Remains of Bamei Temple

Remains of Bamei Temple

The remains of Bamei Temple are a cultural tourism attraction.

Remains of Bamei Temple

Remains of Bamei Temple Originally named Cheng’en Hall, the temple is located on the western foothills of Mount Fanjing. Because it lies between Bam Stream and Mei Stream, it is commonly known as Bamei Temple. It was one of the four major mountain temples built during the Ming Dynasty. The main hall had seven rooms, along with dozens of side halls and monks’ quarters, all featuring carved beams and painted rafters, making it a grand complex covering four acres. Its temple properties spanned an area of twenty to thirty li around. In 1958, students staying at the temple for work-study programs accidentally set it on fire. Now only the surrounding walls, building foundations, and dozens of ancient trees with a circumference of several people’s arms outside the mountain gate remain. After the Qing Dynasty’s Kangxi era, stone tablets carved over the years and the nearby monks’ tomb clusters still partially survive. Near the ruins, there are several stone tablets, including one from the 15th year of Kangxi (1676) commemorating the reconstruction of Cheng’en Hall, which details the temple’s properties in depth; the Rebuilding the Enclosure Tablet from the 10th year of Jiaqing (1805), which records the expansion history of the temple; and the tablet from the 23rd year of Guangxu (1879), which documents the process of sorting out the temple’s properties. In September 1982, together with the Bamei Temple monks’ tomb cluster, it was designated as a county-level key cultural relic protection site.