The Main Hall of Nanchan Temple stands at Lijiazhuang in Wutai County and was built in the third year of the Tang Jianzhong era (782). It is the oldest timber building now known, more than seventy years older than the East Main Hall of Foguang Temple. The hall is three bays by three on a nearly square plan, under a single-eave gable-and-hip roof, with no interior columns and a plain roof frame, and it holds Tang painted sculptures. The temple lay in a remote place and so escaped the Buddhist persecution under Emperor Wuzong.
