Longquan Temple, Black Dragon Pool, Kunming昆明黑龙潭龙泉观
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Yunnan · Kunming · Black Dragon Pool Park, Longquan Road, Panlong District
- Coordinates
- 25.14, 102.75 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism
- First built
- Han (Heishui Shrine, traditional) · The Longquan Temple was built in the twenty-seventh year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1394) and repaired in the Ming and Qing; the temple's Tang plum, Song cypress and Ming camellia are known as the "Three Extraordinary Trees of Black Dragon Pool"
- Heritage status
- Yunnan Provincial Cultural Heritage Site
Overview
The Longquan Temple is located at Black Dragon Pool on the northern outskirts of Kunming. Tradition holds that a Heishui (Black Water) Shrine to the dragon spirit already existed in the Han dynasty; the Longquan Temple was built in the twenty-seventh year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming (1394), divided into an upper temple (the Longquan Temple proper) and a lower temple (the Heilong Palace), enshrining Zhenwu and the Dragon King, and repeatedly repaired in the Ming and Qing. Within the temple, a Tang-dynasty plum tree (some say Song-dynasty), a Song-dynasty cypress, and a Ming-dynasty camellia are together known as the "Three Extraordinary Trees" and are a famous sight of Kunming; beside the temple, the phenomenon of the clear and turbid pools of Black Dragon Pool being joined yet their fish never crossing between them has long been renowned. Steles in the temple include one commemorating the Ming-dynasty figure Xue Erwang, who drowned himself in the pool as an act of loyalty. The temple today forms the main body of Kunming's Black Dragon Pool Park, preserving its Daoist halls, and is a Yunnan Provincial Cultural Heritage Site.
Highlights
- The Tang plum and Song cypress
- Heilong Palace
- The clear and turbid pools