Gansu Province, Zhangye City | Dafo Temple | Travel Guide. Please keep it safe.

Zhangye Dafo Temple was first built in the first year of Yong'an during the Xixia Dynasty (1098 AD). It is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction. The following is a detailed introduction to Zhangye Dafo Temple: - Historical Origin: Formerly known as Kasyapa Tathagata Temple, it was named Baojue Temple by imperial decree in the ninth year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1411). In the seventeenth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1678), it was renamed Hongren Temple by imperial decree. Due to the presence of a giant reclining Buddha statue within the temple, it is known as Dafo Temple. - Geographical Location: Located at No. 28, Minzhu West Street, Ganzhou District, Zhangye City, Gansu Province. It covers an area of approximately 23,000 square meters and faces west. - Architectural Features: Currently, only the buildings on the central axis remain, including the Dafo Hall, Scripture Pavilion, and Earthen Pagoda. The Dafo Hall is the most important building in the temple. Inside the hall is the largest indoor wood-and-clay reclining Buddha statue in China. The Buddha statue is 34.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. It is exquisitely crafted and grand in scale. The Hall of Ten Thousand Saints and the Scripture Pavilion house the Buddhist Art Exhibition Hall and the Buddhist Scripture Exhibition Hall, respectively. They display numerous Buddhist sculptures, cave sculptures, scriptures, and sutras. The Earthen Pagoda is over thirty meters tall. The pagoda base has two levels, each with four smaller pagodas. The design is exquisite, and the pagoda houses several Buddha statues. The Shanxi Guild Hall is a typical northwestern residential courtyard. The ancient building features carved beams and painted pillars, and it is very simple and beautiful. - Cultural Value: The temple houses the largest Xixia Buddhist hall in China, the Dafo Hall, and the largest indoor wood-and-clay reclining Buddha statue in Asia. It also houses the most complete first-edition printed copy of the Tripitaka Koreana, and over 10,000 precious cultural relics. In 1995, it became a patriotic education base in Gansu Province. In 1996, it was listed as a fourth-batch national key cultural relics protection unit. In 2018, it was included in the "Top 100 Scenic Spots in Northwest China" list. - Opening Hours: All year round, 08:30 - 18:30 (ticket sales stop at 18:00, park closes at 18:30). - Ticket Price: 40 yuan/person, free for children under 1.2 meters and seniors over 70 years old, students can purchase half-price tickets with student ID.