001 Taishi Que The Taishi Que (pillar-gates) stand some hundred paces south of the Zhongyue Temple in Dengfeng, Henan, serving as the spirit-road gates before the temple of Mount Taishi of the Central Peak. They were first built in the fifth year of Yuanchu under Emperor An of Han (118 CE) by Lü Chang, magistrate of Yangcheng. The lintel bears a raised-seal inscription reading “Central Peak Taishi Yangcheng.” The front inscription praises the mountain spirit: “the mound earth…, the purest qi of Dai, spring gives birth to all things, clouds rise from an inch of skin.” A rear inscription was added in the fourth year of Yanguang. Together with the Shaoshi Que and the Qimu Que, they are known as the Three Han-Dynasty Que of Mount Song. Eastern Han Dengfeng City, Henan Province
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002 Shaoshi Que The Shaoshi Que stand west of Xingjipu at the eastern foot of Mount Shaoshi in Dengfeng, Henan, serving as the spirit-road gates before the temple of Mount Shaoshi, with east and west pillars facing each other. The north face bears the six-character inscription “Spirit-Road Que of Shaoshi.” The pillar bodies are carved with images of cuju (football), hounds chasing hares, and unicorns. The Song Shu comments that their style is “especially archaic and unadorned.” The temple itself vanished long ago; the Jinshi Tu notes: “The Shaoshi temple can no longer be seen; only these que remain.” Eastern Han Dengfeng City, Henan Province
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003 Qimu Que The Qimu Que stand due south of the Qimu Stone beneath Mount Taishi on Mount Song in Dengfeng, Henan. They are spirit-road gates built in the second year of Yanguang under Emperor An of Han (123 CE) by Zhu Chong, Grand Administrator of Yingchuan. The Qimu Stone is said to be the transformation of Tushanshi, wife of the Great Yu—Yu turned into a bear while taming the floods; Tushanshi fled in shame and at the foot of Mount Songgao turned to stone, which cracked open on its north side and gave birth to Qi. The left side of the pillar body bears a large-seal inscription narrating Yu’s flood-control deeds. Eastern Han Dengfeng City, Henan Province
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004 Feng Huan Que The Feng Huan Que stand at Zhaojiaping beside Tuxi Field in Quxian. Their owner, Feng Huan, was a native of Dangqu who rose to Inspector of Youzhou under Emperor An of the Eastern Han. In Jian'guang 1, a forged imperial edict led to his imprisonment; after he appealed and died in custody, the court still granted burial compensation. Local gazetteers say he was returned to his home district. Song and Qing epigraphic works use the que inscription, imperial edict, broken stele, and stele reverse to recover his unrecorded tenure as Inspector of Yuzhou and explain “Yanwang Tomb” as a local misnomer. Eastern Han Quxian, Dazhou, Sichuan Province
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005 Haibao Pagoda, Yinchuan Haibao Pagoda stands north of Yinchuan city, Ningxia, formerly known as Heibao Pagoda or Hebao Pagoda. Local gazetteers attribute its reconstruction to Helian Bobo of the Hu-Xia kingdom during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. A Qing-dynasty stele by Zhao Hongxie records the pagoda as nine stories, eleven stories counting the finial platform, and eleven zhang tall. Archaeological probing of the foundation in 2006, based on seated-Buddha patterned bricks and other finds, preliminarily dates the pagoda’s initial construction to the late Northern Dynasties through the Sui–Tang period. Sixteen Kingdoms-Hu Xia Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
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006 Songyue Pagoda The Songyue Temple Pagoda stands at the southern foot of Mount Taishi in Dengfeng, Henan. With fifteen closely spaced eaves and a dodecagonal plan, it is the oldest surviving brick pagoda in China. Originally the detached palace of Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei, it was converted into a Buddhist temple in the first year of Zhengguang (520). During the Later Zhou suppression of Buddhism, it was proposed to “turn the temple into a Daoist abbey and the ancient pagoda into an altar,” but the pagoda was ultimately spared because of “the protection of the Eight Divisions.” Li Yong’s stele describes the pagoda as “rising from the ground on four tiers and rounding into the sky in eight aspects.” Northern Wei-Northern and Southern Dynasties Dengfeng, Henan Province
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007 Yunju Temple, Fangshan Yunju Temple stands at the foot of Shijing Mountain in Fangshan, Beijing. In the Daye era of the Sui dynasty, the monk Jingwan carved Buddhist scriptures onto stone to preserve them against Dharma decline. Over the following millennium, Tang Princess Jinxian donated sutras and land, and the Liao court funded four major scriptural canons — altogether 1,122 texts on 14,278 stone slabs. After Japanese artillery destroyed all halls in 1942, the stone scriptures in caves and underground vaults survived intact. Sui dynasty Fangshan District, Beijing
