Lingwei Temple

Lingwei Temple

Taoism is the indigenous religion of the Han Chinese. Taoism in Rugao began during the Tang and Song dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. As a county under the jurisdiction of Taizhou Prefecture, Rugao once had over 30 Taoist temples, among which Lingwei Temple was the foremost, renowned throughout the regions north and south of the Yangtze River. Today, Lingwei Temple is the only surviving Taoist temple in Rugao and is ranked alongside Maoshan Taoist Temple in Jurong and Xuanmiao Temple in Suzhou as one of the three major Taoist temples in Jiangsu Province. The temple faces the Inner City River (now filled in and replaced by Xinsheng Road) to the front, connects to Huayuan Lane at the back, leans against Anding Lane on the east, and leads to Gujiuhe Lane on the west. The entire layout is long in the front and back, resembling the shape of the Big Dipper. In the past, behind it was the Huawang Temple, to the west were the Guangfu Fortune Temple and the Huoxing Temple, and to the east it faced the Guan Di Temple, Dutian Temple, and Chenghuang Temple.

Since the Song Dynasty, Lingwei Temple has undergone multiple renovations and gradually reached completion by the late Qing Dynasty. It includes 14 halls, as well as over 200 rooms such as living quarters, dining halls, storage rooms, medical rooms, pharmacies, coffin sheds, and porridge relief facilities. The entire temple complex is neatly arranged and well-distributed. There are two temple gates, the outer one covered with wooden fences and the inner one featuring a grand stone drum gate. A pair of stone lions stands guard on either side of the entrance. The main gate is painted with a mystical Taiji diagram. Hanging from the central beam inside the gate is a golden plaque inscribed with “Imperially Commissioned Lingwei Temple.” The eastern and western wings house colorful clay statues of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise.