The Historical Background of Kaiyuan Temple

The historical background of Kaiyuan Temple is the 26th year of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. Each state in the world built a temple and renamed it Kaiyuan Temple by its year number. Kaiyuan Temple was built in the second year of the Tang Dynasty. It is said that Huang Shougong, a rich man in Quanzhou, dreamed that the mulberry tree would grow lotus flowers, so he built a temple in the mulberry garden, first named Lotus Temple. The earliest history of its construction can be traced back to the early years of the Tang Dynasty, but the temples preserved now are mainly buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Kaiyuan Temple is located in West Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province. It is an important cultural relic along the southeast coast of China and the largest Buddhist temple in Fujian Province. The temple was built in the second year of the early Tang Dynasty, formerly known as Lotus Dojo. In the 26th year of Kaiyuan, it was renamed Kaiyuan Temple. The existing main temples were built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a length of 260 meters from north to south and a width of 300 meters from east to west, covering an area of 78,000 square meters.

Kaiyuan Temple layout, the central axis from south to north is Ziyunping, Shanmen, Baiting, Daxiong Hall, Ganlu Tanjie and Tibetan Classics Pavilion. There are Tan Yue Temple, Quanzhou Buddhist Museum and Zhunti Temple in the east wing, and Anyang Hospital, Gongde Temple and Shuilu Temple in the west wing. Two stone pagodas, Zhen Guo Tower and Renshou Pagoda, are located on the east and west sides of the worship pavilion in front of the Ursa Major Hall, commonly known as the East West Pagoda.