Jin Dian (Gold Temple)

Jin Dian — the Golden Pavilion or Copper Temple — is a Taoist temple complex on a forested hill 11 kilometres northeast of central Kunming. The centrepiece is a bronze pavilion built in 1637 under the Ming general Mu Tianbo — a structure of cast bronze roofing tiles, bronze columns, bronze balustrades, and bronze interior fittings, assembled without mortar on a white marble terrace. At roughly 7 metres tall and 250 tonnes of cast bronze, it is one of the largest bronze architectural structures in China.

The original Jin Dian pavilion was removed during the early Qing dynasty and relocated to Guizhou; the existing bronze pavilion is a 1671 replacement ordered by Wu Sangui, the Han general who invited the Manchu forces into China and later controlled Yunnan as a semi-independent kingdom. Wu Sangui's sword and bronze stove are displayed inside the pavilion.

The surrounding Taoist complex extends across the hilltop in a series of courtyards, stone stairways, and ceremonial gates. The forestry of the hill — old pines, cedars, and camellias planted in Ming and Qing periods — gives the complex a substantially different character from the flat-land urban temples of eastern China.

The Kunming Azalea Garden, on the slopes below the temple complex, is a specialist collection of over 100,000 azalea plants of more than 200 varieties, planted from the 1980s onward. The late-February through April flowering season is the principal annual draw for domestic visitors, with the hillside colour display visible from the city below.