Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
798 ART DISTRICT
|GALLERY
DŌNGYUÈ TEMPLE
( Dōngyuè Miào; 141 Chaoyangmenwai Dajie; adult ¥10, with guide 40; 8.30am-4.30pm Tue-Sun; Chaoyang-
men)
Dedicated to the Eastern Peak (Tài Shān) of China's five Taoist mountains, the morbid
Taoist shrine of Dōngyuè Temple is an unsettling, albeit fascinating experience. With its
roots poking deep into the Yuan dynasty, what's above ground level has been revived with
care and investment. Dōngyuè Temple is an active place of worship where Taoist monks at-
tend to a world entirely at odds with the surrounding glass and steel high-rises. Note the
temple's fabulous
páifāng
(memorial archway) lying to the south, divorced from its shrine
by the intervention of the busy main road, Chaoyangmenwai Dajie.
|TAOIST TEMPLE
Stepping through the entrance pops you into a Taoist Hades, where tormented spirits re-
flect on their wrongdoing and elusive atonement. You can muse on life's finalities in the
Life and Death Department
or the
Final Indictment Department
. Otherwise get
spooked at the
Department for Wandering Ghosts
or the
Department for Implementing
15 Kinds of Violent Death
.
It's not all doom and gloom: the luckless can check in at the
Department for Increasing
Good Fortune and Longevity
. Ornithologists will be birds of a feather with the
Flying
Birds Department
, while the infirm can seek cures at the
Deep-Rooted Disease Depart-
ment
. The
Animal Department
has colourful and lively fauna. English explanations de-
tail department functions.
Other halls are no less fascinating. The huge
Dàiyuè Hall
(Dàiyuè Diàn) is consecrated
to the God of Tàishān, who manages the 18 layers of hell. Visit during festival time, espe-
cially during the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and you'll see the
temple at its most vibrant.
Just outside the complex, in a small car park to the east, stands the handsome, but rather
remaining structure of two other Taoist temples that once also stood in this area. Built in
1647, the hall, which we think is now empty, once contained more than 70 clay and
wooden statues dedicated to Léizǔ, Taoism's God of Thunder. Unfortunately, it's not open
to the public. Note the faded Cultural Revolution slogans painted on the western and north-
ern walls, and the two impressive stone tablets that rise up from the platform at the front.
