Atlas of China
Daxiangguo Temple 大相国寺Dà Xiàngguó Sì
4A scenic area · National heritage site · Kaifeng, Henan
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Kaifeng
- Region
- Henan
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- 4A scenic area, National heritage site
About Daxiangguo Temple
A large Buddhist temple in the centre of Kaifeng, with roots in the 6th century, refounded in 706 and renamed Daxiangguo Temple in 712, which under the Northern Song was the capital's leading monastery and a major trading market. Flooded in 1642 and rebuilt under the Qing, it keeps an octagonal Glazed Hall with a four-faced, thousand-armed Guanyin, the only image to survive when the temple was turned into a market in 1927. The temple's Buddhist music is listed as national intangible heritage, and a statue recalls the Water Margin hero Lu Zhishen uprooting a willow here.
How to get to Daxiangguo Temple
In the centre of Kaifeng's old city, a short walk from the Zhouqiao site and the Shanshangan Guild Hall.
Nearby
- Iron Pagoda 开封铁塔 under 10 km
A 56-metre glazed-brick pagoda of 1049 that has outlasted floods and earthquakes
Also within 20 km: Site of Dongjing, the Northern Song Capital 北宋东京城遗址 (under 10 km), Shanshangan Guild Hall 山陕甘会馆 (under 10 km), Kaifeng Prefecture Office (Kaifeng Fu) 开封府 (under 10 km), Yanqing Temple (Jade Emperor Pavilion) 延庆观 (under 10 km), Dongda Mosque, Kaifeng 开封东大寺 (under 10 km), Former Residence of Liu Qingxia 刘青霞故居 (under 10 km).
On the map
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Open Daxiangguo Temple on the map