Qibao Temple

Qibao Temple (七宝教寺, Qībǎo Jiàosì) is the Buddhist temple that gave the town of Qibao in Minhang District its name; the water town itself has its own page. The buildings you see today are modern. The temple was destroyed in 1862 and rebuilt between 2000 and 2002, with a consecration ceremony on 23 January 2003.

The sources agree on the broad history but not on the details. The tale they give starts with a temple called Lu Bao Yuan (陆宝院), built in the Five Dynasties period on a hill near Songjiang to honour Lu Ji and Lu Yun. King Qian Liu of Wuyue, who ruled in that era, is said to have misheard the name as Qibao Yuan, “Seven Treasures Court”, and to have given his handwritten Golden-Letter Lotus Sutra to his consort, calling it a treasure too. That is a legend, and the sources do not back it with a primary record. What they do report is that the hill’s clay was dug away for pottery, the temple moved several times and settled in Qibao in the early Song, and that in 1008 the emperor Zhenzong gave it the plaque Qibao Jiaosi.

The temple was wrecked in 1862, when Taiping forces fought Qing troops and a foreign-led force in Qibao. The rebuilt complex covers 7,700 square metres, with a gate, bell and drum towers, the Hall of Four Heavenly Kings, the Mahavira Hall, a lecture hall, a Dharma hall, a scripture library, monks’ quarters and guest rooms. A seven-storey pagoda and a 10-metre dhvaja, a sutra pillar, stand in the grounds. A peony garden lies to the east and a tree garden to the west.

The temple’s “seven treasures” are the Flying Buddha, the Golden-Letter Lotus Sutra, a golden rooster, jade chopsticks, a jade axe, a bell said to have floated in, and a sacred tree. The sources list them but do not say which can be seen by visitors.

No official page for hours or tickets was found, and the temple has not yet been checked on site.