Temple of Taibo

Temple of Taibo

The Temple of Taibo is a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou.

The Temple of Taibo is located at No. 250 Xiatai Street, within the Taohuawu Historic District in Changmen, Suzhou. It was built to commemorate Taibo, the eldest son of Gugong Danfu (King Tai of Zhou), and its history can be traced back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It is the first temple in the Jiangnan region dedicated to Taibo, the pioneer of the development of the Wu region. The surviving structures, including the Zhide Bridge, the Zhide Archway, the main hall consisting of three bays, and three side halls on the east and west sides, are Qing Dynasty constructions.

Within the temple, there are inscribed steles documenting its renovations during the Kangxi, Guangxu, and Republican eras. In the 44th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign (the Kangxi Emperor himself), during his southern inspection tour, he bestowed the four characters “Zhide Wuming” (“Virtue Without Peer”), personally written by him, upon the Suzhou Temple of Taibo. Later, Emperor Qianlong inscribed the words “Sangrang Gaoczong” (“Noble Example of Three Renunciations”) in person during his southern tour in February of the 16th year of his reign. On all his subsequent southern tours, Emperor Qianlong dispatched ministers to offer sacrifices at the Suzhou Temple of Taibo. This attests to the temple’s distinguished status. In 1982, the Temple of Taibo was listed as a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou.

The Zhide Bridge, commonly known as the Temple of Taibo Bridge, is a beam-style bridge. Its piers are still built of stone, though the bridge deck has been modified. Crossing the bridge, one faces a four-pillar, three-bay, upward-reaching stone archway. The tops of the pillars are carved with swirling cloud motifs, and the horizontal plaque is inscribed with "Zhide Archway," written by Governor Wu Yuanbing in the second year of the Guangxu era. Originally, there were also three other archways—“Three Renunciations Without Equal,” “Submission,” and “Founding of Wu”—as well as a stone bridge and a square pond, but none of these remain today. The offering hall is three bays wide, measuring 14 meters in width and 10 meters in depth, with a flush-gable roof, and a rolled shed added in front.

Inside the hall, there are stone inscriptions such as the “Record of the Reconstruction of the Zhide Temple” from the 24th year of the Kangxi reign and the “Longevity Stele of Governor Tang of Southern Jiangnan” from the 25th year of the Kangxi reign. The three-bay side halls on the east and west sides feature stone carvings embedded in their walls depicting Taibo and his ancestors, engraved in the second year of the Guangxu era. Due to the dilapidated state of the temple buildings and the fact that the ancient structures had been repurposed as a vegetable market, Suzhou funded the relocation of the market in 2009, restored the historic buildings, and added a front hall, giving this ancient architectural complex a renewed vibrancy.