Kunming - Bamboo Temple

(Local Name: Qiongzhu Si) On a foothill of Yu'anshan Mountain, 10km/6mi northwest of Kunming stands the Bamboo Temple. As yet the exact date of its construction has not been determined, but it can be said with certainty to have been before the end of the 13th C.

The temple contains several valuable works of art: the Yuan period (1271-1368) statue of the Buddhas of the Three Worlds made of variegated clay (in the Buddha Hall); a small stone tablet on which is engraved in Chinese and Mongolian an imperial edict of 1316 calling on the army and the civilian population to protect the temple; the 500 Luohan statues of clay (1883-90) by the sculptor Li Guangxiu (in the Buddha Hall and two neighboring buildings),