The Shuanglin Temple (Double Forest Temple) contains what many art historians consider the finest collection of painted clay sculpture in China — over 2,000 figures ranging from tiny to life-size, spanning the Song through Qing dynasties (roughly 960 to 1900 CE). The craftsmanship is extraordinary: warriors with individual faces and postures, Bodhisattvas draped in robes that seem to move, fierce guardians with eyes that follow you around the room.
The temple complex has ten halls, each housing different categories of Buddhist and folk religious figures. The Luohan Hall has 500 individually characterized disciples; the Guanyin Hall has the floating Bodhisattva described above; the Thousand-Armed Guanyin in the main hall has 1,000 individual arms, each with a different instrument or mudra. The polychrome painting on the figures is largely original and remarkably well preserved.
Located about 6 km southwest of the old city, accessible by tricycle-taxi or bicycle (flat terrain). This is the most important single sight in the Pingyao area and should not be skipped for the city wall alone. Allow 90 minutes minimum.