Guangsheng Temple 广胜寺Guǎngshèng Sì

Why go to Guangsheng Temple

In the Huoshan foothills about 17 km north-east of Hongtong town, Guangsheng Temple is in two parts: the Upper Temple on the hill, dominated by the 47-metre Flying Rainbow Pagoda, and the Lower Temple and Water God Temple beside the Huoquan spring below. Start with the pagoda, faced with yellow, green and blue glazed tiles, then walk down to the Lower Temple's Yuan-dynasty halls, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1303, and the murals of the Water God Temple.

The story

The temple once kept a 12th-century Jin-dynasty printing of the Buddhist canon, found here in the early 1930s and named the Zhaocheng Tripitaka after the former Zhaocheng County. In 1942, with Japanese troops nearby, monks and local resistance forces carried the scrolls out of the Flying Rainbow Pagoda at night and hid them in the mountains; more than 4,000 are now in the National Library of China.

What to see at Guangsheng Temple

• Flying Rainbow Pagoda 飞虹塔: This 13-storey octagonal pagoda was raised between 1515 and 1527 and came through two major earthquakes. Its tiers are clad in glazed reliefs of deities, beasts and balustrades, and it stood in for a pagoda in the 1986 television series Journey to the West.
• Upper Temple 广胜上寺: The hilltop compound behind the pagoda is largely a Ming rebuilding, and is the quieter half of the visit.
• Lower Temple 广胜下寺: The halls rise up the slope behind a steep approach path, and most of the buildings date to the Yuan dynasty. Several of its great murals were sold abroad in the late 1920s.
• Water God Temple 水神庙: Beside the Huoquan spring, its halls keep large Yuan murals, among them a theatre troupe on stage with the performer's name written on a banner, a rare record of early Chinese drama.

How to visit Guangsheng Temple

Start at the Upper Temple, where the pagoda is the main sight, then walk down to the Lower Temple and the Water God Temple beside the spring. Half a day is enough for all three. The drive from Hongtong is on mountain roads, so allow time for the curves.

How to get to Guangsheng Temple

High-speed trains from Taiyuan South reach Hongtong West in about 1–1.5 hours; from there the temple is about 25 km by taxi or hired car, roughly 30–40 minutes. From central Linfen allow about an hour by road.

Where to stay

Base yourself in Hongtong town for the shortest transfer from the high-speed station, or in Linfen city if you want more choice and plan to add the Yellow River sights.

What to eat

• Hongtong mutton offal soup 洪洞羊杂烩: A lightly seasoned soup of lamb offal cooked in its own stock, a Hongtong speciality.
• Linfen beef meatball noodles 牛肉丸子面: Alkaline wheat noodles in beef-bone broth with large meatballs, a Linfen signature.
• Linfen puffed oil cake 泡泡油糕: A sweet fried pastry with a crisp, bubbly skin, a regional snack of southern Shanxi.

Tips for visiting Guangsheng Temple

• See both parts: the Upper Temple and pagoda stand on the hilltop, and the Lower Temple and Water God Temple are a few hundred metres below by the spring.
• In the Water God Temple's main hall, look on the south wall for the Yuan theatre mural: a troupe on stage beneath a banner naming the performer Zhongdu Xiu.
• The two great murals from the Lower Temple's main hall were sold in 1928 to pay for repairs; they are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.

Nearby

• Mount Mian 绵山 70 km
  Cliff temples, plank walkways and gorges on the mountain of the Cold Food legend
• Wang Family Compound 王家大院 70 km
  Fortified courtyard 'castles' of a Qing merchant and official clan on a loess hillside
• Xiaoxitian Temple 小西天 90 km
  A small hilltop hall crowded with nearly 2,000 painted clay Buddhist figures
• Shuanglin Temple 双林寺 100 km
  Some 2,000 painted clay Buddhas, saints and guardians crowded into ten temple halls
• Pingyao Ancient City 平遥古城 110 km
  An intact Ming walled town of courtyard inns, where China's first draft banks were born
• Huangcheng Xiangfu 皇城相府 110 km
  A walled hillside estate of courtyards, towers and gardens built by a family of officials

Also within 30 km: Hongtong Locust Tree Ancestor-Worship Park 洪洞大槐树寻根祭祖园 (10 km), Shangshan Temple (Sanhuang Temple), Hongtong 洪洞商山庙 (10 km), Guandi Temple, Hongtong 洪洞关帝庙 (10 km), Xingtangsi Scenic Area, Mount Huo 兴唐寺景区 (10 km), Yuhuang Temple, Hongtong 洪洞玉皇庙 (20 km), Jingshi Palace, Hongdong 净石宫 (20 km).

On the map

Open Guangsheng Temple on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it, what else is close, and to add it to a trip and plan the days.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia (Chinese)