Horse's Hoof Temple

The Horse's Hoof Temple, or Matisi is located on the west bank of the Mati (Horse's Hoof) River in the Sunan (south Gansu) Yugur Autonomous County at the foot of the Qilain Mountains some 65 kilometers south of the city of Zhangye. Legend has it that God Erlang stopped to relax his horse here when he was pursuing the fleeing sun. To remember the god, the locals built a temple here and so named it because the god's horse had left hoof prints on the river bank.

Matisi is a complex of grottoes. It consists of the Asvajit Cave Temple, the Universal Light Caves, the Thousand-Buddha Caves, the Golden Pagoda Caves, and the Upper, Middle, and Lower Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) Caves. Matisi is built within a high cliff face and accessible only via an amazing passageway through the caves.