Wanshou Palace of Xishan (Yulong Wanshou Palace)西山万寿宫（玉隆万寿宫）
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Jiangxi · Xinjian, Nanchang · Mount Xiaoyao, Xishan Town, Xinjian District
- Coordinates
- 28.5, 115.63 Map ↗
- School
- Jingming (Pure and Bright) Daoism, Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism
- First built
- Eastern Jin (built by disciples after Xu Xun's death as the Xu Xian Shrine) · Called Youwei Temple in the Northern and Southern Dynasties; named Yulong Palace during the Dazhongxiangfu era of the Song; elevated to "Yulong Wanshou Palace" in the sixth year of the Zhenghe era (1116); ancestral court of Jingming Daoism; present buildings from a reconstruction in the Tongzhi era of the Qing
- Heritage status
- Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Heritage SiteTemple Fair of Wanshou Palace, Xishan: National Intangible Cultural Heritage
Overview
Wanshou Palace of Xishan is the ancestral court of Jingming Zhongxiao Daoism, dedicated to the eminent Jin-dynasty priest Xu Xun (Perfected Lord Xu). Tradition holds that in the second year of the Ningkang era of the Eastern Jin (374), Xu Xun "ascended to Heaven, household and all" (bazhai feisheng) at Xishan; his disciples built the Xuxian Shrine, called Youwei Temple in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Emperor Zhenzong of Song granted it the name Yulong Palace, and Emperor Huizong elevated it in the sixth year of the Zhenghe era (1116) to Yulong Wanshou Palace, built on a grand scale modeled on the regulations of Chongfu Palace in the Western Capital. From the Southern Song to the Yuan, He Zhengong, Liu Yu, and others made this their center in founding Jingming Daoism, advocating "loyalty, filiality, and purity and brightness" (zhongxiao jingming). The palace has been destroyed and rebuilt over successive eras; its present buildings date mainly from a reconstruction in the Tongzhi era of the Qing, with a mountain gate, Gaoming Hall (Xu Zhenjun Hall), Sanqing Hall, and Yuhuang Hall. Each year, the Xishan temple fair ("pilgrimage to the immortal," chaoxian), held from the first day of the eighth lunar month (Xu Zhenjun's birthday) to Mid-Autumn Festival, is the largest folk temple fair in the Gan-Poyang region, and the palace was restored and expanded from the 2000s onward.
Highlights
- Statue of Xu Zhenjun, Gaoming Hall
- Xishan Temple Fair
- Ancestral Court of Jingming Daoism
- Legend of Ascending to Heaven, Household and All