Place · site

Bingling Temple

Bingling Temple is a group of Buddhist cave temples in the cliffs of a canyon on the Yellow River in Yongjing County, Gansu, China, now reached by boat across the Liujiaxia reservoir. Carving began under the Western Qin, and an inscription in Cave 169 dated 420 is the earliest dated inscription in any Chinese cave temple. Work continued for over a thousand years, and the site is part of the Silk Roads World Heritage listing.

Bingling Temple
Image: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Western Qin

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Bingling Temple. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bingling-temple
MLA
“Bingling Temple.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bingling-temple. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Bingling Temple.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bingling-temple.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Bingling Temple’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bingling-temple (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