Zhenguo Temple 镇国寺

About Zhenguo Temple

Wanfo Hall survives from the Northern Han period, with a deep bracket system that carries the broad eaves. The figures inside retain a markedly different character from the later halls around them. A visit is most rewarding when the gateway, main hall and rear courtyard are read together, making their changes in date and scale visible.

Zhenguo Temple's Wanfo Hall (万佛殿) was built in 963, during the short-lived Northern Han dynasty, a date recorded on a beam inside and confirmed by a nineteenth-century local history of Pingyao county and by a stele of 1819; it is the only surviving building from that dynasty. Little else is known of the temple's early history, though stelae record renovations in 1540 and 1816. In 1997, Zhenguo Temple was inscribed on the World Heritage List together with the city of Pingyao and Shuanglin Temple, under the listing 'Ancient City of Pingyao'.

The temple, walled and facing south, consists of a gate and two main halls set around two courtyards: the Tianwang Hall (天王殿) serves as the entrance, flanked by two bell towers, the Wanfo Hall stands behind it, and the Qing-dynasty Sanfo Hall (三佛殿) forms the rear building; the northern courtyard also holds two Ming-dynasty side halls, the Guanyin Hall (观音殿) and the Dizang Hall (地藏殿). Wanfo Hall itself is a nearly square, three-bay, single-eaved hip-and-gabled structure measuring 11.6 by 10.8 metres and 8.8 metres high, supported by twelve pillars set directly into the floor rather than on stone pedestals, with brackets of a complex type rising almost 2.5 metres and no ceiling, leaving its rafters exposed.

What to look for

• Wanfo Hall's large timber brackets and broad roof, surviving from the tenth century.
• The Northern Han Buddhist figures inside Wanfo Hall, contrasted with the later rear halls.

Location & getting there

Getting to Zhenguo Temple

Go to Hadong Village northeast of Pingyao for Zhenguo Temple. Use the village temple entrance as the destination and arrange the onward or return journey before leaving the town.