China has a very unique and splendid culture, and if you happen to be there, don’t miss the chance to see its spectacular temples.
Here are the top five best temples in China:
5. Zhongyue Temple. Our finalist for fifth place is located in Dengfeng County, Henan Province. This temple was established in the 3rd century BC on the Songshan Mountains and was used to worship the Chinese god of mountain, Taishi.
This is the first temple to be devoted to the Tao religion and is listed as a key national temple of Taoism by the State Council. The temple consists of 11 buildings (400 rooms), including Junji Hall, Zhongua Gate and the Tianzhong Pavilion.
4. Famen Temple. The Famen (meaning “Buddhism Door”) Temple is located in Baoji, Shanxi province. It is particularly famous for holding the relics of the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni (Gautama Buddha).
In 1987, during the excavations of the pagoda that was destroyed in 1981, a treasure including 121 pieces of gold and silver, silk, colored glass and ceramics was discovered.
3. Shaolin Monastery. Our third finalist is the Shaolin Temple, which is located at Song Shan (not far away from Zhengzhou City).
If you are a martial arts lover (especially a fan of Kung Fu), you’ll have a lot to learn there. This temple is the ancient center of Chinese Kung Fu. Even now there are dozens of monks practicing this art of fighting there.
You can see murals depicting boxing monks in the Eastern Hall.
Shaolin has been damaged by a raging fire three times. One of them destroyed most of the temple’s literature.
2. Temple of Heaven. This gorgeous temple that looks like a real stairway to heaven is situated in Beijing. It consist of three main buildings.
The first one of them is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (once called “the Hall of Great Sacrifice”), where the emperor used to pray and ask for good harvests from the gods.
The building of this hall is made entirely out of wooden bars without any nails, steel or cement. You can also visit the Hall of Zenith that is located on a lower level of the Hall of Prayer and contains wax figures. These figures build up a fantastic scene of an imperial ceremony.
The second building is the Imperial Vault of Heaven. This room includes a circular wall called the Echo Wall, which can carry sounds over the hall.
And the last building includes the Circular Mound Altar, where the emperor used to pray for good weather.
1. Hanging Temple. If you want to see a majestic beauty of nature in combination with human talent, you should undoubtedly visit the Hanging Temple (491 AD). This marvelous temple is located in Hunyuan County, Shanxi province.
It’s a very unique monastery as it is built right in a cliff (164 feet high) and includes Buddhist, Taoist and Confucianism elements. This temple is surely one of the most fascinating wonders in the world. When you look at it from far away, it looks like a phoenix flying through the cliff.
Insides there are 40 halls full of copper, gold, stone and terracotta sculptures that once again demonstrates the indescribable culture of China.
Photo © [Satbir], Ivan Walsh, madiko83, jiashiang, ToGa Wanderings
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