Taiyuan (Chinanews.com) -- According to the Nanchan Temple Cultural Relics Protection Center in the town of Wutai, Shanxi Province, the temple will be calling for old photo donations of the Dragon King Temple, the Guanyin Hall, and the Buddha Hall until September 19 this year. Collectors at home and abroad, photographers, and those interested in cultural relic preservation are all welcome to donate.
Nanchan Temple, located in the Li Village of Wutai Town and some 20 km away from the town center, was rebuilt in 782 AD during the Tang Dynasty (618 AD to 907 AD), 1,217 years ago. Facing south, it covers an area of 3,078 square meters. It was built with a gate (the Guanyin Hall), east and west halls (the Buddha Hall and the Dragon King Temple), and the Main Buddha Hall. The Main Buddha Hall is the only original structure surviving since the Tang Dynasty, and it is the oldest wooden building that still exists in China and Asia.
The discovery of its long history in the Asian wooden architecture family is thanks to a respectable architect couple – Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin. A Japanese scholar once claimed that China preserved no wooden building constructed earlier than the end of the Tang Dynasty, and Nara in Japan was the only place where a wooden building from the Tang age had been kept. Doubting this claim, Liang rode a donkey to Wutai Town with his wife and proved the age of the grand hall of the Nanchan Temple to be the oldest in Asia through precise measurements.
It is out of the importance of its historical value that the advocacy for its restoration was initiated. "There is a story behind every old photo, which carries a memory from the past. Expectations are that the photos will provide a trace of the temple's history, by showing how cultural relics are maintained to the current age. Renovations of the Dragon King Temple, the Guanyin Hall, and the Buddha Hall, are all necessary. The photos will also serve as a better reference for the restoration work," said Wang Jianxin, the person in charge of advocacy.
