Emperor Taizong’s personally planted thousand-year-old ginkgo tree turns golden

By / MOOK Scenic Spots Home Travel Life Network Editorial Team
 
Inside the Guanyin Temple in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, stands a 1,400-year-old ginkgo tree, said to have been planted by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. From mid-November, the tree’s yellow leaves begin to fall and scatter across the ground, resembling a golden carpet, drawing an endless stream of visitors with its breathtaking beauty.

The ancient Guanyin Temple was built during the Zhenguan era of the Tang Dynasty and is one of the millennium-old temples in Xi’an’s Zhongnan Mountain. This ginkgo tree, planted personally by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, has a history of over 1,400 years and is listed in the national directory of protected ancient and famous trees. Ancient ginkgo trees are mainly found in provinces such as Guizhou, Shandong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hebei, Hubei, and Henan, and China boasts the largest number of ancient ginkgo trees in the world, though they remain quite rare. The world’s largest ancient ginkgo tree is located in Fuquan, Guizhou, with an age of about 5,000 to 6,000 years, while the Tuole Ancient Ginkgo Scenic Area in Guizhou is the place with the highest density and best-preserved ancient ginkgo trees in the world.