Ruins of the Lake God Temple

Ruins of the Lake God Temple

The ruins of the Lake God Temple are a protected cultural heritage site of Nanjing.

The ruins of the Lake God Temple are located in Liangzhou of Xuanwu Lake Park in Xuanwu District, Nanjing, and date back to the Ming Dynasty.

The ruins of the Lake God Temple are located in the western part of Liangzhou (also known as Lian’e Zhou) of Xuanwu Lake Park in Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. It is said that the original temple was a shrine built during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty to commemorate an elderly man surnamed Mao (commonly known as “Mao Lao Ren Miao”), which was later destroyed during the Taiping Rebellion between the Xianfeng and Tongzhi periods of the Qing Dynasty.

Between the 10th and 11th years of the Tongzhi era (1871–1872), Zeng Guofan, then Viceroy of Liangjiang, ordered the reconstruction of the temple, which was further expanded in the 4th year of the Guangxu era (1878). The architectural complex faces east and consists mainly of the Lake God Hall, Guanyin Pavilion, Immortal Tower, Lotus Viewing Hall, and Lake Center Pavilion. The site also includes a Bronze Hook Well (though due to the reduced scale of the current temple grounds, the well now lies outside the courtyard). During the Xuantong era, it was repurposed as the Asia Primary School for the children of local fishermen. In the Republican era, it served as a teahouse and the office of the Nanjing Gardens Management Office. After 1949, it was converted into an exhibition hall and has been restored to its current state in 2008. It houses elements such as the Yellow Register Archive.

The ruins of the Lake God Temple are a protected cultural heritage site of Nanjing.