Baoguang Temple

Baoguang Temple stands at 81 Baoguang Street in Xindu District, roughly 18 kilometers north of central Chengdu, and is traditionally dated to the Eastern Han dynasty, making it one of the oldest Buddhist temple sites in the region, though it takes its present name and plan from a Tang dynasty rebuilding when Emperor Xizong is said to have taken refuge there. The complex was destroyed during the Ming-Qing transition and rebuilt from the 1670s through the 1690s under the Qing Kangxi Emperor, and it is this Qing-era layout of five main halls along a central axis, flanked by cloisters and pagodas, that survives largely intact today across roughly 10 hectares. The temple's landmark structure is the 13-story Sheli (relic) Pagoda, a brick tower with origins traced to the Tang dynasty and rebuilt in the Ming, notable for leaning slightly off vertical, said to house a Buddhist relic in its base. The most extensive holding is the Arhat Hall, added in the Qing dynasty, which contains 577 painted clay statues of arhats, enlightened disciples of the Buddha, at roughly life size, each individually modeled with distinct expressions and poses, including figures popularly identified with historical individuals such as the Qing Guangxu Emperor and the folk monk Ji Gong. The curatorial character of the site is that of a functioning monastery rather than a museum: the halls are used for active worship, the arhat statues have never been relocated from their Qing-era hall, and restoration since the 1980s has focused on stabilizing the original clay figures and timber structures rather than replacing them. The temple also preserves a collection of stone steles and a Ming-Qing era library building.