In order to study the windresistance characteristics of traditional timber structures in the south Yangtze River regions, the main hall of Baoguo Temple, which is the bestpreserved and the oldest Buddhist timber building in this region, was studied in terms of its windresistance characteristics. First, a model of the main hall was built based on precise geometric information acquired by 3D laser scanning and the finite element SAP2000 software, and its dynamic characteristics were analyzed. Then MATLAB software was used, based on AR model, to generate the time history curves of fluctuating wind speed and fluctuating wind pressure. The generated wind pressure was applied to the SAP2000 hall model for analysis. The results obtained were as follows:the structural modes, displacement response curves, displacement response spectrum curves, acceleration response, and comparison between the wind vibration coefficients obtained by the time history analysis of wind pressure and the wind vibration coefficients were calculated according to the code. Some conclusions could be drawn:1) the displacement response of this structure is controlled mainly by the top three natural modes; under the strong wind pressure, the deformation most likely to occur is the northsouth horizontal vibration, the westeast horizontal vibration and the torsional vibration; 2) all the displacements of typical joints are in the allowable range of values of lateral displacement; 3) the displacement of the center of the architrave in the windward side is the largest, with that of the top roof the second and those of the lower roof and the pillar top the smallest; 4) the accelerations of roof and columns of the main hall differ a lot and the roofcolumn connection joints should be of great importance in the future protection plans; 5) the wind vibration coefficients obtained by the time history analysis of wind pressure with the wind vibration coefficients calculated according to the code are obviously different, which is mainly due to the nonuniform transverse stiffness distribution of the structure; 6) the wind vibration coefficients obtained by the time history analysis of wind pressure are 1.2~1.4 times as big as those calculated according to the code because the code method only considers the effect of the first mode; 7) the wind vibration coefficients calculated according to the code are only suitable for the structure the mass and shape of which are invariant with the change of height, and are unsuitable for lowrise structures such as the Main Hall of Baoguo temple.