Yanqing Temple, Kaifeng开封延庆观
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Henan · Kaifeng · No. 53 Guanqian Street, Gulou District
- Coordinates
- 34.793, 114.348 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism
- First built
- 5th year of Emperor Taizong of Yuan (1233) · Quanzhen priests built Chongyang Temple in Kaifeng to commemorate Wang Chongyang's transformation-departure there; it was granted the name Dachaoyuan Wanshou Palace during the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan, renamed Yanqing Temple in the sixth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1373); the Yuan-dynasty Jade Emperor Pavilion survives
- Heritage status
- Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (1988)
Overview
Yanqing Temple was built to commemorate the transformation-departure (yuhua) of the Quanzhen patriarch Wang Chongyang in Kaifeng. In the tenth year of the Dading reign of the Jin (1170), Wang Chongyang died in Bianjing (Kaifeng) while returning west with his disciples; in the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Yuan (1233), disciples of Qiu Chuji built Chongyang Temple on the site, which was expanded during the Zhiyuan era and granted the name 'Dachaoyuan Wanshou Palace,' a complex of great scale, renamed Yanqing Temple in the sixth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1373). The surviving Yuan-dynasty Jade Emperor Pavilion (also called Tongming Pavilion) stands about 13 meters tall, square below and round above, with a brick dome in the style of a Mongol yurt, blending Han and Mongol architectural styles; inside it enshrines a white-marble statue of the Jade Emperor, making it a unique surviving example of Yuan-dynasty Daoist architecture. The temple also preserves Ming and Qing steles and Yuan-dynasty stone carvings; it was designated a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 1988, and is said by some to be, together with Yongle Palace in Shanxi and the White Cloud Temple in Beijing, one of the three great surviving Yuan-dynasty Quanzhen sites.
Highlights
- The Yuan-dynasty Jade Emperor Pavilion
- The white-marble statue of the Jade Emperor
- The site of Wang Chongyang's transformation-departure