Oldest temples in China

Chinese temples keep their founding dates long after the buildings have gone, so this list ranks sites, not surviving halls. The Temple of Confucius at Qufu claims 478 BC but its present layout is a Ming rebuilding. The White Horse Temple at Luoyang, traditionally of AD 68, is regarded as China's first Buddhist temple, though its halls are Ming and Qing. For older fabric, look to the cave shrines: Bingling's earliest dated inscription is of AD 420, and the Mati Temple caves near Zhangye go back to the early 5th century.