Shuanglin Temple in Pingyao Ancient City.

Shuanglin Temple is located in the north of Qiaotou Village, Zhongdu Township, Pingyao County, Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, about 6 kilometers southwest of Pingyao County. It faces south and covers an area of about 15,000 square meters. On December 3, 1997, Shuanglin Temple was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site together with Pingyao Ancient City and Zhenguo Temple. Shuanglin Temple has a long history, and its founding can be traced back to the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Wuping period of the Northern Qi Dynasty (386-571 AD). Most of the buildings in the temple were built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The temple is composed of two parts, the west part is the worship area, along the central axis is a three-entry courtyard, composed of eleven halls of different styles; the east part is the Zen courtyard, scripture room, etc. Shuanglin Temple is famous for its exquisite colored sculpture art. There are 2,056 colored sculptures in the temple, including Tang Huai, Song Stele, Ming Bell and other precious cultural relics. These colored sculptures inherit the excellent traditions of the Tang, Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties, and have a highly realistic style. They are excellent works in the statues of the Ming Dynasty in China. Among them, the Vairocana statue in the Thousand Buddha Hall is known as the "most beautiful Vairocana in China", and the free Guanyin statue in the Guanyin Hall is a rare form of Guanyin statue in the temples of the past dynasties. The colored sculpture art of Shuanglin Temple has the following characteristics: first, the layout is exquisite and the levels are clear; second, the form of comic strip, the plot is coherent; third, the combination of sculpture and colored painting. These characteristics make the colored sculptures of Shuanglin Temple not only have artistic value, but also have historical and cultural value. If you are interested in the colored sculpture art of Shuanglin Temple, you can visit it. The opening hours of Shuanglin Temple are 08:00-19:00 (ticket sales stop at 18:15, and entry stops at 18:30), and the ticket price is 35 yuan. When visiting, please protect the cultural relics and do not touch or damage the colored sculptures.