Mati Temple

Chinese Name: 马蹄寺 (Ma Ti Si)
Location: Mati Tibetan township, Sunan Yugu Autonomous County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province 
Ticket: CNY74.00
Estimated tour time: 3 hours
Recommended time to visit: All year round.
Nearby attractions: Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park， Zhangye Wetland Park, Giant Buddha Temple, etc.

Mati Temple is located in the Mati Tibetan township of Sunan Yugu Autonomous County, Gansu Province, 65 kilometers north of Zhangye City. It is a tourist area integrating grotto art, Qilian Mountain scenery and Tibetan customs.

Mati Temple Grottoes consist of seven caves: Shengguo Temple, Puguang Temple, Thousand Buddha Caves, Golden Pagoda Temple, Upper, Middle and Lower Guanyin Caves. There are a total of more than 70 grottoes which were first built in the North Liang State (397-460AD). It is a large scale grottoes including nearly 30 kilometers, seven small grottoes group. It is the national cultural relic protection unit. The legend says the heaven horse left hoof marks after drinking water here, hence the name Mati meaning horseshoe. Horseshoe imprint in the legend is kept in the Mati Hall, Puguang Temple and is the treasure of the temple.

Due to its long history, Mati Temple Grottoes, together with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang and Yulin Grottoes in Anxi, are known as the three art grottoes of Buddhist shrine in Hexi district. The Mati Temple Grottoes, with a history of more than 1,600 years, is one of the cultural relics with a long history and high artistic value. The unique feature of grottoes lies in the fact that there are more than 500 grottoes in the thousand Buddha Grottoes, which are large in scale and a good place to experience the unique life style and cultural characteristics of the grassland nomads.

Mati Temple's collections - Standing Buddha in the Jin Dynasty, the sword of Manjusri Bodhisattva in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the dragon robe of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, the horse saddle of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty and many other cultural relics make people marvel at the vicissitudes of history and the glory of Mati Temple.