The Main Hall of the Nanchan Temple is located at the Lijia Village, 22 km to the southwest of Wutai County of Shanxi Province.
The Nanchan Temple faces south. The main structures are the temple gate, the Dragon God Hall, the Buddha Hall, and the Big Buddha Hall, which enclose a courtyard, as well as small stone pagodas, and stone lions, etc. The time of its establishment is unknown.
The platform in front of the Main Hall of the Nanchan Temple is very spacious. Under the beam of the hall there is an epitaph that says that the temple was built in 782. It is the oldest wood structure built in the Tang Dynasty (618-917). The hall is three-bay in both width and length. The planar shape is near square. The layout of the structure is in symmetry. It is a typical structure style of the Tang Dynasty.
There is a big Buddha altar, 8.4 meters in length and 6.3 meters in width, in the Main Hall of the Nanchan Temple. Seventeen multicolor statues of the Tang Dynasty besprinkle the altar, and the main statue of them is Sakyamuni sitting cross-legged in Sumeru. The others line in both sides. In spite of repairs and repainting in the following dynasties, the statues still retain the style and features of Tang statues.
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