Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
At the base of Zhongnan Mountain in Xi’an, China, the Guanyin Chan Temple features an ancient ginkgo tree that is over 1,400 years old.
Each autumn, this tree displays stunning golden leaves.
It is believed that Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang dynasty planted the tree.
Recently, a study was conducted on Buddhist and Taoist temples across China.
The study revealed that these temples have housed tens of thousands of ancient trees, serving as a safeguard for at least 2,000 years. This phenomenon has not been observed elsewhere in landscapes heavily transformed by humans.
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.
