Guangxiao Temple
'Before there was Guangzhou there was Guangxiao': the city's oldest temple, on the site of a Nanyue royal residence, where Bodhidharma is said to have landed in the 6th century and where Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen), was ordained in 676 — his hair is under a small pagoda behind the main hall. Two iron pagodas of the 960s, a Song-built main hall on Tang foundations, and old bodhi and myrobalan trees in a working monastery. A ¥5 ticket at the gate (the temple went back to charging in June 2023, sold as a WeChat e-ticket or by pay-code at the door), no booking, open 8:30-16:30 (longer over Spring Festival); busy and partly closed on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month.
E-ticket bought in advance on the temple's WeChat official account 广州光孝寺 (order QR scanned at the gate), or pay at the gate by WeChat / Alipay / e-CNY pay-code, or a paper ticket at the on-site office (temple's Spring Festival 2025 notice via Bendibao). No reservationSecondhand source
No ID for a paid ticket; free entry needs proof. None for a paid ticket; free categories — over-60s, ordained Buddhists (certificate), children under 1.3 m, disabled people, servicemen — must show the relevant document (temple notice, June 2023)
Weekday mid-morning after the early devotees; avoid the 1st and 15th of the lunar month and the two weeks around Chinese New Year, when the courtyards fill for blessings and the queue starts on the street.
Bilingual name boards on the main halls; the stelae and most notices are Chinese. No official English page could be read (the temple's old web address no longer belongs to it).
How to visit
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