Mingjiao Temple

Mingjiao Temple is one of Hefei's older surviving religious sites, a Buddhist complex in the Luyang District that traces its history to the Tang dynasty. The current buildings are later reconstructions, but the grounds preserve a sense of quiet removed from the commercial streets immediately surrounding them.

The main hall holds a large gilded Buddha, and the incense-smoke-darkened interior has the atmosphere of an actively used place of worship rather than a heritage display. Monks are in residence, and morning and evening prayer ceremonies are open to respectful visitors. The temple is most worth visiting in the early morning before the city fully wakes.

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A story
During the Tang dynasty, the poet Li Bai visited what was then called the Iron Buddha Temple and wrote a poem comparing its setting to sacred Buddhist mountains. The temple was later renamed Mingjiao — "Bright Teaching" — during the Song dynasty, when local officials sought to distinguish it from the Manichean religious movements also using the name. The medieval renaming stuck.

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