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008 Longxing Temple In the sixth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, the regional inspector of Hengzhou, acting on imperial command, exhorted and rewarded ten thousand people of the prefecture to jointly build the Longzang Temple; the 藏 in the temple's name is read “zàng,” referring in Buddhism to the Mahāyāna canon or the scripture-treasury of the dragon palace. The temple plaque was later changed to Longxing Temple (龙兴寺, “Dragon Rising”); in the Ming, Du Mu recognized from a half-buried Sui stele before the hall that the two were originally one temple. In the forty-ninth year of the Kangxi era it was again granted the plaque “Longxing Temple” (隆兴寺, written with different characters). Three closely related names, linked together by a single Sui stele that still stands within the temple. Sui Dynasty Zhengding County, Hebei Province
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009 Giant Wild Goose Pagoda The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda stands within the Da Ci'en Temple in Xi'an. According to the *You Chengnan Ji* (A Record of Travels South of the City), the monk Xuanzang began building the pagoda in the third year of Yonghui (652). It originally had only five stories, with a brick exterior and earthen core, modeled after the Indian stupa. During the Chang'an era it collapsed; Empress Wu and members of the nobility funded its reconstruction to ten stories. After subsequent wars, only seven stories survived. The east and west niches at the base of the pagoda preserve the Preface to the Holy Teachings of the Great Tang Tripitaka and the Record of the Holy Teachings, both inscribed by Chu Suiliang. Tang Dynasty Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
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010 Small Wild Goose Pagoda The Small Wild Goose Pagoda stands within the Jianfu Temple in Xi'an. Built during the Jinglong era of the Tang dynasty with funds contributed by palace women, it originally had fifteen stories. According to the Shaanxi Tongzhi (Shaanxi Provincial Gazetteer), the Yimao earthquake of the Jiajing era split the pagoda in two, and the Guihai earthquake reunited it. During Wang Fuchen's rebellion the pagoda split again, and after the rebellion was quelled it returned to its former state. The temple buildings were completely destroyed during the Jurchen-era migration, leaving only the brick pagoda standing. Tang Dynasty Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
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011 Foguang Temple Foguang Temple lies in Wutai County, Shanxi, and takes its name from an auspicious response of "Buddha's light." In the fifth year of the Dali era of the Tang, the monk Facao saw several beams of white light to the temple's south; during the Yuanhe era there was a memorial reporting that "auspicious clouds appeared beside Foguang Temple." The Dunhuang Record of a Journey to Mount Wutai describes its seven-bay great Buddha hall and its three-story, seven-bay Maitreya pavilion; after the Huichang persecution the monk Yuancheng "sought out Foguang Temple anew" and rebuilt it step by step. The East Hall that survives today is a relic of that reconstruction. Tang Dynasty Wutai County, Shanxi Province
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012 Hua Pagoda at Guanghui Temple, Zhengding The Hua Pagoda at Guanghui Temple stands inside the south gate of Zhengding, also called Huata Temple or Duobao Pagoda. The temple's history traces back to the Sui and Tang, while the date of the pagoda itself drifts between the Jin Dading rebuilding and the Northern Song inscriptions discovered during 1990s restoration. The Qianlong Emperor climbed the pagoda and inscribed a poem; Liang Sicheng called it 'perhaps a sole surviving example within the seas'; in 1947 Zhao Shengming gave his life to protect the pagoda in battle. Tang / Song-Jin Zhengding County, Hebei
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013 Jinci Temple The shrine was first raised for Tang Shuyu, and Emperor Taizong of the Tang personally composed and inscribed a stele here; four hundred years later the Northern Song Hall of the Sacred Mother was completed, and the principal deity shifted from Shuyu to the Sacred Mother — a shrine whose own later additions replaced its protagonist. Tang dynasty Taiyuan, Shanxi
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014 Nanchan Temple The main hall of Nanchan Temple is located in Lijia Village, Wutai County, Shanxi. An ink inscription under the beam reads “restored in the third year of Jianzhong of the Great Tang,” making it one of the earliest surviving Tang-dynasty timber structures with a definite date. Pre-restoration survey photos from 1953 show that the front-eave doors and windows, the eave bracket projections, and structural details still preserve original Tang construction. Tang Dynasty Wutai County, Shanxi Province
