Little is known about the appearances of the castle and the church, except that they were both decorated with pearls. According to the 4th-century gazetteer
Chronicles of the Southern Lands by
Chang Qu: "The Castle of Seven Treasures was built by
ancient Shu kings of the
Kaiming dynasty (666 BC – 316 BC) with curtains made of pearls. It was burned down, together with thousands of houses, by the Great Fire of during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (141 BC – 87 BC). Nowadays, people often find pearls in the castle's ruins." A description of Pearl Temple found in 's
Stories of Shu Commandery (11th century) reads as follows: "The 'stalagmites' outside the west gate of the city are said to be the foundation of Pearl Castle, on whose ruins a (i.e., an
East Syriac church) was built by "
Hu" missionaries. The temple consisted of halls and towers totaling 10 spaces. Its doors and windows were decorated with curtains made of gold, pearls and green jasper (or jadeite beads). It was later destroyed and fell to the ground, but the foundation remained. Pearls, gold and green gems were often found in the ruins after heavy rains. The stones known today as 'stalagmites' are not the foundation but [a pair of
dolmens] situated next to the temple. The
Daqin empire, whence a variety of precious stones is obtained, namely, lapis lazuli, emeralds, pearls, and luminous jade. Its waterways lead to
Yi Prefecture and
Yongchang Commandery, wherefore the temple was built by people from Daqin." The
Illustrated Chorography of Shu also states that the halls and towers of the temple "were decorated with gold and pearls," and calls it "an enchanting edifice of its time," but "it was later abandoned and destroyed during the chaos caused by a military conflict." The above-mentioned accounts are repeated as a single history in volume 18 of the 12th-century
biji collection
Loose Records from the Studio of Possible Change by , and in volume 2 of '
by (1575–1646). The history of Pearl Temple is also recounted in volume 7 of ', for the ruins of the church are the subject of
Du Gongbu's poem "The Stone Shoots: A Ballad": "Have you not seen by the west gate of Yizhou City, by a field lane the 'Stone Shoots,' a pair crouching high. Since ancient times it's been said that these were 'eyes of the sea,' mosses and lichens have eaten away all traces of waves and billows. In heavy rains one often finds rare green gems—these things are a muddle and hard to explain clearly." He was unaware of the site being the ruins of a church, for he went on to write: "I suspect that in olden days these were tombs of a minister or grandee, they set the stones up as markers, and they still survive today." In light of the fact that Pearl Temple had already been destroyed when "The Stone Shoots: A Ballad" was being written by Du Gongbu, who stayed in Yizhou during the reigns of the emperors Suzong and Daizong (756–779), speculated that the construction of the temple was no later than the Xuanzong period (712–756). == "Stalagmites" ==