Wooden dragons
Around the pillars.
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The most celebrated temple complex in Shanxi, about 25 km south-west of Taiyuan at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain where the Jin springs rise. Founded more than a thousand years ago and enlarged over the centuries, it now holds more than a hundred buildings, terraces and bridges among water and trees. Its best-known building is the Hall of the Holy Mother, built in 1023–1032 under the Song, with carved wooden dragons coiling around the eight pillars of its front under a curving double roof. There is also a cypress said to be 3,000 years old, from the Zhou dynasty, the Terrace of the Iron Men with its four cast-metal figures at the corners, and bridges over the spring channels. Tickets cost CNY 80, and it is open from 8.30 am to 6 pm from May to October and from 9 am to 5 pm in winter, per visitor guides.
Around the pillars.
And water bridges.
From the Zhou.
Jinci Town, Jinyuan District, Taiyuan, Shanxi
About 25 km south-west of the city; allow half a day with the journey, and tickets cost CNY 80, per visitor guides.