Taling Park

Taling Park

Taling Park is a cultural tourism attraction.

Taling Park

Xingtai Taling Park is situated to the south of Shenjiazhuang Village, about three li southwest of the old city area in Xingtai. It is called Taling, meaning “Pagoda Forest,” because the pagodas are scattered like a forest. Also known as Pagoda Tomb, it was the burial ground for high-ranking monks from Kaiyuan Temple and Tianning Temple. The original site (in the 1950s) spanned approximately 40-plus acres, equivalent to around 26,000 square meters, with pagodas dating from the Tang Dynasty through the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Legend has it that Xingtai Taling Park once had nearly a thousand pagodas, though this figure may not be accurate, and there is no need to speculate now. By the 1950s, due to historical changes and human destruction, over 120 various types of memorial stupas remained between the northern and southern sections of the pagoda forest. Elderly locals recall that as late as 1956, nearly 90 stupas were still preserved at Xingtai Taling. However, severe damage occurred in 1967 during the Cultural Revolution, when this historically significant and once-largest pagoda forest in China was completely destroyed.

Experts who have studied the site suggest that Xingtai Taling was even larger in scale and more valuable than the renowned Shaolin Temple in Henan, and equally magnificent. Yet all of that is now history and a source of regret. It wasn’t until the 1990s that some dedicated individuals began collecting the remaining broken pagodas and fragmented stones scattered among the populace, piling them up at the original site of the pagoda forest to establish Taling Park as a memorial. This allows future generations to learn about the glorious history that once unfolded on this remarkable piece of land.