Nanguo Temple

The gate of Nanguo Temple in Tianshui city, Gansu province [Photo/gscn.com.cn]

Nanguo Temple received its name from its location to the south (nan in Chinese) of Tianshui city, Gansu province. It was founded during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) and has dense forest to its rear and Jieshui River at its front.

Entering the temple is no easy feat; visitors are required to first climb 81 steps before they reach the gate, which is adorned with 1,000 year old locust trees on each side.

One of the temple's attractions is an ancient 2,500 year old cypress tree, which is almost the same age as the founding of the city some 2,700 years ago. The tree trunk was split into three parts after earthquake tremors struck in the area. Despite the tree suffering a major setback in its health, the split has created a spectacle after a younger locust tree close to the cypress intertwined its roots between the gaps. The accidental tangling of the two trees has prevented the damaged old tree from falling down. Two other branches of the ancient tree have been protected manually.

Another famous attraction in the temple is a 35.6-meter-long, 4.36-meter-high stone tablet engraved with one hundred poems of Du Fu, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is said that Du lived in Tianshui for more than three months to escape the chaos caused by a war being raged at the time. During his stay, the assiduous poet wrote down over 100 poems in praise of the city; some of them were engraved on the tablet in the style of ancient Chinese calligraphy.

Edited by Jacob Hooson