Millennium Buddhist Kingdom Exploration! Zhangye Great Buddha Temple Stunning Guide

⏰ Opening Hours: 8:30-17:00
🎫 Ticket: 40 RMB

🚌 Transportation: Taxi from downtown costs 5 RMB, or take bus routes 4/5/6 and get off at "Great Buddha Temple Station"
🌟 Key Highlights
1. Asia's Largest Reclining Buddha
o 34.5-meter giant Nirvana statue, wooden core with clay sculpture, gilded and painted, one middle finger long enough for a person to lie on! The Buddha body is hollow with three floors, secretly housing 11 chambers that once stored precious scriptures and treasures.
2. Stunning "Journey to the West" Murals on the Hall Walls
o Painted 200 years before the original novel! Created in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Pigsy is surprisingly portrayed as "diligent and responsible," carrying luggage and fighting the Red Boy, overturning common perceptions!
3. Royal Brick Carvings and Dragon-Subduing Mysteries
o Six-square-meter brick carvings on both sides of the hall entrance read "Ascend to the Land of Ultimate Bliss" and "Enter Samadhi," exquisite Western Xia reliefs.
o The eighteen Arhats colored sculptures hide taboos: the Dragon-Subduing Arhat’s dragon hangs high on the beam (dragons in royal temples must not be stepped on).
4. Shanxi Guild Hall & White Pagoda
o Qing dynasty Shanxi merchants’ guild hall: the Guandi Temple opera stage is carved full of "wealth and prosperity" woodwork, with a blue background golden plaque boldly stating "Mighty Across China."
o 33-meter earthen pagoda: Tibetan-style stupa with eight small pagodas guarding the four corners of the base, the sunset shadows are breathtaking.

💡 Hidden Stories
• The last emperor of the Southern Song dynasty became a monk here: Emperor Gong of Song Zhao Xian, captured at age 6, entered the temple at 19 to translate scriptures and eventually became the high monk "Master Hezun."
• Nun’s scripture protection legend: Nun Benjue lived in a dilapidated house for 30 years, enduring humiliation to guard the Ming Yingzong Emperor’s bestowed "Northern Canon" golden scriptures, never revealing the secret until death.