Municipal Historical and Cultural Heritage Protection Unit

Haitong Temple, together with Liurong Temple, Guangxiao Temple and Hualin Temple are called Guangzhou's "Top Four Buddhist Temples". The temple was said to be the location of Qianqiu Temple of Southern Han Dynasty. The first king of Southern Han Dynasty built many buildings in the neighborhood, including temples, the dressing hall, King Liu's Hall and Altar of Heaven, which were mostly used as dwellings since Song and Yuan Dynasties. Guo Yuelong, a wealthy merchant of Ming Dynasty, built his mansion outside of the former Qianqiu Temple, covering a wide area. In late Ming Dynasty, Monk Guang Mou raised a plot from the Guo's Garden for building a temple. It turned out that the old house was renovated slightly and then was hung the plaque inscribing "Haitong". In the early Qing Dynasty, Procurator Liu funded to build a formal gate to it, which is now located on Nanhua Middle Road. At that time, it was seaside (the Pearl River was called 'Pearl Sea" in ancient times). Inside the temple were Jing Chuang (stone columns inscribed with scriptures), thus the temple was named with the meaning of seaside temple.

There are many historical and cultural relics in the temple, including one iron bell and one hall bronze bell made in Kangxi's reign, one artabotrys hexapetalus in the Guo's garden planted in Ming Dynasty, a pair of stone lions from the Pans, a tycoon in Guangdong, and one Taihu stone in the form of a tiger from the Wus.

※ Address: No. 188 Nanhua Zhonglu (Inside the Haitong Park between Nanhua Zhonglu and Tongfu Zhonglu)

※ Transportation:
· Bus:
(1) Take bus 10, 16, 183, 25, 270, 530, B21 to Haitong Park Stop or;
(2) Take bus 10, 113, 16, 183, 191, 243, 244A, 244, 250, 25, 273, 527, 5, B21, B8 to Red Cross Hospital Stop