Daming Temple

Daming temple, a famous and time-honored temple, is located in the north part of Yangzhou. It situated on the peak of Shugang. Daming temple and the subsidiary complex are famous for its cultural relic and garden scenery. This is a folk cultural treasure of China. Daming temple originally was established in South Dynasty. For more than 1500 years, temple has changed a lot. In Qing Dynasty, to avoid the call of Daming (because the former dynasty is called Ming dynasty), it was renamed to be Qiling Temple. And later it was enlarged and became the top one of Yangzhou Eight Famous Temples. In 1853, it was destroyed by war between Qing Governmental army and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Army. In 1958, it was ranked the site under the province-level protection. During the Cultural Revolution, the Buddha statues were nearly destroyed in the name of eliminating four olds by the red guards. Thanks to the assistance from Premier Zhou Enlai, this temple was protected well. In 1979, Daming temple was thoroughly reconstructed and the Buddha statues were covered by gold color. And gradually it regained the fame in the public. This old temples brought up many famous Buddhism masters such as Jianzhen, a famous monk of Tang dynasty who eastwardly went to Japan by water for six times to spread Buddhism. In the temple there are also many famous calligraphers’ masterpieces. In the way, Daming Temple is also the famous cultural treasure center.