Chongshan Temple Bell Tower, Taiyuan, Shanxi province (Photo/Xinhua)

Chongshan Temple is on Dilianggong St, in the Yingbin district of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi. It was built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and given its current name during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was a major Buddhist temple but burned to the ground in a fire, in 1864, during the Tongzhi reign period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The existing Dabei Palace, which covers 900 square meters, is just one small part of the original temple, but it maintains the essence of the temple. This is Taiyuan’s most complete wooden structure from the Ming and was one of Shanxi’s first group of relics to be put under provincial protection. The temple is famous for its large collection of holy books, all of them of cultural and historical value.