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015 Shanhua Temple After the Song envoy Zhu Bian was detained in the Jin state, he moved into the Da Pu'en Temple and lived for fourteen years amid the rubble left by the fires at the end of the Liao dynasty, witnessing firsthand as the monk Yuanman raised funds to rebuild more than eighty bays. He recorded the experience in a stele inscription, and his own captivity thus became a testimony to the rebirth of this ancient Tang-dynasty temple. Tang Dynasty Datong, Shanxi Province
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016 Xingjiao Temple Pagodas The Xingjiao Temple Pagodas stand within Xingjiao Temple on the Shaoling Plateau in Xi'an. They are the collective designation for the three relic-burial pagodas of Xuanzang, Kuiji, and Woncheuk. The Xuanzang Pagoda occupies the center and is somewhat larger, erected when the temple was founded in the 2nd year of Zongzhang (669 CE); the Kuiji and Woncheuk pagodas flank it on either side and are somewhat smaller. The pagoda inscriptions of Xuanzang and Kuiji are Tang originals carved in the 4th year of Kaicheng; the Woncheuk inscription stone was broken and what is now embedded on the pagoda is a later re-carving. Tang Dynasty Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi
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017 Tradruk Temple Changzhu Temple (Tradrug) is located in Naidong District, Shannan, Tibet, and is traditionally attributed to the Tubo king Songtsen Gampo. The Weizang Tongzhi records it under “Chamuzhu Temple,” relating the legend of subduing a five-headed serpent demon in the Yarlung Valley and building the temple with sacred images. Photographs taken by Hugh E. Richardson in 1949 preserve the full view of the monastery before the fields, the compound walls with golden roofs, the ancient bell in the portico, and the stupa banners in front of the courtyard. Tubo Nedong District, Shannan, Tibet Autonomous Region
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018 Dazhao Temple (Jokhang) Dazhao Temple (the Jokhang) stands in Lhasa, Tibet. Chinese gazetteers write its name variously as Dazhao, Dazhao, Dazhao, and Dazhao (大昭/大招/大召/大诏); its Tibetan name is “Laomu.” The Weizang Tongzhi records that the temple rises four stories with five golden halls on top, the central hall enshrining Shakyamuni Buddha. Outside the gate stands the Tang–Tubo Alliance Stele, 1.5 zhang tall, a relic of the Changqing Treaty of 821 under Emperor Muzong; beside it grows an old willow said to date from the Tang dynasty. Tubo Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region
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019 The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple stand below the Cang Mountains northwest of Dali Old Town, Yunnan. The main tower, the Qianxun Pagoda, is a square, closely-eaved pagoda of sixteen tiers. According to the Yunnan Tongzhi, an inscription atop the pagoda dates it to the first year of Kaiyuan of the Tang (713 CE), built by the Tang artisans Gong Tao and Hui Yi at the Nanzhao kingdom’s invitation. Two smaller pagodas flank it to the north and south, “each topped with a cast-gold finial bearing a golden roc.” Tradition holds that “dragons revere pagodas but fear the roc; Dali was once a dragon marsh, hence these were built to subdue it.” Nanzhao Dali, Yunnan
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020 Guangxiao Temple From the Yu Garden of Yu Fan in the Sun Wu, to Faxing Temple of the Tang, to the Qianming Chan Cloister of the Song, and on to being occupied as the Guangdong Judges' School in the Republican era, Guangxiao Temple changed its name and its masters again and again over more than a thousand years. Yet the two iron pagodas of the Southern Han standing east and west, the Sixth Patriarch's Hair-Burial Pagoda, and the Xianping-era bell never left their original sites: the claim of a name change is refuted by the bell's inscription, the pagodas' dating is settled by reading the inscriptions on their bodies, and one old Republican-era photograph shows the school's gate plaque and a Southern Han iron pagoda together in the same frame. Ten Kingdoms – Southern Han Guangzhou, Guangdong Province
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021 Liuhe Pagoda Liuhe Pagoda was first built in the third year of Kaibao (970) of the Wuyue Kingdom to subdue the tidal bore of the Qiantang River. It was destroyed by fire during the Xuanhe era and rebuilt in seven stories by the monk Zhitan through monastic fundraising during the Southern Song. After completion it also served as a lighthouse for night navigation. Though repeatedly damaged and restored over the centuries, its brick core endures. Ten Kingdoms-Wuyue Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province
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022 Dule Temple Dule Temple once belonged to Jizhou; old gazetteers place it southwest of the prefectural seat. The Liao-dynasty rebuilding of its Guanyin Pavilion survives mainly through the Liu Cheng stele: in the second year of Tonghe, Master Tanzhen entered the temple to rebuild the pavilion of two stories, five bays east to west and eight frames north to south. The Jingji Jinshi Kao still records the stele; Qing gazetteers note a 1753 imperial-funded restoration, and early modern albums preserve views of the mountain gate, the Guanyin Pavilion, the guardian kings, and the Guanyin image. Liao dynasty Jizhou District, Tianjin (formerly Ji County, Hebei)
