I want to visit -all- the temples in Kunming. I will shortly list the ones I know of and/or have already visited, but google maps hints there might be several more temples hidden away, at least in the mountains, though some things that really sound like temples, like 地台寺 and 菩萨店 are just, it would seem, neighborhoods named after temples that once where there.
The temples I have visited (except for the Golden temple) are:
- All the ones in the Western hill complex
- The Golden Temple
- The Bamboo Temple
- Haiyuan Temple (along the mountainside in the western suburbs)
- Yuantong Temple and the tibetan buddhist one in an alley close by
- A Daoist temple on Tuodong road close to the East bus station
- The temple on the slopes of Mt Changchong
- The Confucian temple on Renmin lu
- The four temples in Guandu Old Town
- The temples in Black Dragon Pool park
Does somebody know of any more temples in Kunming? As I said, there are several on google maps up in the hills in the north and east, but I don't know enough chinese to check on google whether they actually exist or not.
Wikitravel mentions one that I have yet to visit, has anyone maybe been there?: Tanhua Temple (昙华寺; Tánhuàsì; also known as Taohu Nunnery), Guangming Road, Panlong District (盘龙区光明路; Pánlóngqū Guāngmínglù) (At the foot of Tuiying Mountain in the eastern outskirts of Kunming City, about 4km from the city centre)
Another temple: 百邑寺,bai yi si, or in the old way 寺邑百。
Located north of Second Ring Road North, east of Beijing Lu then east of Chuanjin Lu, 穿金路. Driving from Second Ring Road get off at Chuanjin Lu and head north. Turn right (east) on Longhua 龙华路。Go 300-400m until you come to an intersection, turn right. Now you are going south toward the Second Ring Road, turn right (west) on the frontage road. Entrance is on the right.
Or walking, from Chuanjin Lu head east on the north frontage road. Entrance will be on your left.
You can find it on google maps. The marker shows the correct location. It will tell you "baiyisi, Side Road of 2nd Ring Road East,
Kunming."
Another, small but working temple is on Jiangdong Siji Yuan Lu, 江东四季园路。 West side of the street. The street is behind Richland Clinic and runs north/south. Seach google maps for the street or luozhangcun.
Also, search for Lanlongsi, Tanhuasi, Nantiantaisi, Yungansi
There is the Dragon Temple that is directly behind the cable car station near Haigeng Gong Yuan. If you look on Google maps there appears to be an out of date photo of derelict land. The temple was torn down and re-constructed a few years ago.
On the other side of the causway from here near the water protection agency at Longmencun (directly below XiShan LongMen), below the highway) is a home/shrine dedicated to some ancient poet/scribe. On the site he used to live at. I'm sorry, I can't remember who.
Travel south from here another few Kilometers on the old road, after you cross under the highway, so that the highway and lake are both on your left, there is a temple just after one of the villages, on the hillside. You cannot see it, but there is a big sign from the road. You need to park the car and walk up the hill. It is a small temple for locals. Not big, or highly decorated.
There's a small temple on JinDingShan, near the XueFuLu end which I'm hoping to explore sometime this week.
Hugo, I had not looked at your website for over a year. I got to tell you I, for one, really appreciate the work you have done and the advice you give. The info on temples is very good, the best, longest and most informative list I've seen. Seems to me, as good as this list is, it is only a beginning. Good job!
www.hugoyunnantravel.com/index.asp
There used to be a tu di gong (local area god) shrine near SW Forestry University. It was a on a side street paralleling Bai Long Si Street. Ride bus 55 to the end and ask around.
In the last few years, a new White Dragon Temple has been built along Long Quan Lou, the big highway going north to Hei Long Tan. Get off the bus at the Xia Mai Xi stop, look around for the sign pointing up the alley. On the mountain side of the road. I went to look at it when it was being built, and it was built with the traditional timber frame, not reinforced concrete, like many new "old" buildings.
Tan Hua Si is a public park as well as a temple, not far from Southwest Forestry University. It has an obvious pagoda, easily seen from a bus.
aren't all temples basically the same? i remember in europe the cathedrals starting to look the same after a while.
