Baoguo Temple is really a thousand-year-old famous temple; also, it is one of the first cultural relic sites specified to be conserved in China. It is located at the foot of Mount Feishilin in Jiangbei District of Ningbo City, only 13 km away from downtown.
The particular temple today handles an area of 13,280 m² along with a floor space of 6,000 m², having a gardening area of 28.8 acres. The original temple was founded in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the existing Baoguo Temple was constructed in the Northern Song Dynasty. The main buildings here are reformed to Baoguo Temple Ancient Architecture Museum, where there are a large number of graphic information introducing on the buildings from the Tang Dynasty to the Republic of China era. Here you are also available to see intangible cultural heritages, architectural history exhibition and other exhibitions. Main buildings includes Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Great Buddha’s Hall, Kwan-yin Temple and Depositary of Buddhist Texts, and there are Bell and Drum Tower at both sides.
Things to Do and See
The Grand Hall in Baoguo Temple is amongst the oldest as well as best-preserved wooden structures in South Yangtze region of China, priceless to the country’s architectural research. It offers fantastic values with regard to historians, artists as well as scientists. The hall, made from wood, is actually beautiful in structure and also distinctive in style. It truly is rectangle in dimension, three rooms in width along with three rooms in length. Its roof is actually firmly fixed by using skilled cohesion of components via complex conventional Chinese architectural technology. Eight large upright beams in the hall, slightly inclined to the middle, bear the total weight of 50 tons of the building. The hall’s distinctive style completely shows the wisdom as well as creativeness of the ancient Chinese employees.
There exists another amazing thing concerning this hall: no birds nestle here, no spiders weave webs here, no insects or ants crawl here, nor can you discover much dust or dirt here. For several years, numerous architecture as well as forestry experts carried research here, however nobody offered any reasonable explanation relating to this mystery. The mystery kept unsolved till in 1975 when the hall went through innovations and a few carpenters discovered there was a strong pungently fragrant smell given off from the wood, which drives away birds as well as insects. The lack of any dust through the entire hall may be accounted for through the undeniable fact that the air in the hall is in constant motion as a result of revolving wind brought on by the exquisite structure of the hall.
Travel Guide
【Chinese name】: 宁波报国寺
【How to get to Baoguo Temple Ningbo using public transportation】: You may take bus route No.332 near to the Third Hospital in Ningbo to reach the interest spot directly. Or you can take bus route No.330 at Guangji Street to the terminal first, then transfer to bus 338 to arrive at the scenic spot.