Dong Yong Ancestral Temple and Tomb

Dong Yong Ancestral Temple and Tomb

Dong Yong Ancestral Temple and Tomb is a cultural tourism attraction.

Dong Yong Ancestral Temple and Tomb is located in Xingwei Village, Tainan Town, Dongtai City. The original temple consisted of a southern hall and a northern hall. The northern hall’s shrine housed a clay statue of Dong Yong, with east and west wing rooms between the two halls. Behind the temple was a walled cemetery garden filled with lush pines, cypresses, green grass, and red flowers, centered around an earthen tomb with a stone tablet inscribed with "Tomb of Dong Yong, the Filial Son of the Han Dynasty."

In the fourth year of the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, Water Conservancy Circuit Intendant Huang Youji enshrined statues of three esteemed figures in the southern hall of the Dong Filial Son Temple: Fan Zhongyan (also known as Jinggong, Supervisor of the Xixi Salt Warehouse during the Northern Song Dynasty), Hu Wending (also known as Lingyi, Transport Commissioner of Jianghuai), and Zhang Wenjing (also known as Lun, Deputy Transport Commissioner of Jianghuai). The statue of Dong Yong in the northern hall was remade, and the temple was renamed the “Loyalty and Filial Piety Temple,” honoring the “Three Worthies” for their loyalty and extolling Dong Yong for his filial piety.

In fact, Dong Yong was a real historical figure. According to Liu Jilan’s Notes from the Pengcheng Hall: Dong Yong was a man of the Western Han Dynasty who came from a poor family and worked as a laborer to make ends meet. A poor girl from Qingzhou, Shandong, named Qimei, fled with her father to Xixi due to famine. She saw Dong Yong selling himself into servitude to bury his father and sympathized with his hardships, so she offered to marry him. After they were married, Dong Yong continued to work as a laborer, while Qimei hatched silkworm eggs she had brought from her hometown, picked mulberry leaves, raised silkworms, and wove silk to repay his debts. She later died from exhaustion, leaving behind a son. Local people associated the story with the legend of Dong Yong selling himself to bury his father and moving Heaven with his filial piety, leading to the descent of the Seven Fairies, allowing Dong Yong to have an heir before returning to Heaven.

In Xixi, there are over 50 place names related to Dong Yong and the Seven Fairies, attracting numerous domestic and international tourists each year who come to sightsee and explore the ancient tales.