|
Home > Guides > Religions > Taoist places
Jindian - Kunming
| The Golden Temple was once outside Kunming; now it's part of the Horticultural Expo Gardens. It's not an active temple and there are no longer priests there since - supposedly - quite a long time, but at least three years ago going there meant to climb the hills some ten kms north-east of the city... now it's actually in the city, so many new buildings have popped out in the area to connect the Gardens with the city center. |
 |
 |
And they've built a new, more comfortable path up to the the temple, so that you no longer pass through the first of the three Heavenly Doors (above, the second one); instead, you can easily get to the entrance of... an Alpine Coaster which will take you up and down the hill for 30 yuan and not a drop of sweat. Once again, words fail us.
Anyway the temple and its gardens and courtyards, being now an official "scenic spot" (first of Yunnan?) are really well mantained. The temple owes its fame to a bronze pavillion (on the right, just beyond the gate) which is estimated to weigh more than 300 tonnes. The present one dates back to the Qing dynasty, when general Wu Sangui, a warlord who rebelled against the Manchus, rebuilt it and enlarged it. Though one of the plaques outside is dedicated to some Buddha, the hall is devoted to the cult of Zhenwu, a mighty martial deity.
In the gardens west of the temple you can find wooden miniatures (1/2 of the originals) of four famous bronze pavillions in China. At the time we last went there, the temple also hosted an "exhibition" of pictures of all the personalities who had visited it in the past, from Zhou Enlai to Jiang Zemin to princes and prime ministers... wow, now that's interesting, isn't it?!? |
|
Sinophilia was born in 1998 as a meeting-point for China-lovers. In these years we have managed to build a database of essential information on the Chinese culture, adding here and there a few more specific essays on Chinese art, history, language and religions, and some useful tools.
Feel free to send us your comments and contributions!
|
