湖北归元寺英文导游词

　　Guiyuan Temple

　　Chinese Buddhist temples are never single buildings. They always consist of a group buildings following a fundamental patter, which can, however, be modified. The main buildings and their symmetrically corresponding secondary buildings form individual groups and courtyards. The entire temple complex is spacious. The building inside the complex are usually single-storied and the main halls are sometimes decorated with a double roof. The towers, pavilions and halls can be multi-storied structures. 

　　The Chinese temple complex has been subject to great structural changes throughout the centuries. But temple architects follow the basic principles of secular structures from the Tang Dynasty onwards. The complexes stand on a central axis, usually a north-south axis: east