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Panlong Temple: A Famous Temple of the Yuan Dynasty
It is said that Panlong Temple is the temple with most attendance in Kunming. Located in Mount Panlong on the east bank of Dianchi Lake, it is 40 km to Kunming city proper, and 3 km to Jincheng Township of Jinning County. Together with Mount Xishan in Kunming and Mount Jizu in Binchuan, it is one of the three holy lands of Buddhism of Yunnan Province, and listed as a key relic protection unit of Kunming City in 1983. Mount Panlong covers an area of several hundred square kilometers.
The lofty peak is surrounded by numerous connected hills with vast expanse of pine tress, so the towering peak is called Panlong. The temple is named after the mountain. Scholars of the past dynasties left multitudinous verses, ditties, calligraphy works and paintings, couplets, horizontal tablet, and inscriptions. The original handwritings and paintings of Yongli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Liangwang Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, Xu Xiake, Dandang, Qian Nanyuan, and Yuan Jiagu are particularly precious. The camellias of the Yuan Dyansty, Saucer Magnolia and red plums of the Ming Dynasty, and Osmanthus Fragrans of the Qing Dynasty in Panlong Temple, all experienced several hundred years’ winds and frosts, still blossom every year and attract countless admirers. The temple fair of Panlong Temple is held on the first day of the eighth lunar month, attracting the masses from the neighboring areas and tourists from home and abroad.
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