White Cloud Temple, Jiaxian (Baiyun Mountain)佳县白云观（白云山）
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Shaanxi · Jiaxian, Yulin · Baiyun Mountain, 5 km south of Jiaxian county town, on the western bank of the Yellow River
- Coordinates
- 38.01, 110.49 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen
- First built
- 1605, the 33rd year of the Wanli era, Ming · Founded by the Daoist priest Li Yufeng; Emperor Shenzong bestowed a Daozang in the forty-sixth year of Wanli; expanded through the Ming and Qing into the largest Daoist architectural complex in northern Shaanxi; visited by Mao Zedong in 1947
- Heritage status
- Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2001)
Overview
The White Cloud Temple, Jiaxian, stands on Baiyun Mountain on the western bank of the Yellow River. It was founded in the thirty-third year of the Wanli era of the Ming (1605) by the Daoist priest Li Yufeng; in the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618), Emperor Shenzong bestowed a copy of the Daozang and ordered the temple's imperial construction, after which it was repeatedly expanded through the Ming and Qing into a complex of more than fifty halls and shrines cascading down the mountainside, the largest Daoist architectural complex in the northwest, dedicated primarily to Zhenwu. Its main structures include the Great Hall of Zhenwu, the Scripture Repository, the Yuhuang Pavilion, the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, and the Hall of the Five Patriarchs and Seven Perfected; it preserves Ming- and Qing-dynasty murals (some 1,600 square meters), painted sculpture, steles, and fragments of the Wanli-edition Daozang (now held in the Shaanxi Provincial Library). The temple fair on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month is the largest in Shanxi and Shaanxi. In 1947, while campaigning through northern Shaanxi, Mao Zedong climbed Baiyun Mountain to view the temple fair and read the Daozang. The temple was designated a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2001.
Highlights
- Great Hall of Zhenwu
- Ming-dynasty murals
- Daozang bestowed during the Wanli era
- Baiyun Mountain temple fair
- Yellow River scenery