Tianjin Yixing Temple

　　   Introduction    Commonly known as the Great Buddha Temple. It is located on the eastern side of Cao Village in Chenguantun Town and is said to have been built during the Sui Dynasty. The temple faces south, with the Mountain Gate Hall, Heavenly King Hall, Mahavira Hall, and Scripture Lecture Hall arranged from south to north. The statues of Maitreya and Sakyamuni inside the halls are both cast in bronze, standing over ten feet tall; the Dipankara Buddha statue is made of clay, standing twenty feet tall and seven feet wide, with more than thirty smaller bronze statues about three feet high. The temple’s architecture is grand and majestic, having been a major scenic attraction in old Jinghai. In the third year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty (1853), it was destroyed by fire and was later restored during the Tongzhi era.

　　    After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, due to years of warfare, most of the temple buildings collapsed. In 1982, the only remaining bronze statue of Sakyamuni in the temple was taken into custody by Tianjin’s Dabeiyuan Temple.

　　    Tianjin Jinghai County

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