Daci Temple

Daci Temple stands at No. 23 Dacisi Road in Jinjiang District, now surrounded by the modern Taikoo Li shopping and entertainment district built around its historic grounds in the 2010s. The temple's origins are traditionally traced to the Wei-Jin period, but it rose to particular prominence in the Tang dynasty, when the monk Xuanzang is said to have been ordained there around 622 CE, before his journey to India that later inspired the novel Journey to the West. In 756 CE, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled to Chengdu during the An Lushan Rebellion and took refuge at the temple, personally inscribing a plaque for it that enhanced its imperial status. The temple was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times through subsequent dynasties, most recently reconstructed during the Qing dynasty after Ming-era destruction, and the halls seen today date largely from that Qing rebuilding with later Republican and post-1980s restoration. The complex follows a traditional axial Buddhist monastery layout with a Hall of Heavenly Kings, a Mahavira Hall housing the main Buddha images, and a Zen Tea Area added in recent decades where visitors can sit with tea into the evening, extending the site's hours beyond the main halls. Because the surrounding neighborhood was redeveloped into an open-air retail district, the temple now functions as a quiet religious enclave embedded within one of Chengdu's busiest commercial areas, a contrast that is itself part of the site's present character. Conservation has focused on maintaining the Qing-era timber halls amid the surrounding redevelopment, and the temple remains an active place of worship with resident monks.