High-quality route 18: Touring religious culture

Shenyang is a multicultural, multiethnic and multireligious city.

Recommended sites: Ci'en Temple, Xiaonan Catholic Church, Taiqing Palace, South Mosque, Shisheng Temple.

Built in 1628, Ci'en Temple sits at 12 Ci'en Temple Lane on Danan Street in Shenhe district and, at 12,000 square meters, is the largest existing Buddhist temple in Shenyang. The temple complex is made up of three building groups.

Xiaonan Catholic Church is a brick-concrete structure with a plain brick facade. With two square-tapered spires at its front and a cross standing tall at its center, the 1,100-sq-m building follows a European Renaissance style and is a typical of Gothic architecture.

Sitting on 5,200 sq m in the north but facing south, Taiqing Palace was built in 1663. A mountain gate opens on its east side and the main palace buildings include a monastery gate, Lingguan and Guandi Halls, Yuhuang Pavilion, Sanguan Hall and Guozu Tower.

The 6,116 sq m Shenyang South Mosque was built in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and remains one of the largest and most prestigious mosques in Northeast China.

Shisheng Temple, also known as the “Royal Temple”, sits at 206 Huangsi Rd in Heping district, was founded in 1636, and is a 7,000-sq-m complex with a 1,000-sq-m building area housing an old Shenyang Lama temple.