The Dacheng Temple (大乘寺) is a Buddhist complex completed in 1943, spacious and relatively quiet by the standards of urban Chinese temples. The main hall and surrounding courtyards occupy a substantial block near the city centre, and the grounds have the kind of unhurried, shaded quality that most city temples in China sacrifice to visitor pressure. It is not an architectural showpiece — the buildings are early 20th century rather than ancient — but the atmosphere rewards an hour of wandering.
The temple is an active religious site: monks live and practice here, the incense burners are in constant use during busy periods, and the sounds and smells of Chinese Buddhist practice are genuine rather than performed. Come in the morning when the devotional activity is most concentrated, or in the late afternoon when the light through the courtyard trees is particularly good.