Daming Temple

Overview

Yangzhou has two major and most well-known tourist sites, Daming Temple and Slender West Lake, are located mercifully close to each other and are best taken in one fell swoop. For those more concerned with eternity than with life's fleeting joys, 1km north of of the Slender West Lake stands the Daming Temple. Perched on a hilltop and occupying vast grounds, this temple was originally built in the 5th century A.D. Nowdays, it's experiencing a boom of patronage from Japanese Buddhists.

Know more

Monk Jian Zhen and Daming Temple

The centerpiece of Daming Temple is a massive memorial built in 1973 to honor Chese monk Jian Zhen, a famed Tang dynasty scholar who introducted Ritso Buddhism to Japan.

Jian Zhen was invited to teach in Japan and made five failed attempts at the crossing from China to Japan, each time being blown back to China by storms and gale force winds. On the sixth attempt, he successfully crossed, never to return. That he's still highly revered in Japan can be seen in the Japanese funding of two stone lamps.

Must see

Slender West Lake

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Ge Garden

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He Garden

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