Atlas of China
Qixia Mountain & Qixia Temple 栖霞山·栖霞寺Qīxiá Shān · Qīxiá Sì
4A scenic area · National heritage site · Nanjing, Jiangsu
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Nanjing
- Region
- Jiangsu
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- 4A scenic area, National heritage site
About Qixia Mountain & Qixia Temple
A low wooded hill above the Yangtze north-east of Nanjing, known for its red autumn maples, with Qixia Temple at its western foot, founded in 489 in the house of the recluse Ming Sengshao and regarded as the ancestral seat of the Sanlun (Madhyamaka) school of Chinese Buddhism; its present halls date from a rebuilding begun in 1919. Beside the temple stand an octagonal five-storey stone stupa, rebuilt under the Southern Tang in the 10th century, and the Thousand Buddha Cliff, niches and statues cut into the hillside from 489 onwards. In a pavilion before the gate is the stele of 676 honouring Ming Sengshao, its text composed by Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and in the winter of 1937–38 the temple sheltered refugees from the Nanjing Massacre.
How to get to Qixia Mountain & Qixia Temple
About 22 km north-east of central Nanjing; Qixiashan station, the terminus of Metro Line 6 (opened in September 2026), is about 1 km from the temple gate.
Nearby
- Purple Mountain & Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum 南京钟山风景区 10 km
A forested mountain on Nanjing's edge, crowned by a blue-roofed hilltop tomb - Fuzimiao and the Qinhuai River 夫子庙—秦淮风光带 20 km
Nanjing's lantern-lit Confucius Temple quarter, beside painted boats on the Qinhuai - City Wall of Nanjing 南京城墙 20 km
The Ming capital's brick ramparts, anchored by the vast fortress of Zhonghua Gate - Slender West Lake 瘦西湖 50 km
A ribbon of willow-fringed water lined with the pavilions of Qing salt merchants
Also within 20 km: Happy Valley Nanjing 南京欢乐谷 (under 10 km), Southern Dynasty Tomb Sculptures, Nanjing 南京南朝陵墓石刻 (under 10 km), Yangshan Quarry 阳山碑材 (10 km), Tangshan Zhiqing Lake Resort 汤山紫清湖 (10 km), Mount Baohua and Longchang Temple 宝华山隆昌寺 (10 km), Nanjing Man Site (Tangshan Ape-Man Cave) 南京古猿人洞 (10 km).
On the map
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