The oldest great Buddhist house of Guangzhou, in the old city.
On Wikipedia's account the site was the estate of the Wu officer Yu Fan, who died there in banishment in 233, and his family gave it to be a temple; the monk Dharmayasas built its main hall in 401; Huineng cut his hair here in 676 (the page also says the Yifeng era, 676 to 679) and the abbot Yinzong buried the hair under the bodhi tree and raised a pagoda over it. Two iron pagodas of the Southern Han stand in its precinct, the west one of 963 and the east one of 967 (the page ascribes the east one to the emperor Liu Chang; it was gilded and called the Thousand Buddha pagoda; of the west pagoda's seven stories only the lowest three survive today, so in 1200 it very likely stood higher, which is our inference). The hall of the sixth patriarch was first built under Zhenzong (997 to 1022; no year given).
The temple has had many names; the page lists Chongningwanshou (Chongning is a reign name of 1102 to 1106) and Baoenguangxiaochan among them without dates, and says the name Guangxiao was given by the Ming emperor in 1482. So on 1 January 1200 it is not yet called Guangxiao, and we do not know which Song name it bore. What it held in estates or revenue is not given in the page.
Who holds it
- Title
- Abbot of the temple
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Not known. The page we read names no Song abbot except two Chan monks, Danxia Tianran and Yangshan Huiji, whose visits it does not date.
Overlord
The prefect of Guangzhou
What it holds
- The temple precinct with the bodhi tree, the hair pagoda and the two iron pagodas
- Whatever estates it held: not known
How it was acquired
From the third century by gift of the Yu family (Wikipedia); Southern Han and Song patronage by the buildings named above.
Allies and rivals
The Liurong temple is its neighbour in the same city; the Huaisheng mosque and the fan quarter lie in the same western part of the old city.
How things stand that morning
In ordinary order. Nothing is recorded for the winter.
Military
None recorded.
Places of note
- The temple precinct: Bodhi tree, hair pagoda, two iron pagodas
Where the sources disagree
- The modern name Guangxiao is of 1482. Do not use it in 1200; say "the great temple of the sixth patriarch's tonsure" or give it a Song name only if a source for that year is found.
Evidence: Dated facts are from the Wikipedia article "Guangxiao Temple (Guangzhou)", which names no Song estates, abbot or patron in 1200; the sites are modern-day positions given to about a kilometre.
On the map: A point only. The temple lies inside the Guangzhou town record's land.
Primary sources for Southern Song
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online
12 more in the sources library for South China.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.