Not Quanzhou! This severely underrated Kaiyuan Temple hides a unique treasure from the Tang Dynasty

Although there are quite a few national treasures in the urban area of Xingtai, the one with real appeal is the Kaiyuan Temple in Xingtai. When it comes to Kaiyuan Temple, everyone must first think of the Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, but in fact, there are many temples named Kaiyuan Temple in China, most of which originated during the Tang Dynasty's Kaiyuan era, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang decreed that a temple should be built in each state and county, all bearing the name 'Kaiyuan'. The Kaiyuan Temple in Xingtai was built during that period, serving as the ancestral temple for the Great Kaiyuan and Caodong sects, and once, as a royal temple, became one of the centers of Buddhism in ancient northern China. · However, most of what we see of the Kaiyuan Temple in Xingtai today has been rebuilt after the year 2000, so that at first glance, it looks brand new and grand in scale, with none of the feel of an old temple. It was later discovered that the old Kaiyuan Temple and the newly built one are actually two adjacent parks. To see the old Kaiyuan Temple, one needs to enter through the gate of the old temple. Of course, compared to the splendid new Kaiyuan Temple, the old one is much more low-key, with fewer visitors, and can be considered a quiet place amidst the hustle and bustle. · The old Kaiyuan Temple is arranged from south to north, successively including the Maitreya Hall, Pilu Hall, Sakyamuni Hall, Mahavira Hall, its eastern and western side halls, and ear chambers, which appear to have been mostly rebuilt during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Among them, I personally think the Sakyamuni Hall is the most worth seeing. This hall is a hip-roof style building, and in the thirteenth year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty (1518), four carved stone columns with rolling dragons were added in front of the hall, which are the essence of the temple's architecture. · The four stone columns are 4.5 meters high with a circumference of 2.5 meters, each adorned with dragon carvings, with several dragons coiling around the columns. The dragon bodies and heads protrude from the columns, looking like real dragons leaping and dancing. The vigorous and majestic posture of the dragons and the exquisite carving art are almost unparalleled except for the stone columns at the Confucian temples in China. Such rare treasures are said to have been preserved during a special period when workers covered them with mud. · The most valuable cultural relics in the entire Kaiyuan Temple are not the temple itself, but the last two pagodas and the iron bell. However, the inscriptions on the two pagodas are mostly illegible. One is a sixteen-sided pagoda, cast during the Tang Dynasty, with sixteen sides each 19 centimeters wide, with a row of lotus petals at the top of the body, each with a small seated figure carved on it. The main body of the pagoda is square, hexagonal, or octagonal, with a few cylindrical ones, and it is said that this sixteen-sided form is only found in the Kaiyuan Temple in Xingtai. · The other is a pagoda from the Later Liang Dynasty, called the Zunsheng Tuoluoni Pagoda. The base of the pagoda is a square foundation made of three stone slabs, on which an octagonal Sumeru base is placed, carved from a single piece of bluestone, divided into three parts. The preciousness of this pagoda lies in the high relief of a group of Manjusri, Samantabhadra, and standing Buddha figures above each set of beaded curtains, totaling eight images. · The iron bell was cast in the 'Dading Jiachen Year' of the Jin Dynasty, which is the twenty-fourth year of Dading (1184), with twelve patterns on the bell wall including the sun, moon, people, animals, cattle, fish, etc., corresponding to the twelve zodiac signs. The bell wall also has hundreds of characters that are clear and distinguishable, mostly recording the names or identities, and places of origin of the founders, supervisors, and sponsors. The bell, which has a history of over 800 years, despite being eroded by wind and rain, shows no signs of oxidation, and the reddish color of the bell body still glows, demonstrating the superb iron casting technology of ancient China. It is said that in those days, the bell hung in the bell tower on the east side of the third hall of Kaiyuan Temple and was used to mark the time of lessons. When struck with a large piece of wood, the bell would emit a rough and deep sound that could be heard for miles. · 🏠Name | Kaiyuan Temple in Xingtai 🎫Ticket | Free ⛳Address | No. 88 Kaiyuan North Road, Xiangdu District, Xingtai City 🚗Transportation | Navigate to 'Kaiyuan Temple Park'