Chongshou Temple in Zezhou

　　Chongshou Temple (Second Batch Provincial-Level Protected Site)

　　Era: Song Dynasty

　　Address: Xigao Village, 25 km north of Zezhou County

　　The temple was first built in the Northern Wei Dynasty, renovated in the seventh year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (719 AD), rebuilt in the first year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1119 AD), and underwent multiple reconstructions during the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. The current layout features a Mountain Gate leading to the Hall of Heavenly Kings, flanked by Bell and Drum Towers on either side. In the center is the Shakyamuni Hall, with side halls dedicated to Kṣitigarbha and Arhat on the east and west, and the final hall being the Thunder Sound Hall. To the east and west of the halls are small courtyards — the eastern one is the Bodhisattva Courtyard, housing the Hall of the Three Great Bodhisattvas, and the western one is the Guan Yu Courtyard, featuring the Hall of Guan Di.

　　The Shakyamuni Hall is a relic from the Song Dynasty. The main hall is square-shaped with three bays, single-eave hip-and-gable roof, and bracket sets beneath the eaves. The interior space is tall and spacious, with beams in the form of reduced-column structures. On the eastern side is a Song Dynasty pagoda pedestal, over one meter high, with carved jewel-adorned lotus petals and stone lions on the Sumeru pedestal, the body of the pagoda inscribed with the Dhāraṇī Sūtra, and the canopy adorned with fine openwork of beaded floral patterns.

　　The temple also preserves one Northern Wei Dynasty statue stele, carved with a house-shaped niche and one Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas, as well as twelve stone steles from the Song, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.