The Huayan Temple is situated in the southwest corner of Datong City, Shanxi Province. It is the largest and best-preserved temple of the Liao (916-1125) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties in China. It was built in 1062 during the liao dynasty to house stone or bronze statues of emperors and offer sacrifices. It was rebuilt in the reigns of Xuande and Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). During the middle period of Ming Dynasty, the temple was divided into two temples, the upper temple and the lower temple, each having its own temple gate and structure. After several repairs in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the temple has today's scale. The two parts were put into one in 1963, and was given a collective name of the Huayan Temple. The temple occupies an area of more than 16,600 square meters. Compared with other temple architecture in China, the temple constructions in the Huayan Temple are on an east-west axis with the main halls facing to the east. This was due to the Qidan, (one parts of ethnic group who built the Liao Dynasty,) whose tradition of praying for the Divinity of the Sun to the east. The main hall of the upper temple is the Hall of Sakyamuni. Covering an area of 1,553 square meters, it is one of the largest of its kind still in exis tence in China. All sorts of color-clay statues of Five Buddha and twenty Buddha's warrior attendants are housed in the hall. The well-preserved color murals are 890 square meters (about 0.2 acres), which is rare in China. On top of the hall are color paintings from the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasties (1644 - 1911) with dragons, cranes, and flowers. Compared to the splendid Upper temple, the Lower temple is simple. The Sutra Preserving Hall in the latter part of the complex is where a collection of over 18,000 Buddhist sutra volumes and scripts are preserved. In addition, five exquisitely carved wood-structured pavilions in the latter part of the hall are the only remaining examples of their kind in China.