In a secluded mountain forest of Laoweng Township, Changning County, Yibin City, there is a slightly dilapidated temple which seemed solemn and mysterious nestled in the pines. This temple, called Luogan Temple, was once well known in southwest China. Local people called it as South Sichuan Ghost Town, which is as famous as Fengdu Ghost Town.

　　Based on the records of Changning County Annals, Luogan Temple was built in the beginning of Yuan Dynasty. At that time, it covered more than 10 mu (6,666 square meters) and cost over 10,000 Chinese Tael (1 Chinese Tael equals to 50 grams) of silver. There was also a complete set of 9 palaces, 18 temples, and 12 halls, including Malan Hall, Chenghuang Hall, Twelfth Hall and the Hall of Vairochana. In its period of great prosperity, Luogan Temple was a bustling and exciting place for there was either temple fair or troupe singing. But now, there is only a hall surviving.

　　Mr. Huang Mingshu, an old man living near Luogan Temple, told the writer a legend about Luogan Temple. It was said that Donghuang, the king who dominate the trial of the underworld, intended to occupy this place. Luo Gan, a kind-hearted doctor, fought against the king and was suppressed here. After Luo Gan died, people buried him right here and called him "Luogan Lord".

　　The stele forest might be the only evidence of the heyday. Over 120 stone steles of different styles distributed in the range of 800 square meters. They are typical merit monuments with records on them of when the temple was built and rebuilt and who denoted to repair it. There are steles of Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. All these steles are written vigorously and vertically in regular script and intaglio style, the characters on which are still clearly visible. Some stele bodies or tops are inscribed with pictures such as two dragons playing with a pearl or hundreds of flowers in bloom. The inscription craft is exquisite.

　　Eternally Remembered Stele, the largest one in Luogan Temple, 2.03 meter in height and 0.95 in width, was set in 1790. Besides, steles, including Benfanghui Stele, Dacao Stele, Benfang Stele and Engraved Gengyin Year Stele, recorded the donation, repairing of Luogan Temple.

　　What’s more, there is pair of small and large stone lions respectively. The large two, 1.7 meter long and 1.25 meter tall, are quite majestic. The small ones, sitting side by side, 0.78 meter tall, are finely carved and lifelike.

　　As many steles at Luogan Temple have suffered from destroying and removal, those existing steles are all found by local villagers and settled at the temple to be appreciated and researched by following generations.

　　According to Mr. Lu Genzhu, director of department of culture, Bureau of Culture, Media, News and Press of Changning County, these steles have high heritage value. They are precious among all the stele forests in China from the point of scale and maintaining quality. In 1986, Changning County has put some protection measures on these steles.