Xilin Temple and Yuanying Pagoda

Xilin Temple (西林禅寺, Xīlín Chánsì) is a working Chan Buddhist temple in the old centre of Songjiang, on Zhongshan Middle Road. Its main draw is Yuanying Pagoda (圆应塔, Yuányìng Tǎ), commonly called Xilin Pagoda, a seven-storey, eight-sided brick-and-wood tower 46.5 metres high. It is described as the tallest surviving ancient pagoda in Shanghai.

The pagoda is the temple’s one old building. The gate hall, the Mahavira Hall and the Kunlu Hall (昆卢殿) on the central axis were all rebuilt between 1986 and 2003, after the temple decayed in the Republic period and was damaged in the Cultural Revolution. The pagoda sits between the main hall and the Kunlu Hall.

Sources disagree on how old the temple is. Chinese Wikipedia dates it to a hostel called Jiedai Yuan (接待院) of the Xianchun years, 1265 to 1274; English Wikipedia traces it back to a Tang-dynasty retreat of 872. Both agree it was rebuilt in the early Ming, around 1387 and 1388, and given the name Xilin. Treat the earlier dates as uncertain.

The pagoda is named for Chan master Yuanying, remembered as the temple’s founder. It was begun in the Southern Song and rebuilt in 1388. After it collapsed, it was moved in 1444 to stand behind the main Buddha hall, and it was repaired in 1613, 1793 and 1845. Most of the brick body is Song in style. Inside is a square central room with a stone stair built into the walls, and the doors on each storey alternate direction.

By the 1960s the wooden parts had rotted. In 1965 the Qing-era eaves, balconies and railings of storeys two to six were taken down. The pagoda was listed as a Shanghai municipal protected site in 1982 and restored in 1993 and 1994. Workers then found a sealed chamber under the finial and an underground chamber beneath the central room, with more than 60 objects from the finial alone, among them a silver sutra box, gilded bronze Buddhas and coins.

No official page for hours or tickets was found, and the page has not yet been checked on site.