I’ve been mapping lots of countryside in Gansu, China, and the number of temples is quite high.

In the predominantly muslim areas, mosques are usually very easy to recognize (although I hope I didn’t miss too many because of tunnel-vision), due to the usually square main building with a central dome, surrounded my 2 or 4 minarets.

Buddhist and Taoist temples however, are impossible to distinguish for me, as someone with only basic knowledge of Chinese architecture and these two religions. On the ground I would probably be able to, but with the number of local mappers in rural Gansu and my travel budget not being impressively high, all there is left is studying Bing imagery.

Some examples:

1. https://binged.it/2iiI15h
2. https://binged.it/2hKq2YL
3. https://binged.it/2hKjv01
4. https://binged.it/2hKCcAS
5. https://binged.it/2hKuLd0
6. https://binged.it/2hKr86Q
7. https://binged.it/2hKs3nO
8. https://binged.it/2hKllxX
9. https://binged.it/2hKwn6y
10. https://binged.it/2iiP2mS

Without looking, can you tell which one is Buddhist? Of those listed, one was documented, so I could confirm (or rather, correct) that is is Buddhist: http://www.openstreetmap.org/way/454051191

Besides purely looking at the architecture, the location also gives things away of course. In a Hui autonomous county, you expect to find more mosques, in a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, you expect more Buddhist temples. Some temples are located on hilltops, others within a residential area and others are surrounded by farmland. I don’t know what significance this has, but surely, there must be some.

If you know the name of the temple, this can apparently also give you a hint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_temple

Chinese religion experts, please let yourself be heard in the comments or via a message.