Wudang Pilgrim Palace

Wudang Pilgrim Palace

Wudang Pilgrim Palace is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province.

Wudang Pilgrim Palace is located at No. 300 Dongguan Street, Guangling District, Yangzhou City. Originally named Zhenwu Temple, it once housed a bronze statue of the God Zhenwu inside. The exact date of its establishment is unknown. It was rebuilt during the Xuande era (1426–1435) of the Ming Dynasty by Chen Zhen, the prefect of the region, and renovated in the first year of the Zhengde era (1506) by a merchant named Ge Qin from Zhongdu (present-day Fengyang, Anhui). In the forty-third year of the Jiajing era (1564), a member of the Geng family from Hanshan (now part of Anhui) erected a “Wudang Pilgrim Palace” stele in the temple to pray for blessings, and it was from then on known as “Wudang Pilgrim Palace.” During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, apart from the main hall, the rest was destroyed in warfare. It was later rebuilt during the Guangxu era by Xu Shaoyuan, the head of Haizhou Sub-bureau, and in the 28th year of Guangxu (1902), the Yidong (Zhongshu) School was established here. The surviving structures include the Mountain Gate Hall, Zhenwu Hall, and Main Hall, covering an area of approximately 1,200 square meters with a built-up area of about 800 square meters. The Mountain Gate Hall, also called the Offering Hall, is a single-story, double-slope, flush-gable building in the Qing Dynasty style, with three bays in width. At the center of the roof ridge sits three painted halberds, and a pair of stone drums flank the entrance. Inside the hall, a shrine enshrines the deity Wang Lingguan. Stepping through the gate, there is a paper-burning stove to the east and a stele pavilion to the west. The second section is the Zhenwu Hall, which has three bays in width, is a single-story, double-slope, flush-gable structure in the Qing Dynasty style, and houses a bronze statue of the God Zhenwu. The third section is the Main Hall, which also has three bays in width, is a single-story, single-eave, hip-and-gable roof structure, with nanmu wood beams and a front rolled shed. It is a remnant from the Ming Dynasty. At the center stands a large iron incense burner, flanked by two stone-carved turtle and snake generals made of bluestone. At each end of the roof are golden gourd ornaments. Inside the hall, the central statue depicts the seated figure of the Wudang God, with four great Heavenly Kings on either side. There are three ancient ginkgo trees in the courtyard in front of the Main Hall. To the east side of the space between the Main Hall and the Zhenwu Hall, there is a covered corridor, laid out in an “L” shape, consisting of three hall-style rooms and four corridor rooms.

On December 19, 2011, the People’s Government of Jiangsu Province designated it as a Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Unit in the seventh batch.

Further Reading:

· Yangzhou Municipal Cultural Relic Protection Units (First to Third Batches)

· Seventh Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units