Baoguang Temple
Ancient monastery with a leaning Tang-era pagoda and a hall of five hundred life-sized clay arhats.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Baoguang Temple in Chengdu follows Emperor Xizong's flight from Chang'an in the winter of 880, as a rebel army led by Huang Chao closed in and the empire came apart around him. It traces his desperate ride into Sichuan and his arrival at a small monastery near Xindu, where something in the ground caught his attention. Centuries later the temple grew a hall of five hundred life-sized clay monks, each carved with a different face by one sculptor and his students over nine years. Stand at the pagoda's base, which still leans slightly from centuries of rebuilding.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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