Zhenguo Temple is also named Jingcheng Temple. It is fifteen kilometers way to the east of the Pingyao City. The Zhenguo Temple covers an area of 13,000 square kilometres, with 5,000 square kilometers of ancient architectures. In front of the temple, there used to be a theatre. There are two yards in the temple. The front yard has a Mountainous Gate in the middle. It is called Tianwang Palace, because there are four statues of kings. In Chinese character, ‘wang’ means ‘king’ in English. Right in the north of the yard, there are three Buddhist halls. They are not very big but with a quite long history. In the two sides of the Tianwang Palace, there are five separate rooms respectively. The rooms display sculptures in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The arch gate outside the Wanfo Palace can lead to the back yard. In the back yard, there are three cave houses with Buddha statues. Besides the Buddha statues stand four sculptures of Chinese ancient goddesses. Buddhist stories were painted on the wall. In the left and right hands of the room upstairs are places where the classic ancient books are kept. Early in 1965, the Zhenguo Temple was titled the provincial protective historical relic. In 1998, it became the national cultural protective relic. Before that on December 3rd, 1997, the Zhenguo Temple was listed into the directory of world cultural heritage together with Shuanglin Temple and Pingyao Ancient City.
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