999, the day of the monkhood of Guanyin Bodhisattva, the construction of the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva on the sea officially kicked off.
Zhang Hui was very excited and bowed three times to the sea.
During the construction of the icon, Zhang Hui abandoned all private entertainment activities and devoted all his time and funds to the development of tourist attractions.
He shows up at the construction site almost every day, going to check the materials used one by one.
The on-site construction workers all commented that Zhang Hui was a serious and responsible person, and often took the initiative to communicate with them.
Zhang Hui was originally a native of Jinzhong, Shanxi, and chose to be a soldier after graduating from university, and stayed in school for 17 years as a military academy instructor after graduating from military school.
Zhang Hui's meticulous and rigorous attitude towards life has been cultivated during his career, and he always has a decisiveness and firmness that others do not have, and he is also very serious when doing things, and he never fools things.
At the end of the 90s of the 20th century, the state implemented the policy of "one million reductions", Zhang Hui actively responded to the party's call, submitted an application for demobilization and reemployment, and began to go to the sea to do business.
Zhang Hui's first stop after retiring from the army was Sanya, Hainan.
At that time, the population of Hainan was very small, many places had not been developed, there was no basic electricity, and people's living conditions could only be described as simple.
But in Zhang Hui's eyes, Hainan has a pleasant climate in all seasons and beautiful and unique tropical scenery, and if it is developing tourism, it must be a "potential stock".
Nanshan is Hainan's treasure trove of feng shui, with a vegetation coverage rate of more than 95 percent and one of the best air quality in the city, making it the best choice for the development of tourism.
So Zhang Hui consulted a large number of books related to Hainan culture, integrated the old saying "Shoubi Nanshan is not old pine" into the tourist attraction, and built the "Fushou Garden", which symbolizes more blessings and longevity.
After the tourism project showed initial results, Zhang Hui used all the subsidies issued by the army to fund and opened a tourism company in Nanshan.
He has successively developed scenic spots such as the South China Sea Scenic Area, the Yanotta Tropical Rainforest Scenic Area and the Tianzhu Sacred Site, and is determined to develop Nanshan District into a landmark tourist attraction with the integration of sea and land.
In the end, under Zhang Hui's strict requirements, the offshore development project "Nanhai Guanyin Statue" lasted 8 years and was finally presented to the world.
The statue of Guanyin on the sea of Nanshan is as high as 108 meters, the whole body is carved from white jade, it concentrates the classics of the statue art of various eras, the face is compassionate and solemn, the overall image makes people reverence at first sight, and the artistic image is extremely beautiful.
For this day, Zhang Hui didn't know how many sleepless nights he spent.
Looking at the three-sided statue of Guanyin standing solemnly on the sea, he couldn't help but burst into tears, and sincerely knelt down in front of the Bodhisattva statue, bowed and worshipped, praying for the Bodhisattva to bless the people with safety.
On April 24, 2005, at 8:30 a.m. on March 16 of the lunar calendar, the consecration ceremony of the Guanyin Statue on the Sea of Nanshan was successfully held.
It is said that the day of the opening of the light is extremely auspicious, in addition to the 108 monks from both sides of the strait, Hong Kong and Macao, and some foreign friends also participated in the ceremony, and the onlookers crowded the scene.
As previously expected, this statue of Nanhai Guanyin attracts thousands of people from all over the country.
Countless tourists from Tiannan and Haibei came here with pious wishes to visit and worship, which greatly promoted the local economic development, and the development of Hainan's tourism industry became more and more gratifying, and the income far exceeded 800 million yuan.
Zhang Hui has also become a leading figure in the tourism industry in Hainan Province, and in the face of the people's pursuit and love, he said, "I hope that every eight years in the next eight years, we can create miracles and surprise everyone."
Everything is developing in a smooth direction, but no one expected that only four years after the completion of the Guanyin statue, Zhang Hui passed away mysteriously.
Early in the morning of August 24, 2009, several patrolling security guards found a body in the Xiaoyuewan Scenic Area, and after carrying it ashore, they recognized that it was Zhang Hui, the president of Xiaoyuewan Company.
Xiaoyuewan is thirty kilometers away from Zhang Hui's company, why is he here?
According to Zhang Hui's driver's confession, the day before the 24th, he drove Zhang Hui to the vicinity of Xiaoyue Bay Scenic Area for inspection.
However, there was a bit of a problem with the tires at that time, and the driver said that he needed to go to a nearby car repair shop to repair it, Zhang Hui said that there were important projects to sign a contract the next day, so he chose to ride an electric car to the scenic spot and let the driver repair the car himself.
After that, the driver was never able to contact Zhang Hui.
Until the evening, Zhang Hui's wife waited for him at home to eat, and he couldn't get through on the phone, thinking that something might have happened to her husband.
In the early morning of the 24th, the security guards on duty found Zhang Hui's body, which was white and swollen from soaking in water.
According to the forensic examination, Zhang Hui had no drugs or alcohol in his body, and there were no signs of a fight on his body, and the drowning waters he was in were adjacent to the waters of Guanyin at sea.
It stands to reason that Zhang Hui should be very familiar with this place, could he have stumbled and fallen into the water?
Because Xiaoyue Bay was under construction at that time, there was no security monitoring around, and the police did not find any traces of a fight after on-site investigation, ruling out the possibility of homicide.
In the end, the forensic doctor came to the conclusion that he accidentally fell into the water due to overwork and drowned.
This matter did not go away, and it also caused a lot of speculation.
Sudden tire problems, riding an electric car alone to a new project, having something important to do the next day, and the place of death has not been monitored...... All kinds of elements happen to come together to make people can't help but think, is someone doing it on purpose?
Some residents speculated that it was because the projects developed by Zhang Hui in recent years had blocked the financial path of too many people and offended many people, so some people were red-eyed and wanted to harm him;
There are also residents who think that Zhang Hui himself "did evil", the South China Sea is the holy land of Mazu, and it is disrespectful to build the Guanyin statue here, and he also uses the Guanyin statue to make money, which is really blasphemous, so the heavens harvest.
There are more and more remarks, and there are different opinions, but no matter how everyone speculates, there is no evidence to support them.
Although Zhang Hui is no longer there, the buildings he built will live forever in the world, and the Bodhisattva statue he left behind still shines brightly, forever protecting the peace and auspiciousness of the people of Hainan.