法喜寺

This guide to 法喜寺 in Hangzhou opens around 936, with a monk named Daoyi pitching a hut on nearby Baiyun Peak and finding a piece of wood that, by every account, seemed to glow. It follows the anonymous craftsman he hired to carve that wood into a statue of Guanyin, the king of Wuyue who dreamed of a stranger asking for a home, and the road and monastery that dream produced by 939. Centuries later two Qing emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong, each left their own mark on the temple's name, decades apart. Look for the carved plaque over the gate, naming the temple twice.