Kaiyuan Temple, situated in West Street of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, is the largest temple in Fujian Province. It was equally as famous as Baima Temple in Luoyang City, Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou City, and Guangji Temple in Beijing City, and has strong influence upon Taiwan and overseas Buddhists. In 1983, it was designated as one of national key temples in the areas of the Han nationality. Kaiyuan Temple was built in 685, and renamed several times afterwards. In the 26th year (739) of the Kaiyuan reign of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Emperor Xuanzong ordered each state in this country to build a temple named Kaiyuan. Through several destructions and reconstructions during the Tang, Southern Song (1127-1279), Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the existing buildings are relics of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)).Kaiyuan Temple is a relatively integrated square-yard Buddhism buildings group, and covers an area of 78,000 square meters. On its medial axis stand in proper order Buddha's Warrior Attendants Hall, Heavenly King Hall, Main Hall, and Sutra Hall. The Main Hall is the principal building, located at the center of this temple. The Statue of Vairochana Buddha, the highest God of Buddhism's Secret Sect is enshrined in the temple. A large number of cultural relics are preserved here and there are more than 3,700 volumes of Buddhist scriptures of various editions stored in the Sutra Hall, in which the relatively rare scriptures include Great Treasury Scriptures and Lotus Scripture. Manuscripts of Hongyi, a modern accomplished monk, are also treasured up herein.Twin pagodas near Kaiyuan Temple are also famous. The east one is Zhenguo Pagoda and the west one Renshou Pagoda. They are forty meters in height, as the highest twin pagodas in China. They are the unique symbol of the ancient city of Quanzhou. Moreover, the east pagoda was selected as one of the four stamp patterns of China's Ancient Towers in 1994. Since its establishment, Kaiyuan Temple has had endless stream of pilgrims, and become a divine religious place where Buddhists can cultivate themselves according to Buddhist doctrines with great concentration. After the Ming Dynasty, a lot of inhabitants of Chaozhou-Shantou area of eastern Guangdong (near Fujian Province) emigrated overseas. Therefore, Kaiyuan Temple has become a famous scenic spot as well as a symbol of missing the hometown.这里有另外一篇Kaiyuan Temple, Quanzhou City, Fujian Province One of the most interesting sites of this ancient port, the temple, first constructed in 686, was originally named the Lotus Flower Temple. The temple was later renamed several times until finally in 738, the Tang Emperor Xuan Zong, a devout Buddhist, ordered every large town in China to name one of its temples “Kaiyuan,” the title of his reign. The temple has since been known as Kaiyuan Temple. The temple is one of the outstanding examples of Chinese architecture and art. Flying musicians are carved on pillars that support the roof of the Hall of One Hundred Pillars. The two pagodas that stand opposite each other in front of the main hall in the temple, Purple Cloud Hall, are octagonal five-tier stone buildings with exquisite carvings. Two images of Buddha are carved on each of the eight sides. Forty ancient Buddhist tales are inscribed on the walls of one of the pagodas. There are numerous other stone carvings in the temple -- figures resembling the Sphinx, animal heads and birds, dragons and tigers. Interestingly there are columns here in ancient Greek style. Many of these rare art works were once religious decorations on other buildings in Quanzhou, later moved to Kaiyuan Temple.