1. Regarding the downhill design of Yuantong Temple, many people think that the ancients deliberately chose this site in order to reduce the drainage problem.
Yuantong Temple is a typical temple? Daopo Temple? The biggest feature of this temple with a history of 1200 years is that it basically goes all the way down. From the entrance to the archway, the lowest end of the temple is the release pond; For the design of Yuantong Temple, many people think that it was specially built here to facilitate drainage. Although drainage is a concern of every temple, will it be built here for a simple drainage problem? I don't think this is the real reason. After all, for the ancients, building a temple would not simply consider the issue of drainage.
Second, Yuantong Temple may actually belong to such a terrain when it is located, and then the lowest end will be built into a release pool according to the actual situation.
For the downhill building of Yuantong Temple, I think the site itself is downhill terrain; In the eyes of ancient people, building a temple is ultimately feng shui and significance, which may be the downhill terrain when building a temple. In order to create a stable momentum of the temple in all directions, craftsmen can only build the main hall at the lowest place, and build a gravity pool with convenient drainage, so that rainwater will not directly invade the main hall, which has made a special downhill temple.
The construction of Yuantong Temple may be due to the geographical environment, which makes it become a low-lying release pond often accompanied by a main hall.