Five-Pagoda Temple (Wu Ta Si)

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24, Wu Ta Si Cun, Xi Zhi Men Wai, Hai Dian District, Beijing, Beijing, China+86 (0)10 6218 6081

Category:
Sightseeing
Hours:
Tues.-Sun. 9-4 Close
Price:
Y20 for both; Y5 only for the temple
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Close Carvings Photo - Five-Pagoda Temple (Wu Ta Si), Beijing, China

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by TianjinPaul

Rotherham, United Kingdom

March 7, 2010

Best of IgoUgo It was our first morning in Hohhot. After showering and brushing the taste of the previous night's beer and mutton fat from our teeth, we decided to head out for some sight-seeing. We paused at the reception desk of our hotel to pick up the ...Read more It was our first morning in Hohhot. After showering and brushing the taste of the previous night's beer and mutton fat from our teeth, we decided to head out for some sight-seeing. We paused at the reception desk of our hotel to pick up the complementary tourist map of Hohhot. Next to adverts for a multitude of different Mongolian hot-pot restaurants was a picture of the Five Towers Temple, or Wu Ta Si as it is known locally. It looked impressive. From the 5cm x 5cm picture, it appeared to be a forbidding, large stone building comprised of five large pagoda-like towers and scores of miniature carvings. It even had echoes of the Pottala Palace in Lhasa.

Appearances can, however, be deceptive. When we arrived, we were expecting to see a giant temple, towering over suburban Hohhot. However, when we stepped out of our taxi, all we could see were the eaves of a regular temple, the type of thing you could see in any city in China. At first, we were not sure whether our taxi driver had brought us to the wrong place. So, for a few minutes we wandered around rather aimlessly looking for clues as to whether we were, in fact, at the right place. When we eventually found the gate, we discovered that we were. This, though, left us even more confused, where was the giant stone temple – there was nothing that looked remotely like the Pottala Palace anywhere in view.

Feeling rather sceptical, we paid our 20rmb and entered the temple. As we walked along the main path, it appeared to be nothing more than a slightly smaller version of every other temple in China. This left us feeling rather disappointed and a little bit cheated by the map we still clung to. However, as we passed through the last of the prayer halls, we stepped out into the back courtyard of the temple. Standing directly in front of us was the image from our photo. Except, it seemed to have shrunk.

Everything we could see in the picture was there. Five pagodas sat atop a base a delicately carved today and an elegant base. The carvings were as ornate as the picture suggested and its lines were as imposing as I had imagined. However, whilst the picture made the mini-temple look 40 or 50m in height, it was in reality just 16m high. The trees that lined the park were, in the picture, cropped or airbrushed to look tiny, but in real life were taller than the temple itself.

We moved closer to inspect the temple in detail. The carvings were impressive. Every inch of the body and the pagodas above were ornately carved from solid stone. It also had several elegant inscriptions in Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit. These all made the temple look beautiful. However, I could not help glancing at my picture and wondering where the giant temple was.

Wu Ta Si is situated in the southeast of Hohhot. It is an elegant and visually stunning structure. However, do not be fooled by some of the digitally enhanced pictures you might see – we saw several others around Hohhot that suggested a far more impressive scale – it is quite small. It is, though, worth a short visit. Close

From journal Exploring the Milk Capital of Northern China

Five-Pagoda Temple (Wu Ta Si)

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