Kunming Golden Temple is one of the important cultural relic protection units in China, located on top of Mingfeng Mountain, 7 kilometers away from Kunming city center. Golden Temple got the name because of its shinning golden appearance and nowadays it has become a famous temple in Yunnan Province.

History of the Golden Temple
The history of the Golden Temple can be date back to the Ming Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wanli in 1602. During that period, the governor of Yunnan Province was a devout Taoist. To honor the Taoist hero-god Zishi, he built this temple. However only 35 years later, in the year of 1637, the temple was moved to Chicken Foot Mountain. The one we see today in Mingfeng Mountain was the one rebuilt during Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In 1671, Wu Shangui, the general of Pingxi in charge of Southwest China decided to rebuild the Golden Temple at its original site.

Architectural Style of the Golden Temple
The Golden Temple follows a traditional Taoist construction style, with 4 sides of roofs as its trademark. The temple is 6.7 meters high, 6.2 meters wide and 6.2 meters long, with the weight of more than 280 tons. So it is only one of the four largest bronze temples in China, but also the heaviest one. Most of the decorations in the temple are made of copper such as the beams, doors, windows, tiles, altar table, horizontal inscribed board, the statue of Zhenwu the Great, etc.

In front of the Golden Temple there are standing a copper flag. On the edge of the top there carved the pattern of a sun and a moon. Between the sun and the moon there writes four Chinese characters meaning "All is at Peace". Behind the Golden Temple, there stands a Bell Tower with three-stories. It was built in 1984 to house a large copper bell which is 3.5 meters high and weighs14 tons with a history of 580 years. The hillside around the Golden Temple are covered with pine trees, evergreens, hardy cypresses and a multitude of plants. All the plants make the temple look much more quiet and solemn.

Kunming Golden Temple is the biggest and well-preserved existing copper temple in China. If you are interested in ancient metallurgy and architecture of Yunnan Province, here is the right place for you to discover.