China Guide
Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan Island
Liurong Si
Opening time: Daily 8am–5pm
Price: ¥5; Flower Pagoda ¥10
Address: Liurong Lu (Ximen Kou or Gongyuan Qian metro stops)
Liurong Si (Temple of the Six Banyan Trees) is associated with the dissident poet-governor Su Dongpo, who named the temple on a visit in 1100 and drew the characters for "Liu Rong" on the two stone steles just inside the gates. Very little of the temple itself survives, and the site is better known for the 57-metre-high Hua Ta (Flower Pagoda), a contemporary structure enshrining relics brought from India by Emperor Wu's uncle. Carvings of lions, insects and birds adorn the pagoda's wooden eaves; of its seventeen storeys, nine have balconies and the rest are blind. At the top is a gigantic bronze pillar covered with over a thousand reliefs of meditating figures rising up through the roof, solid enough to support the five-tonne begging bowl and pearl that you can see from ground level.