Temple of Six Banyan Trees



The temple is known as Liu Rong Temple in Chinese. Situated inside the city and first built during the Five Dynasties
period (907-960), it was originally called Baozhuangyan Temple. It was renamed in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as
Six Banyan Temple after Su Shi, a great writer of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), was found to have written the
two characters of Liu Rong when he saw the six ancient banyan trees there on a visit to the temple.

The temple enshrines three large Buddhist statues--the biggest copper Buddhist statues existing in Guangdong
province. The thousand-Buddha copper pillar cast in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) is kept on the top story of the
pagoda. The 184-foot pagoda appears to have nine stories; inside, however, there are 17 levels. Because of the
colorful exterior carvings, it is popularly known as the Flower Pagoda.

The temple is composed of nearly twenty structures, six courtyards and long corridors surrounded by brick a wall
which is typical of the ancestral temple layout in Guangdong Province. The Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family is world renowned not only for its
imposing architecture, but also for its exquisite craftwork and decoration. It is possible to see the many arts and crafts used in the different styles of
wood carvings, stone carvings, brick carvings, pottery sculptures, murals and bronze and iron castings in the temple. All this workmanship makes
the temple simple, elegant and magnificent. The woodcarvings in particular are of great importance. The most important of which is a teak screen
on a corridor carved on both sides on which the vivid images tell many historical folk stories. The majestic buildings, spacious and bright halls and
the quiet courtyards are a fine example of the traditional architectural style of southern China.

The Temple of Six Banyan Trees has a long history in Guangzhou and is an ancient monastery
famous at home and abroad. There are majestic towers, dense trees, plenty of antiques and
valuable heritage from those famous people in the history.