Five Pagoda Temple (五塔寺)

The Five Pagoda Temple (五塔寺) is officially the Hohhot Wuta Temple (金刚座舍利宝塔), and it is nothing like a temple. It is a single 16th-century Buddhist stupa - a stone tower shaped like an upside-down golden bell, standing on a raised square base.

It is the most beautiful small site in Hohhot, and the most consistently missed. Most tour groups are still at Dazhao Temple when you get here.

Highlights

The tile work. This is the reason to come. The stupa's base is clad in 1,562 individually modelled glazed Buddha tiles, each about 4 cm tall, fired in seven colours. The figures are in relief, not painted. Up close, under the eaves in the side galleries, you can see individual Buddhas, bodhisattvas, lions, elephants and flying apsaras.

The Golden Stupa. Up top, a solid gold-bronze bell-shaped reliquary from the 16th century, still in place.

The Sutra Library. A two-storey hall on the site holds the Thousand Character Classic sutra carved in Mongolian, Chinese and Tibetan on wood. Written in vertical Mongolian script, it is a good thing to stand in front of for a minute.

The Gallery Murals. Small, damaged, and genuinely old - Ming dynasty wall painting in the cloisters. Lighting is poor, bring a phone flashlight if you care.

Practical

¥20 ($2.80). No booking. Closed Mondays, like most of Hohhot's museums and religious sites.

It is a 10-minute walk from Dazhao Temple, so the obvious plan is Dazhao at 8:30, Five Pagoda at 10:00, then lunch on Xinhua Street. Stand at the far end of the plaza to get the whole stupa in frame - the entrance arch is directly in front of it and flattens the shape.