A glimpse of the 1,000-year-old wooden Dule Temple

Dule Temple in north China’s Tianjin, which was built more than 1,000 years ago, is one of the country’s oldest surviving wooden buildings. Among the Buddhist temple’s oldest surviving buildings are a front gate and the Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) Pavilion, both of which are timber-framed structures. 

The Goddess of Mercy Pavilion, said to be the oldest wooden pavilion in China, houses an eleven-face statue of the goddess Guanyin, which stands 16 meters tall and is one of the largest clay sculptures in the country.