Dazhao Temple and Hohhot Old Town

National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit; The Oldest Gelug Monastery In Hohhot, Founded 1580 · Hohhot, Inner Mongolia

The oldest and largest Gelug monastery in Hohhot, founded in 1580 by Altan Khan, the Mongol ruler who brought Tibetan Buddhism north and whose meeting with the third Dalai Lama gave that title its name. Dazhao is built as a Chinese temple rather than a Tibetan one - courtyards on an axis, tiled roofs, painted beams - but what it holds is unmistakably Tibetan: a silver Sakyamuni cast at the founding, which gives the temple its Mongolian name of the Silver Buddha Temple; a pair of gilt dragon columns coiling up either side of the altar; and Ming murals that have never been repainted. The Kangxi emperor stayed here, and after his visit the temple stopped installing living Buddhas out of deference, which is why it has no reincarnate lineage. Around it, Saishang Old Street is a four-hundred-year-old commercial lane of grey brick shopfronts selling Mongolian knives, snuff bottles, milk curd and felt, and the streets beyond hold several more temples and the Great Mosque.

Danan Street, Yuquan District, Hohhot, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China

Daily, about 8:30-17:00 - but one source gives Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-17:00 with Monday closing, which is unusual for a working monastery and should be checked before a Monday visit. Saishang Old Street is free and open.

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