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Gāo Temple

TIME : 2016/2/17 11:45:17

One of the more extraordinary temples you’ll find in China, this eclectic shrine has at various times catered to the needs of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. It’s still a funky mishmash of architectural styles, but the revitalised Buddhist deities have muscled out the original Taoists and Confucians.

The real oddity here is the former bomb shelter , built beneath the temple during the Cultural Revolution, which has been converted into a Buddhist hell-haunted house. The eerie, dimly lit tunnels contain numerous scenes of the damned having their tongues cut out, being sawed in half or stoked in the fires of hell, while their screams echo all around. Great stuff.