# White Horse Temple (白马寺)

Luoyang, Henan Province · Central China, China · Guidebook rating: 5/5
Canonical: https://cnatrip.com/en/places/white-horse-temple
Language: en

## Key facts

- **Admission:** ¥35
- **Opening hours:** 7:40–18:40 (8 March–7 October); 8:00–17:30 (8 October–7 March of the following year)
- **Time needed:** 2–3 hours
- **Address:** Located 20 km east of Luoyang’s urban centre
- **Getting there:** Near White Horse Temple (bus stop)
- **Good for:** History & Culture, Architecture, Temples

## About White Horse Temple

More than 1,900 years ago, a white horse carried Buddhist scriptures and a statue of Shakyamuni to this spot, a journey whose hardships are hard to imagine. The temple was named White Horse Temple in commemoration of the horse’s labour in carrying the scriptures. It was the first temple built by the government after Buddhism entered China, and it has long been revered as the “ancestral court” (zuting) and “source of Buddhism” (shiyuan) of Chinese Buddhism.
The temple preserves more than 40 stone steles dating from the Tang dynasty onward, the most precious of which is the Record of the Ancestral Court of White Horse Temple in Luojing, inscribed by the Yuan-dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu. The Great Hall (Daxiong Hall) is the grandest and most splendidly decorated hall in the temple. Here you can see original Yuan-dynasty sculptures of the Three Buddhas, the Two Heavenly Generals and the Eighteen Arhats.
About 200 metres south-east of the temple’s mountain gate stands Qiyun Pagoda, one of the few surviving Jin-dynasty architectural monuments in the Central Plains and among the oldest ancient buildings still standing in China.

## Tips from the guidebook

- 1. White Horse Temple: The buildings seen today are Ming and Qing constructions, though they largely preserve the layout of the Eastern Han period. In front of the temple stands a stone white horse carved in the Song dynasty.
- 2. Bell-ringing: Every year on 31 December, White Horse Temple holds its “White Horse Temple Bell” ceremony. People flock to the temple at night to ring the bell and pray for peace and good fortune in the year ahead. If you want to hear the New Year bells, consider visiting at this time.
- 3. Ringing the bell: The great bell at White Horse Temple is normally open to visitors, who may ring it.
- 4. Worth seeing: The Indian Buddhist Hall, west of the mountain gate, was completed in 2008. Designed and funded by India, it is grand in scale and distinctly foreign in style, and well worth a look.

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Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), p. 2090. Prices, hours and transport details are as printed in the August 2024 edition and may have changed. Always confirm with the venue before you travel.
Site: China Trip (https://cnatrip.com) — independent China travel guide in 13 languages.