Guangfu Temple is located within the Yuantouzhu Scenic Area of Taihu Lake, and it is one of the earliest temples in Wuxi to open to the public. It stands at the junction of ‘Yuantou Spring Waves’ and ‘Ten Thousand Waves Rolling Snow’, nestled against the mountains and facing the lake, with a north-south orientation. During the Southern Dynasties Xiao Liang period, a temple named Guangfu Hermitage, also known as Qiaoyan Temple, was built on the back mountain of Yuantouzhu. The ancient temple, surrounded by towering trees, has seen its share of rise and fall. In the autumn of 1925, the monk Liang Ru raised funds from local gentry Yang Hanxi to rebuild on ten acres of mountain land. The temple was named ‘Guangfu Temple’, which means ‘a vast land and numerous people together ascending to a blessed land and heavenly realm’. In 1980, Guangfu Temple returned to the jurisdiction of the Municipal Buddhist Association. The Four Heavenly Kings, Maitreya Buddha, and the Bodhisattvas Guanyin and Ksitigarbha were re-sculpted, and eighteen Arhats were invited from Beijing. The President of the Chinese Buddhist Association, Zhao Puchu, inscribed the plaque ‘Great Perfect Enlightenment’, and Wei Tianchi inscribed the ‘Guangfu Temple’ plaque; religious activities were restored. Inside the temple, the monk’s quarters ‘Huayan Jing She’ houses the three treasures of the temple: an ostrich egg, the ancient painting ‘Hundred Birds’, and the iron whip of the Ming Dynasty anti-Qing hero Yang Ziyuan. Additionally, there are five rooms of ‘Tui Lu’ by Cai Jiansan. The architectural layout follows the traditional pattern, with bell and drum towers, the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Mahavira Hall, and auxiliary buildings such as Taozhu Pavilion, Bowl Edge Hall, Hua Yu Hall, Huayan Jing She, and Tui Lu. Although there are only more than twenty rooms, the layout is appropriate, well-arranged, and the environment is tranquil, allowing one to overlook Taihu Lake and enjoy the best of the lake and mountains. To the east of Guangfu Temple, there is the ‘Xiao Nanhai’, shaded by bamboo forests, built by the monk Pushan, which is the venue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin. The vegetarian noodles and meals there are famous far and wide. The opening hours are subject to the actual opening status on the day.
