Taiqing Palace, Laoshan崂山太清宫
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Shandong · Qingdao · At the foot of Laojun Peak on the southern side of Mount Lao, beside Taiqing Bay
- Coordinates
- 36.135, 120.66 Map ↗
- School
- Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Suishan Lineage of Quanzhen
- First built
- Western Han, first year of Jianyuan (140 BCE, tradition) · Built by imperial decree in the first year of the Jianlong reign of Emperor Taizu of Song (960); rebuilt in the Yuan; the surviving structures date from Qing-dynasty and post-1980s repairs
- Heritage status
- Daoist Architectural Complex of Mount Lao — Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2013)National Key Daoist Temple (1983)
Overview
Taiqing Palace is the largest and oldest Daoist temple on Mount Lao, also called Xiaqing Palace or Xiagong (the Lower Palace), enclosed by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on the fourth. Tradition holds that Zhang Lianfu built the Sanguan Hermitage and the Hall of the Three Pure Ones here in the first year of the Jianyuan era of the Han (140 BCE); Li Zhexuan expanded it during the Tianyou era of the Tang; and in the first year of the Jianlong reign of the Song (960), Emperor Taizu ordered it built by imperial decree as the place of practice of Liu Ruozhuo, giving it its initial scale. In the Jin and Yuan, Qiu Chuji, Liu Chuxuan, and others resided here, and the palace became the ancestral court of the Quanzhen Suishan Lineage, receiving an inscribed board from Emperor Shizu of the Yuan. Surviving today are the three great courtyards of the Sanguan Hall, the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, and the Hall of the Three Sovereigns, along with the Guan-Yue Shrine and notable ancient trees such as camellias, Han-dynasty cypresses, and Tang-dynasty elms; the 'crimson snow' camellia is the very one on which Pu Songling based his tale 'Xiangyu.' The palace preserves steles from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing and poems inscribed by Qiu Chuji, and 'Water and Moon at Taiqing' is one of the Twelve Scenic Views of Mount Lao. It was designated a National Key Daoist Temple in 1983 and is today the seat of the Qingdao Taoist Association.
Highlights
- The Sanguan Hall
- The Hall of the Three Pure Ones
- The Hall of the Three Sovereigns
- The Han-dynasty cypresses and Tang-dynasty elms
- The 'crimson snow' camellia
- Qiu Chuji's inscribed poems