Chongru Temple

Chongru Temple

Chongru Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

Chongru Temple: Located on Wuyi Road, next to Guangxiao Temple. It is a memorial shrine built upon the request of the imperial court to honor Wang Gen, the founder of the Taizhou School. The original complex consisted of three sections—east, middle, and west—but only the middle section remains today, with four courtyards.

Constructed in the fifth year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty (1577) to enshrine Wang Gen, the founder of the Taizhou School. The temple faces south and currently has four courtyards, all with flush gable roofs, covering a total area of 1,100 square meters. The first courtyard is the main gate; the second is the Liben Hall. The third courtyard, the “Lexue Hall,” is a Ming-style building, measuring 10.50 meters in width across three bays and 6.05 meters in depth over seven rafters, with a height of 5.50 meters and a flush gable roof. It uses large timber materials and has a basin-style stone base. The fourth courtyard is the Xianren Hall. The eastern wall of the second courtyard features a Ming Dynasty Wanli-era stele inscribed with the “Record of the Reconstruction of the Shrine of Master Xinzhai.” The stele is made of bluestone, standing 2.52 meters tall and 0.9 meters wide, with 24 lines of text, each line containing up to 64 characters, written in regular script. It was erected in the year of the Wanli-era Ji Mao by Wu Daoli, the Prefect of Taizhou. On the western side is another stele inscribed with the “Record of Chongru Temple” written by Li Chunfang of Xinghua. In 1986, major renovations were carried out, including the reconstruction of the first courtyard. In 2001, the residential buildings to the west of the temple were demolished, and a small classical-style garden was built, featuring corridors, a pond, rockeries, and stone carvings of Master Xinzhai’s “Song of Joyful Learning” along the corridor walls.

Address: No. 114, Wuyi Road, Hailing District, Taizhou City

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangsu Province