[2025 Liuzhou Attraction] Travel Guide for Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple (Updated Apr)

Located at No. 289, West Seventh Lane, Liushi Road, Yufeng District, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province, Dule Park is a national 4A-level scenic spot integrating the wonders of karst caves, ecological mountain and forest landscapes, southern idyllic scenery, and Buddhist culture. It offers various functions such as tourism, sightseeing, leisure vacations, and fitness entertainment. The scenic area boasts green mountains and clear waters, wondrous caves and beautiful rocks, lush forests and fragrant flowers, abundant natural landscapes, and rich idyllic scenery. The main attractions include Dule Rock, Dragon Ball Mountain (also known as Book Mountain), Kaiyuan Temple, and Jade Buddha Hall. Dragon Ball Mountain is China's first modern calligraphy stele forest carved on a cliff face, gathering nearly a hundred masterpieces by renowned modern calligraphers of different schools and styles. After visiting here, the famous performing artist Zhao Dan gladly inscribed the four characters "Tian Xia Du Le" (Universal Happiness), which is the largest piece in the Book Mountain. The inscription, with its dragon-like strokes and majestic momentum, adds much charm to the beautiful scenery of Dule Park. The Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple, rebuilt in Dule Scenic Area in 2009, not only provides a quiet and elegant place for Buddhist practitioners but also offers a place for Buddhists in Liuzhou to worship Buddha.

📍Detailed address: 289, Lane 7, West Liushi Road, Yufeng District, Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, within the Dule Rock Scenic Area. 🚗Transportation routes: ●Bus: You can take bus routes 21, 94, etc. to get there. ●Self-driving: There is a parking lot outside the scenic area, and the parking fee is 10 yuan per time. Attraction recommendations ●Kaiyuan Temple: Located within the Dule Rock Scenic Area, it was founded during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (713-741) and is the largest Buddhist temple in Guangxi. The main hall is a double-eaved dome structure imitating the Tang Dynasty's all-wood construction, with a huge white marble bas-relief in the middle of the stone steps in front of the hall. ●Dule Stele Forest: One of the main attractions of Dule Park, it includes a calligraphy stele gallery, the Orchid Pavilion Preface stele, and the Ink Pool, among others. ●Jade Buddha Hall: A testament to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, it features Thai-style architecture and houses a treasure of the temple—a fossilized tree from the Madagascar desert in Africa. 🕙Opening hours: 8:00-17:00, 🌟Highlights: Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple combines functions of Buddhism, culture, ecology, tourism, and leisure, and is currently the largest Buddhist temple in Guangxi. It covers an area of about 80,000 square meters, with a total construction area of about 20,000 square meters, and the main buildings are modeled after the Tang Dynasty style. Inside the temple, there are the Mahavira Hall, the Heavenly King Hall, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, etc. The Mahavira Hall is an all-wood structure connected by mortise and tenon joints, with a height of 26 meters above the ground, a double-eaved dome, and a dome span of about 18 meters, which is very rare in its majestic atmosphere. The Heavenly King Hall is the first hall of Kaiyuan Temple, a single-eaved Xieshan-style building, grand and solemn, open and atmospheric, housing sculptures of Vajra. Past the Heavenly King Hall, on the left is the Bell Tower, and on the right is the Drum Tower, both are three-story brick and wood pavilions with green tiles and flying eaves, simple and elegant. The Bell Tower houses the statue of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, and the Drum Tower houses the statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, both of which are painted in vivid colors, with lifelike figures.

Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple is located within the Duleyan Scenic Area, and was originally built during the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (713-741). The original site was at the Liu Hou Temple, where the traveler Xu Xiake stayed in 1637. In the 26th year of Kaiyuan (739), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang decreed that a 'Kaiyuan Temple' should be built in each county as an official temple, mainly responsible for the state's ceremonial rites. The Song Dynasty poet Lü Benzhong wrote in a summer rain, 'The wind and rain are bleak as in late autumn, crows return and doors close, accompanying the secluded monk.' Liuzhou Kaiyuan Temple is the largest Buddhist temple in Guangxi, with the main hall being a double-eaved dome structure in full wood imitating Tang Dynasty architecture. In the middle of the stone steps in front of the hall, there is a huge white marble bas-relief. The Jade Buddha Hall is a testament to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, with a style that greatly exceeds the usual. The temple's treasure is a piece of petrified wood originating from the deserts of Madagascar in Africa.