Travel China and Beyond

Chengdu Visit - Wenshu Temple

One of the more interesting and beautiful sites to see and experience in Chengdu is Wenshu Temple — located in the Northern part of the city - at No. 15 Wenshu Yuan Lu. The temple is usually relatively busy with worshippers but overall there are few tourists. According to the signs at the location, the temple was initially built during the Tang dynasty, but the currect structures are from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Here is some good reading on the Qing Dynasty - China’s Cultural Heritage: The Qing Dynasty, 1644-1912.
The grounds of the temple are beautiful - after all this is apparently one of the best preserved Buddhist temples in China.  Here are some images from the temple (check back on this blog - I will post an album):
 
One of the notable aspects of the temple is the presence of 300 Buddhas, with one of them being a jade one brought by a monk from Burma in 1922.

While you are the temple you could also enjoy a nice lunch in the famous vegetarian restaurant (yes, this is a Buddhist temple after all) in one of the temple courtyards.   You can spend a whole day if you so desire.  There are many things to see and you can also just relax in the nice gardens.