Penglai Palace

Penglai Palace

Penglai Palace is a municipal cultural relic protection unit of Shenyang.

Penglai Palace is located on Nanta Street in Shenyang, Liaoning Province (next to Nanta Pagoda), commonly known as the Female Taoist Temple. It is the only female Taoist practice site in Northeast China, covering a total area of 6,700 square meters with a construction area of over 5,000 square meters. It is now a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit in Shenyang.

The predecessor of Penglai Palace was the Guan Yu and Yue Fei Temple on Nao Re Road, Fengyutan Street, Shenhe District. According to the temple’s stele records, the Guan Yu and Yue Fei Temple was built in the 26th year of the Jiajing era during the Ming Dynasty (1547), boasting a history of over 400 years.

In the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Guan Yu and Yue Fei Temple was renamed the Female Taoist Temple. During the Cultural Revolution, it was destroyed, and its foundation site—once a cultivation ground for female Taoists—was regrettably lost in that tumultuous decade. The site was also largely occupied by urban development. In the early 1980s, following the implementation of religious policies, both male and female Taoists gathered at Taiqing Palace near Xiaoximen, which contradicted Taoist norms. Therefore, the government allocated three acres of land west of Nanta Park to build the Female Taoist Temple, named Penglai Palace. In the autumn of 1994 (the Year of the Dog in the Chinese zodiac), the foundation was laid and construction began. After three years, the project was completed in the autumn of 1997 (the Year of the Ox). The main hall is a three-story, hip-and-gable-roofed, antique-style building spanning three bays in width and two in depth, totaling 18 rooms across three floors. There are also two single-story side halls with two floors (20 rooms in total), a three-bay mountain gate, and five-room dining hall, scripture hall, and guest hall. Including auxiliary halls and gatehouses, the total construction area is 1,500 square meters. Soon after, colorful statues of deities were installed, along with cauldrons, ritual vessels, couplets, and plaques, completing all necessary facilities at a total cost of 2.8 million yuan. This was made possible through strong government support, generous funding from Taiqing Palace, and donations from followers. On October 15, 1997 (the Year of the Ox), tens of thousands of Taoists and visitors gathered to hold the statue consecration ceremony and the inauguration of the first abbess.

The main hall of Penglai Palace is a three-story, antique-style hip-and-gable-roofed building modeled after Ming and Qing architecture, while the Tongbao Hall and Linggong Hall are also built in the same style. The ornate carvings and painted beams make the temple extremely magnificent. Penglai Palace has three unique features: first, it is a three-story building; second, it houses resident female Taoists (nuns), which is the first of its kind in Taoism across China. According to followers and nuns, Penglai Palace also preserves the most complete collection of Taoist scriptures and chants in the Northeast.