Dafo Temple (Xinchang)
The Dafo Temple (Chinese: 大佛寺; pinyin: Dàfó Sì) is a famous Buddhist temple in Zhejiang and has a long history of more than 1600 years. This Temple is the symbol of the Xinchang prefecture and it attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year. Recently, the temple and its surroundings have been used as a location for movies and filming, because of its natural environment.
During the Cultural Revolution, locals covered the giant Buddha statues in the temple with pictures of Mao Zedong to prevent the radical Red Guard from smashing the statues, which they were mandated to do under the directive of "destroying all the old traditions".
Dafo Temple itself is constructed with five levels with several halls like the Heavenly King Hall, the Dafo (Big Buddha) Hall and the Scripture Hall. The Big Buddha is almost 15 meters in height, its nose alone is 1.5 meters and ears are 2.7 meters in size. It is believed that the statue is about 1,600 years old from the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) and is from the time that Indians began teaching Buddhism to China.
In the surrounding area is a grotto which is considered amongst China's earliest, and where a number of Buddha statues are to be found, including a reclining Buddha, a waterfall and a petrified forest.
Coordinates: 29°29′30″N 120°53′15″E / 29.49167°N 120.88750°E
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