Myanmar to build Buddhist shrine in Chinese temple

Baima Temple, the oldest Buddhist temple in China, will see a new exotic shrine, funded by the Myanma government, rise in its courtyard next year, local religious affairs authorities said. Construction on the shrine, which will be designed, funded and built by the government of Myanmar, will begin in April next year, said an official with the religious affairs bureau in Luoyang, capital city of central Henan province, where the temple is located. The 1,943-year-old Baima Temple, or White Horse Temple, is the first Buddhist temple in China and is considered "the cradle of Chinese Buddhism" by most believers. The 35-million-yuan project (about 5.56 million U.S. dollars), which will include a shrine, a pagoda and a museum, will cover an area of 7,000 square meters, and construction is expected to take about 18 months, the official said. In order to make the shrine in a genuine Myanma style, most of the materials and decorations will be shipped from Myanmar. The Myanmar Buddha hall will not be the temple's first exotic shrine, as it is already home to an Indian shrine and a Thai shrine.