Quanzhou was often called “the kingdom of the Buddha” beause of the high level of development of Buddhism. Jacob observed many Buddhist temples and religious images in Zaitun. They could be seen everywhere, both within the city and on the surounding hills. He once visited a temple with over one thousand images. This was probably the Kaiyuan Temple. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Kaiyuan had more than one hundred branch temples, which is suggestive of its scale and the number of its monks and Buddhist images.
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