James Baquet

    AFTER my day in the mountains outside of Ningbo, I finally entered the center of the city itself.

    I had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, then walked back east past the Catholic church, through Tianyi Square and across the Fenghua River to my goal, the Qita (Seven Pagoda) Temple.

    Founded in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in 858, the temple has gone through many names and reconstructions. It was destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion in the middle of the 19th century, then rebuilt by the Guangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) in 1895. At this time, the name of the temple was changed to reflect the seven small pagodas outside the temple’s front wall, and it was thenceforth called Qita Temple.

    The temple was rebuilt again in 1983.

    A peculiar story has it that during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), in 1386, a nobleman named Tang He cleared nearby Putuoshan Island (where I had previously visited) of its monks and destroyed its temples, but brought a large statue of Guanyin to Ningbo, and housed it at what is now Qita Temple.

    Although that statue is long gone, the main hall is still graced by a beautiful statue of Guanyin. Also, the Guanyin in the Drum Tower and the Dizang in the Bell Tower are especially fine Bodhisattva statues, in natural wood finishes.

    The entire temple, although new, is one of the most beautiful I have seen, with black tile roofs, gray brick walls, and lacquered but unstained woodwork. There are some old trees surrounding these modern structures to lend an air of authenticity.

    After paying them homage, I headed back to Beilun.