Golden Temple

The Golden Temple is situated on the top of Mingfeng (Singing Phoenix) Hill in Kinming, Yunna province. This is the larget Taoist copper Temple in China and has been preserved almost intact, commonly known as the Golden Temple.

The consttuction of The Golden Temple can date back to 1602 during the reign of EmperorWangli in Ming Dyansty. The emperor ordered Yunnan to send bronze to central Chian to make coins. But the road is blocked by a war. The governors of Yunnan and Guizhou Province decided to build a temple with the bronze. The temple blended the style of the Taihe Palace and the Golden Temple on Tianzhu Peak in the Wudang Moutains, Hubei Privince. In 1637, the temple was moved to Jizu (Chicken Foot) Mountain in western Yunnan Three decades later in 1671 during the Qing Dynasty, Wu Sangui, the governor of Yunnan Province, built an exact duplicate of the original temple. As the temple was damaged a little by Muslim rebellion of 1857, Emperor Guangxu ordered its complete repair and in 1890, using 250 tons (246 gross ton) of solid bronze, the entire temple was again rebuilt.

The architecture represents a unique harmony between the Muslims and the Hindus way of construction work. The temple stands in the middle of a square tank. and has four gateways on the East, West, North and South. An arch called as the Drashani Deori is situated at the shore end of the causeway. The door frame of the arch has artistically decorated door panes which open on to the bridge which leads to the main building of the temple. The main structure of temple is three-storied. At the top of the first floor, erected 4 ft high parapet rises on all the sides, each corner with a 'Mamtees'. The third floor is a small square room with three gates, and a regular and a regulat recitiation of Guru Granth Sahib held here. The low fluted 'Gumbaz' (dome) stands on the top of the room. The dome with lotus petal motif at the base and the top supports the Kalash and having a beautiful 'Chhatri' at the end. The temple houses many precious Jewellery and other articles of historical and artistic imprtance, of which the most important treasure are Golden Door Panels(four pairs).


Kunming Related Links
Kunming Tour, Kunming One Day Tour, Kunming Package Tour, Kunming Attractions