Nanguo Temple, A millennium of history among ancient trees

39 Nanguo Road, Qinzhou District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province

Secluded temple

4.4

Introduction

Nanguo Temple is an ancient temple located in a mountain valley 2 kilometers south of Tianshui city. It is named after its location south of the Tianshui city walls. It is one of the few temples facing south and north, and it is renowned for its "ancient cypresses of Mount Nanshan", which is one of the eight scenic spots in Tianshui. With a history of more than 1000 years, Nanguo Temple has been favored by poets and writers throughout the ages. During his exile in Qinzhou (now Tianshui) in 759 AD, the great Tang poet Du Fu wrote more than one hundred poems praising Nanguo Temple. The temple has a large scale and is composed of three yards: West, Middle, and East. The West yard is the main yard, and most of the buildings with different architectural styles are concentrated here. There are various Buddha statues inside each hall. In the Daxiong Palace, there is also a 2500-year-old three-forked ancient cypress, which is the third oldest surviving ancient tree in China. This cypress is also very miraculous, with one branch facing south being withered and dried like firewood, but still has the youthful top branches and leaves; one branch facing northwest has already died; and the branch facing north is intricately entwined with the branches of a locust tree, and even more miraculous, in the split dry trunk nearby, there is a black egg tree (Zelkova tree) with a chest circumference of 108 centimeters, which depends on the ancient cypress for survival.

Address

39 Nanguo Road, Qinzhou District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province

Opening hours

08:00-18:00 (full day)
last entry time: 18:00 (March 1st-October 31st, Monday-Sunday) 08:30-17:30 (full day)
last entry time: 17:30 (November 1st-next year February 28th, Monday-Sunday)

Transportation

Get off the No.9 bus at Nanguo Road in the city and walk up the mountain; Take a taxi from the Qinzhou urban area to the foot of the mountain for 10 yuan, or negotiate with the driver for about 30 yuan if you don't want to walk 30 minutes up the mountain.

Phone 0938-8623147