Danyang Yue Temple

Danyang Yue Temple

Danyang Yue Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

The site of Danyang Yue Temple is located on the banks of Xiangcao River in Peitang Village, Quanzhou Township, Danyang City, Jiangsu Province. It was first built in the second year of the Jingtai era during the Ming Dynasty (1451). The temple covers several acres, with fifteen rooms of housing built across three courtyards. Its foundation was originally the site where Yue Ke built the "BaoBen Ancestral Hall." In the eleventh year of the Shaoxing era during the Southern Song Dynasty, when Yue Fei, his son, and Zhang Xian were martyred, Yue Fei’s good friend Gong Wenxian (Commandant of Moling Pass) hid in seclusion in Ziyangdu (now Peitang Village) in Danyang while resigning from his official post to protect Yue Fei’s third son, Yue Lin (who was twelve years old at the time). Later, when Yue Ke served as the Magistrate of Danyang County, he built the "BaoBen Ancestral Hall" in Peitang out of gratitude. The hall enshrined both Gong Wenxian and the ancestors of Yue Fei, honoring their memory and receiving sacrifices in perpetuity. This ancestral hall was destroyed during the Yuan Dynasty. In the second year of the Jingtai era during the Ming Dynasty, the people of Danyang built Yue Temple (also known as the Yue Family Ancestral Hall) in Peitang Village to commemorate the achievements of the famous national hero Yue Fei in Chinese history and Yue Ke’s governance in Danyang. The temple was demolished during the Cultural Revolution in 1968. However, a "Loyal Cypress" tree planted in the third year of the Jingtai era (1452), standing eight meters tall, still remains on the original site. This cypress tree is 530 years old and is currently thriving. On November 24, 1987, when the author visited Peitang Village for research, Mr. Yue Wanshou, a descendant of Yue Fei in the village, mentioned that the over 400 Yue descendants in Peitang Village and the several hundred descendants of Gong Zuwen in Liuru Village, neighboring Yanling Township, all deeply cherish this Loyal Cypress, regarding it as a symbol of the "BaoBen Ancestral Hall" and "Yue Temple."