The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple

The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple was originally built during the rein of Emperor Quan Fengyou of Nanzhao Kingdom (824-859). The large pagoda, called Qianxun Pagoda (千寻塔), was first built into a 16-storey one with a height of 69.13 m; the smaller northern pagoda and the southern one were built both in octagonal with 10 storeys and a height of 42.19 m. It is said that the three pagodas was constructed for the reasons of advocating Buddhism as well as dominating riddled floods in the area (according to local Buddhism culture, Buddhist pagoda can dominate beasts who control natural things such as flood). After the completion of the three imposing pagodas, a grand Chongsheng Temple was constructed later; and for several expansions in later periods, the temple reached its heyday in Song Dynasty (970-1279). Welcome to China, Chinatourguide.com is pleasure to provide service for your China tours, We also provide Thailand tour packages or Cambodia tour packages.

 
The restored Chongsheng Temple has many "bests" among the temples in modern China. Its 4 kilometer-long axis is the longest of any temple axis in China; the Hall of the Great Hero of the temple, at 51. 7 meters wide and 26 meters high, is the largest Buddhist hall of its kind in China. It has the largest number of gilded Buddha images, based on "Zhang Shengwen Scroll Painting". The temple also has 500 statues from Kunming's Bamboo Temple. Its 599 Buddha images are all gilded bronze. The woodcarving on the walls of its Hall of the Great Hero, the "Zhang Shengwen Scroll Painting", is 117 meters long and 18 meters high, the largest one of its kind in the world. The pestle of Buddha's warrior attendant in this temple, which is 6 meters long and I meter in diameter, is the largest pestle in the world. Finally, the drum in its drum tower, which is 3.1meters in diameter, is the largest drum in Chinese Buddhist temples.

Built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple has a long history over 1,800 years, made of brick and covered with white mud. It is regarded as a landmark in Dali, recording the development of Buddhism in this area; and it is also the largest and grandest building in the southern China. Together with Zhaozhou Bridge in Hebei Province and Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an, the construction of the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple is one of the three curiosities of Chinese ancient architecture.