Mount Wutai

Where are the temples in Mount Wutai located?

The most concentrated area of temples is Taihuai District, where there are 36 temples.

Both Qing and Huang temples are mostly located in Taihuai District.

Why in this area?

Firstly, this district is located in the central part of Mount Wutai which means it is easier for pilgrims to enter. Secondly, the terrain here is flat, which is conducive to the construction of temples. After more and more temples formed a temple cluster, the emperors were more willing to choose here. As a result, the Taihuai community in the center of Taihuai District started to exist.

How about other areas?

In addition, there are also more than 10 temples located in Nanliang Gully District and Nanshan Temple District. Besides, in the area outside or nearby Wutai there are 16 temples located.

How many Qing temples? How many Huang temples?

There are 85 Qing temples and 12 Huang temples.

The ratio of Qing temple to Huang temple is 7:1.

Where are Huang temples?

Although Huang temples only take a small proportion, most of these Huang temples are located in the central area of Taihuai Town. Over time, they built up their own social networks and increasingly exerted a strong influence among all temples in the Wutai region.

How long is the history of Mount Wutai?

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD), there were already temples in Mount Wutai.

Which dynasties constructed most temples?

Most of the temples were built in Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD) and Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD), constituting two peaks of temple construction. In these two dynasties, China was a Buddhist country, the state encouraged the development of Buddhism.

Followed is the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-535 AD), which is a secondary peak.

Any preference of locations for temple construction in different dynasties?

The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) built the most temples in the Taihuai District (11), far surpassing the Nanshan Temple District, which built the second largest number of temples (5).

Although Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) also built most of the temples (7) in the Taihuai District, it also built 4 in the Jige Temple District and 6 in the outside/near Wutai area.

From the Tang to Ming dynasties, the position of the Taihuai District as the Buddhist center of Wutai Mountain had been consolidated.

An interesting phenomenon is Sui Dynasty (581–618 AD), which preferred Wutai Peak District (5 temples), not Taihuai District.

When are Huang temples constructed in Mount Wutai?

Huang temples began to exist in Mount Wutai only from Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Emperors converted some Qing temples to Huang temples as well as constructed some new Huang Temples.

Why does the figure show that Huang Temples are constructed in several dynasties?

Most of the Huang temples were rebuilt from Qing temples, but the data only records the previous time when the temples were first built. So this is a case of data misleading.

Population in Taihuai Town?

Yanglin Village have the most households (511) among all the villages in Taihuai Town.

There are three villages with more than 300 households: Guangmingsi Village (352), Yangbaiyu Village (338), and Xinfang Village (301).

Economy in Taihuai Town?

In terms of collective income, Yangbaiyu Village is about 1.5 times larger than Yanglin Village, which is in second place. These two villages are far ahead of other villages.

As for per capita income, Yangpodao Village (18,000) and Huangtuzui Village (17,000) are the highest. Third place goes to Yangbaiyu Village (15,000). There are four villages in the next bracket (11,500 in average). Finally, there are six villages in the next bracket (around 8,000).

Relationship between population, economy, and temples in Taihuai Town?

The area where the temple is located has the densest population and the highest economic income.

Nowadays, Mount Wutai has formed a community with the center of temple clusters and tourism business. Based on this, people with different identities like monks, governmental officials, residents, and business men show a unique interaction under the Buddhism atmosphere in this society.