The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees is one of Guangzhou's most famous Buddhist temples, and today it is the site of the Guangzhou Buddhist Association. The original name of the temple was "Baozhuang Yanshi", and its name was changed after a fire and renovation to "Jingwei Shi". In the year 1100, the literary writer Su Dongpo who lived during the Song Dynasty came to visit the temple he named it after the six bantam trees that he saw around the temple. The "Six Banyan" board on the lintel that still exists today was handwritten by Su.
The temple has a total area of 7,000 sq m and is made up of the Liuzu Hall, Guanyin Hall, Baorong Pavilion, and the Tablet Corridor. In the Liuzu Hall, there is the bronze statue of the founder of Zen Buddhism. In the Guanyin Hall, there is a highly valuable Guanyin statue that stands four meters tall. As for the Baorong Pavilion and the Tablet Corridor, there is lush greenery on both sides of the buildings. One of the tablets recording the history of the Temple is quite well preserved.
However, the most famous structure in the temple is the "Flower Pagoda", which was constructed in 537 of bricks and wood. The octagonal 17-storey high pagoda actually contains Buddhist relics, and the roof of the pagoda has a huge bronze pillar of a 1,020 Buddha images that were cast in the Yuan Dynasty.
