The Chongfu Temple, also known as the Big
Temple, was built in 665 during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and got its present
name during Emperor Qianlong's reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Sitting in
the north and facing the south, the temple is 200 meters long from south to
north, and 117 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of about 23,400
square meters. Starting from the gate, its constructions include God Hall, the
Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Thousand-Buddha Pavilion, Wenshu Hall, the
Underground Treasure Hall, Sanbao Hall, Amitabha Buddha Hall, and Kwan-yin Hall.
The orderly, large-scaled temple appears magnificent, with tall cypress trees
setting off its red walls and green tiles.
The God Hall, also called the Hall of
Buddha's Warrior Attendant, enshrines four gods and two Buddha's warrior
attendants. The statues at the hall have been lost for a long time, and the hall
has been turned into a resting place for tourists. The Bell and Drum towers are
both two-storied buildings with single-layered eaves on the top. The eaves
protrude with simple dougongs built underneath.
The Thousand-Buddha Pavilion, also known as
the Scripture Collection Pavilion, once served as a storage place for
scriptures. After its renovation in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), 1,000 Buddha
statues were placed in the pavilion giving the pavilion its present name. The
statues, however, have been destroyed. The two-storied pavilion has a
double-eaved roof and a decorative ridge with yellow-, green- and blue-colored
glazes that are quite dazzling. The Wenshu Hall and the Underground Treasure
Hall sit facing each other in the east and west. The Sanbao Hall, which is five
bays long and four bays wide, has a single-eaved roof. Inside the hall is a
Buddha statue and its walls are adorned with an estimated 1,000 Buddha figures
dating back to the Qing Dynasty.
The main hall, Amitabha Buddha Hall, was
built in 1143 in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). It is seven bays long and four
bays wide with single-layered eaves on top. The hall's well-preserved front
doors, windows and partition boards are decorated with 15 different kinds of
lattice patterns -- a real rarity among China's cultural relics. Huge statues
sit on an altar in the hall that is four bays wide. The center statue is
Amitabha Buddha with a Kwan-yin to the left, two Bodhisattvas on the right and
attendants in the front -- all built in the Jin Dynasty. The four sides of the
walls are covered in five-meter-high frescos. The frescos, with Buddha,
Bodhisattva and Kwan-yin as its subjects, are painted mainly in red, green and
blue of the late Tang Dynasty (618-907) style.