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023 Fengguo Temple At the turn of the Liao and Jin, the flames of war spread through the northeast, and the Liao monasteries of the region were reduced to ash in a single blaze — only Fengguo Temple in Yizhou stood alone and intact. The stele of the seventh year of Dade traces the reason: Wang Xun, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness with Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon, ordered his men to keep constant watch, and the abbot Master Yang exhausted his resources on repairs, so the seven Buddhas within the hall and the nine-bay Great Hall passed through that war whole. Liao dynasty Yi County, Jinzhou, Liaoning Province
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024 Huayan Temple The chronology of Huayan Temple does not begin with a single record: a construction inscription of 1038 survives on a beam of the Hall of the Bhagavat Sutra Repository, while the History of the Liao dates the temple's founding to 1062. Thereafter, wartime fires, the Jin-dynasty rebuilding, the Yuan-dynasty revival, modern photographic surveys, and twenty-first-century expansion each left layers of text and image behind. The temple today thus faces both its old Liao and Jin structures and a newly spread-out courtyard complex, linking nearly a millennium of rise and decline. Liao Dynasty Datong, Shanxi Province
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025 Yunyan Temple Pagoda The Yunyan Temple Pagoda sits atop Tiger Hill in Suzhou, commonly known as the Tiger Hill Pagoda. The temple was founded in the second year of Xianhe of the Eastern Jin (334 CE) when the brothers Wang Xun and Wang Min donated their residence, yet the surviving pagoda dates from between the sixth year of Xiande of the Later Zhou (959) and the second year of Jianlong of the Northern Song (961)—temple and pagoda are separated by over six hundred years and share no common origin. An octagonal, seven-story brick pagoda in the timber-imitation pavilion style, its brickwork simulates columns, lintels, bracket sets, and diamond-tooth eaves projections; the tower leans toward the northeast. Later Zhou Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
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026 Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple, Dingxian (Dingzhou) The Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple stands in Dingzhou, Hebei. Ming-dynasty poets who climbed the pagoda wrote of gazing down over the prefectural city and far toward the frontier; the Yanshan Conglu states that from the summit one can see a hundred li, and links the pagoda's name to watching for the Khitan. Old photographs from 1902 to 1932 record the pagoda amid tree groves, fields, and alleyways. Northern Song Dynasty Dingzhou, Hebei
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027 Qingjing Mosque In 1009 CE, Muslim merchants sojourning in Quanzhou raised the Ashab Mosque outside the city walls. Worshippers purified themselves at an ancient well, climbed the moon-watching platform to observe the crescent of Ramadan, and then prayed toward Mecca; over the next three hundred years the city of Quanzhou expanded southward, drawing the mosque into its streets, and a man from Shiraz came to rebuild it. Arabic inscriptions, a Ming imperial edict, and Chinese stele records chronicle the later centuries of this seafaring merchants' mosque. Northern Song Dynasty Tumen Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou, Fujian Province
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028 Youguo Temple Pagoda The Youguo Temple Pagoda stands in Kaifeng, Henan Province, commonly known as the Iron Pagoda. It is a Northern Song dynasty octagonal thirteen-story pagoda built with iron-colored glazed bricks. In the fourth year of Qingli (1044), the wooden Linggan Pagoda of Kaibao Temple was destroyed by fire. Emperor Renzong initially heeded his advisors and halted reconstruction; yet five years later he issued a decree to 'rebuild the Linggan Pagoda and enshrine the relics.' The rebuilt pagoda did not replicate the old one but was relocated to Shangfang Courtyard in the eastern precinct of Kaibao Temple and raised anew in glazed brick. Northern Song Dynasty Kaifeng, Henan Province
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029 Vajrasana Pagoda at Zhenjue Temple During the Yongle era, the Tibetan monk Pandita came to pay tribute and presented five golden Buddha figures together with the regulations for a Vajrasana pagoda; Emperor Chengzu built a temple to house him and named it Zhenjue. In the ninth year of Chenghua, following the Central Indian model, a stone platform fifty chi high was raised, with stairways hidden within its walls spiraling up left and right; on its top stood five pagodas each twenty chi tall, already celebrated by Ming poets who climbed them. Ming Haidian District, Beijing
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