Mingjiao Temple

Mingjiao Si (Mingjiao Temple) in the city of Hefei stands on a platform that rises five meters from the ground. Its predecessor was the Tiefo (Iron Buddha) Temple founded during the Tianjian reign (503-519) of the Liang Dynasty, but it was destroyed towards the end of the Sui Dynasty. During the Dali reign (766-779) of the Tang Dynasty, a six-meter-tall iron statue of the Buddha was unearthed at the site. When Emperor Daizong (r. 762-779) got wind of this, he had the temple rebuilt and he named it the Mingjiao Monastery. During the Ming Dynasty it was renamed Mingjiao Temple. The temple crumbled as a result of war and turmoil in 1853 (3rd year of the Xianfeng reign, Qing Dynasty) but it was later gradually restored. The Mahavira Hall and the Posterior Hall have retained their original forms dating back to 1886 (12th year of the Guangxu reign, Qing Dynasty). As the Mingjiao Temple is in downtown Hefei and the site of such tourist attractions as the "well atop a house" and "pavilion to hear pines sighing in the wind," it is visited by tourists and pilgrims every day.