Tanhua Temple is known for its luxuriant trees and showy flowers. At the beginning of the republic of China, the abbot Yingkong was good at gardening and famous in Yunnan. He made the trees and flowers in Tanhua Temple green and bloom in every four season. The plants such as peony, cymbidium, orchid, Myanmar osmanthus and Malus halliana were very famous at that time. Now, it still attracts a lot of tourists both at home and abroad every year.

Tanhua Temple, also called Taohu Nunnery, is located at the foot of Jinma Mountain in the eastern suburb of Kunming City. With an area of 8 hectares, it originally was a thatched shack of Shi Shiqiao, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). During the reign of Emperor Chongzhen(1628-1644), his grandson, Shi Tai, donated the estate for the shack whereon Tanhua Temple was built. And it rebuilt after the earthquake during the reign of Emperor Daoguang. There was an epiphyllum tree in the backyard, which came from India according to legend, which is called "tanhua" in Chinese and honored as "Buddha's Flower", hence the name "Tanhua Temple".

The temple went through many renovations during the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912). It has been a scenic spot for more than three hundred years, and an epitome of Kunming, the Flower City of the Southern Frontier. The epiphyllum tree was planted in the side court of the depository of Buddhist Scriptures. There is a stone tablet on which four characters are carved The Epiphyllum Brings Luck. After the erection of the temple, the original epiphyllum withered and died. The epiphyllum now standing taller than the eaves of the temple sprang from the root of the original one at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty is about three hundred years old. It bursts into flowers in mid-summer. The big loquat tree in the backyard is said to have been planted in the early Ming Dynasty.

Tanhua Temple is divided into three parts, including the front garden, middle garden and back garden. The front garden is mainly base on the Sanjin Courts. There are pavilions, artificial hill, trees and flowers in it. The flowers and rockeries with winding paths among the flowers and the zigzagging corridor surround the Lotus Pond, where you can watch fish. Middle garden is bigger than the front garden. It is shaded by tall cedars and cypresses and includes seven smaller gardens and a Children's Playground. In the back garden, there is a Ruiying Tower with a high of 48 meters, which offer for visitors to look far into the distance to enjoy the beautiful sight of whole garden.

How to get

Taxi, mini-bus or public bus 29, 50, 54, 75, 77, 114, 158, K2, 132