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Shi Huang

At the foot of Zhongnan Mountain in the Chinese city of Xian, the ancient Guanyin Chan Temple is home to a ginkgo tree with a history spanning over 1,400 years.
As autumn approaches each year, this ancient ginkgo tree bursts into a spectacular golden display.
The tree is said to have been planted by Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang dynasty (618-907) during a visit to the temple.
According to a new study, temples across China – both Buddhist and Taoist – have safeguarded tens of thousands of ancient trees, serving as an ark for at least 2,000 years, a phenomenon not observed elsewhere in landscapes heavily transformed by humans.
The research by Chinese and Australian scientists was published in the journal Current Biology on June 4.
In China, trees over 100 years old are classified as “ancient trees”, with a total of 5.08 million registered nationwide.
Researchers analysed a database of 46,966 ancient trees from 5,125 Buddhist and 1,420 Taoist temples. They found that each temple preserved 7.2 ancient trees on average.
Although temple trees represent less than 1 per cent of all registered ancient trees, their density within temple grounds is more than 7,000 times higher than the density of ancient trees elsewhere. Many ancient trees are over 1,000 years old.


The ginkgo tree at the Guanyin Chan Temple in Xian is among them.
Buddhists believe that the Buddha was born under an ashoka tree, achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, and died under a sal tree.
In China, particularly the north, the cold climate prevents the Indian bodhi tree from thriving, so the ginkgo tree became the symbolic “sacred tree” within Chinese Han Buddhism.
The natural populations of Chinese ginkgo are confined to isolated refuges in the Dalou Mountains in the southwest, the Nanling Mountains in the south, and Tianmu Mountain in the east, serving as remnants from the last glacial period.
However, ancient ginkgo trees are commonly found in Buddhist temples, likely due to their introduction from these natural refuges during the early spread of Buddhism around 2,000 years ago.
Temples also protect other ancient specimens.
The survey documented 5,989 ancient trees belonging to 61 threatened species preserved in temples across China. This represents 46.7 per cent of the endangered ancient trees recorded in the surveyed counties.
Among them, eight threatened species were found only within temple grounds. The rarest individual ancient tree documented was a specimen identified as Carpinus putoensis at Huiji Temple in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
Huiji Temple, established during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), is located on Putuo Mountain – one of Buddhism’s four sacred mountains in China.
This specific tree was brought to Putuo Mountain by a monk from Myanmar during a pilgrimage over 200 years ago. In 1932, it was identified as a new species and named Carpinus putoensis.
Carpinus putoensis is now a critically endangered species, and the tree at Huiji Temple is the only representative of its species known in the wild.
“It’s where ecological and spiritual values converge,” said Yang Yongchuan, the study’s senior author and a conservation researcher at Chongqing University, in an interview with Nature on June 5.
Protecting trees within sacred sites isn’t a uniquely Chinese phenomenon.
Similar refuges exist in India’s sacred groves, Japan’s shrine forests, and West Africa’s ancestral tree sites.
China’s case, however, stands out for its scale – and its systematic documentation.
“These trees not only bear witness to China’s recorded history but have also endured millennia of climatic fluctuations,” Yang said. “As survivors of climate change and human disturbance, their progeny may possess enhanced adaptability to future climatic shifts.”
Another example is Tanzhe Temple in the western suburbs of Beijing.
An ancient Beijing saying declares: “First came Tanzhe Temple, then came Beijing city.” With a history of 1,700 years, it is Beijing’s oldest temple.
Tanzhe Temple has the most abundant collection of ancient trees among Beijing’s temples, with 178 registered specimens.
Among its treasures are two 1,300-year-old ginkgo trees, over 20 examples of ancient sal trees and numerous Maclura tricuspidata trees, from which the temple takes its name.
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Study shows China’s temples act as rare sanctuaries for ancient trees

Guanyin Chan Temple in the city of Xian in northwest China is home to a ginkgo tree with a history spanning over 1,400 years. Photo: Xinhua



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Team finds China’s Buddhist and Taoist temples host higher concentration of old trees – some dating back 1,000 years – than anywhere else


Team finds China’s Buddhist and Taoist temples host higher concentration of old trees – some dating back 1,000 years – than anywhere else.
