Shanhua Temple

Shanhua Temple, called the South Temple locally, stands on the west side inside Yongtai Gate, the south gate of the old city of Datong, at 6 Nansi Street in Pingcheng District. It began in the Kaiyuan era of the Tang, when the court granted it the name Kaiyuan Temple, and it took its present name in 1445. One timber hall from the Liao and three buildings from the Jin survive; the mountain gate is the largest of the surviving Jin temple gates in China. The complex was listed in the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 1961, and it now houses the city's office for the care of ancient buildings.